Comments on: Multi-touch on the MacBook Pro

By: Multi-touch on the Macbook Pro and removing missing iTunes songs | Ed's blog

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:17:04 +0000

[...] Scrolling on my Mac was annoying me so I had a look into how you can scroll properly and of course I found out the very easy way to scroll using just two fingers. In the process I’ve also found out you can do a whole bunch more using the multi-touch. Check it out here. [...]

By: n/a

n/a — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:47:45 +0000

On IFixit.com’s website, the take-apart of the Macbook Air showed a touch controller board, same as in the iPhone and iTouch…so even if they can make the MBP existing line capable, it won’t be precision like the Air…

Pinch would be more than enough for me…

By: Florian

Florian — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:12:25 +0000

I meant “update” and not “upload”…. its because its monday.

By: Florian

Florian — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:11:24 +0000

Its a pretty cool feautre. If it is only software based, then maybe we could get this upload also for the CoreDuo based Macbook Pro? I am hoping, because i dont feel like upgrading.

-Flo

By: Stephanie Guertin

Stephanie Guertin — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:28:15 +0000

@Rishi - The link is to the page explaining the Air’s gestures because I’m comparing the ones that are possible on the MacBook Pro to those gestures, and I need a reference for those of us who don’t own an Air. The point is, however, that the MacBook Pro *does* have hardware multi-touch capabilities, if not the software to back all the gestures.

By: Rishi

Rishi — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:21:53 +0000

The link posted directs us to the MacBook Air features page…not the MacBook Pro’s. Nowhere does it mention anything about the MacBook Pro having multi-touch trackpad. I’m confused. Please clarify. Thanks.

By: Josh Pigford

Josh Pigford — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:37:18 +0000

@chase: “Even the least computer savy people have at least browsed through system preferences (where all the trackpad options are easily accessed.)”

I’m afraid you’re simply just wrong there. You’d be surprised by the number of emails we get asking how to do tasks infinitely easier than changing some system prefs.

So while the article might not have been helpful to you, please don’t write it off thinking everyone else feels the same or thinks the same…they don’t.

By: chase

chase — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:08:32 +0000

I don’t mean to contribute to the recent negativity seen in the comments of the last few articles… but all I thought during this article was a resounding,”ummm duh”. Even the least computer savy people have at least browsed through system preferences (where all the trackpad options are easily accessed.)

By: James Bow

James Bow — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:55:31 +0000

What you describe is also already available on my black Macbook. And the “swipe” feature also requires three fingers, which the trackpad is capable of registering. How we know is is that the scroll requires two fingers to work, and ONLY two fingers. Try the same thing with three fingers, and scrolling doesn’t happen.

I don’t know much about the mechanics of the trackpad, but it suggests to me that if the trackpad can register three fingers as a command other than scroll, even if it is a non-command, then software can be written to make use of this feature.

I’m less sure about pinch and rotate, since that requires a calculation of where the two fingers are in relation to each other, and that might require more nuanced mechanics. But, I agree, if it is possible for Apple to add additional functionality to the trackpad, they should do so. Or some enterprising third party should do it.

By: Gabe

Gabe — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:46:15 +0000

I don’t understand the point of this article. The premise in the first two paragraphs is that, according to rumors, the “MacBook Pro will have the same multi-touch abilities as the Air,” but you assert that “they’ve already got it.”

At the end of the article, you say that swipe, pinch/expand, and rotate do not work. These are the three *new* gestures that apple has been touting; in fact, they’re the only three mentioned in the blurb on the page you link to. The other seven are alluded to on the MacBook Pro page.

Seventy percent of a feature that it doesn’t even supposedly have isn’t bad in my book.”

But the MacBook Pro *does* have those features; if you type “trackpad” in the search box at the top of this page, you’ll find references to many of them in other posts on this site.

I don’t mean this to be inflammatory - I agree that having these features on the existing laptop line would be useful and easy to implement, but this article is about being thankful or surprised that we have great trackpad gestures that have been around for a while.

By: Multi-touch en la Mac Book Pro: no necesitas un nuevo MacBook :

Multi-touch en la Mac Book Pro: no necesitas un nuevo MacBook : — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:24:44 +0000

[...] Stephanie Guertin en theappleblog sugiere que a pesar de los rumores, la MacBook Pro no necesita una actualización de hardware para que apoye la tecnología de gestos en el MacBook Air. La razón es simple: la MacBook Pro ya cuenta con la mayoría de las funciones de gestos. [...]

By: Multi-touch en la Mac Book Pro: no necesitas un nuevo MacBook : Canal Apple

Multi-touch en la Mac Book Pro: no necesitas un nuevo MacBook : Canal Apple — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:30:43 +0000

[...] Guertin en theappleblog sugiere que a pesar de los rumores, la MacBook Pro no necesita una actualización de hardware para [...]

By: Notizen vom 22. Januar » MACNOTES.DE

Notizen vom 22. Januar » MACNOTES.DE — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:20:48 +0000

[...] im MacBook Pro Auf TheAppleBlog.com gibt es einen Kommentar zu der Bedienung des Multi-Touch Touchpads vom MacBook Air. Bis auf Swipe, [...]

By: Richard Pollock

Richard Pollock — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:07:21 +0000

This article could (and should) have been a lot better researched. For example, it has been widely noted on the net that the “swipe” gesture is a three-fingered gesture, so saying that “none of the unsupported gestures require more than two fingers” is just false. It took me <15 seconds to find the Engadget screenshot that shows this…

By: Peter Nordstrand

Peter Nordstrand — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:06:06 +0000

Hello.

I’m pretty sure swipe is a three finger gesture.

Cheers!

By: devin

devin — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:00:08 +0000

i agree that it wouldn’t *require* a hardware update, however i wouldn’t be surprised to see a larger trackpad introduced to help emphasize and make better use of these features.