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4 finger multi touch gestures

W

weeman

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 6, 2007
453
84
Orange County, CA
Wirelessly posted (iPhone : Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

Maybe I missed it but is this going to be available via software update for the 1st gen MacBook Air?
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone : Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

I know the new airs are getting it but are the 1st gens going to be getting it also?
 
answer from steve himself. (or one of his minions)

Nope, sorry. Its an entirely different trackpad design.

Steve
​

 
Wonder why they didn't introduce the new glass trackpad then.

By the way... Do the MacBook Airs (last gen. obviously as the new hasn't shipped yet) have this functionality where you tap on the trackpad itself (not the button), to click? Some PC notebooks have this...
 
AppliedMicro said:
Wonder why they didn't introduce the new glass trackpad then.

By the way... Do the MacBook Airs (last gen. obviously as the new hasn't shipped yet) have this functionality where you tap on the trackpad itself (not the button), to click? Some PC notebooks have this...
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's in the OS X Preferences. There's some other goodies in there two, such as two-finger scrolling.
 
AppliedMicro said:
Wonder why they didn't introduce the new glass trackpad then.

By the way... Do the MacBook Airs (last gen. obviously as the new hasn't shipped yet) have this functionality where you tap on the trackpad itself (not the button), to click? Some PC notebooks have this...
Click to expand...

Yes you can tap to click in the current air, but the new trackpads in the new Macbooks and Macbook pros both have a real button. The trackpad itself can be clicked...

Check out one of the demo videos.
 
Alright, thanks everyone. Don't have any Apple notebook right now, so I couldn't check out trackpad-related functionality in system preferences.

I know about the physical "button" in the new trackpads and wish the Air had the same. The physical button on the MBA feels a bit small to me after having tried out one in the store / at a friend's. I have never been a fan of this "tap to click" but haven't really tried that in years, so I'll have another look into that.

Seeing there is an alternative somewhat dispels my biggest doubt about the Air. So thanks again.
 
So... Is the latest macbook air getting the glass trackpad with the new multi touch features...

or...

same trackpad with new multi-touch features....

or...

the same trackpad and touch features as the first Macbook air...?
 
AppliedMicro said:
I know about the physical "button" in the new trackpads and wish the Air had the same. The physical button on the MBA feels a bit small to me after having tried out one in the store / at a friend's. I have never been a fan of this "tap to click" but haven't really tried that in years, so I'll have another look into that...
Click to expand...

Definitely noticed the difference in the size of the physical button on my MBA in comparison to my MB/MBP, and it just took some getting use to since it's a bit slimmer than my MB/MBP. In the beginning, I kept missing the button...:eek:
 
aleksandra. said:
It seems so, but why would the four-finger gestures not be available for earlier Airs, if it's the same touchpad? Maybe we should ask Apple exactly this?
Click to expand...

From my experience in the area, my best guess is that the tracking part is built into the firmware of the trackpad itself. The raw calculations for tracking are too difficult to be done by the CPU (or would be too unresponsive), so they are done in the firmware. It's likely difficult/impossible to update the trackpad firmware.
 
Lyrrad said:
From my experience in the area, my best guess is that the tracking part is built into the firmware of the trackpad itself. The raw calculations for tracking are too difficult to be done by the CPU (or would be too unresponsive), so they are done in the firmware. It's likely difficult/impossible to update the trackpad firmware.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that, but if it's so with Air, it makes sense. What about touchpads in some laptops, that would work with both XP and Vista, but scrolling is only available in Vista? Is it the matter of drivers working with firmware?
 
aleksandra. said:
I didn't know that, but if it's so with Air, it makes sense. What about touchpads in some laptops, that would work with both XP and Vista, but scrolling is only available in Vista? Is it the matter of drivers working with firmware?
Click to expand...

I'd assume that that's a driver issue.

My guess is that with 1 finger, the track pads is fairly accurate in plotting the location of the finger. With two fingers, some can do rotation/distance/direction calcuations. With 3-4 only direction can be done.
 
I would be shocked if this is not updated for the last gen MBA/MBP that had the iphone parts in the trackpad, e-mail or no.

I have been waiting for Apple to get going with the fingerworks commands for years, and if I missed the boat by adopting the first version of the MBA, I am going to be furious. Hopefully these features get unlocked...

EDIT: With the iphone guts in the trackpad, there should be plenty of upgrades available. If Apple does not provide them, I am sure someone will. My MBA can tell if I am swiping with four fingers, because the 3 finger commands do not work. I think it would be a simple update to incorporate the four finger gestures. I hope this is coming.
 
oookye said:
answer from steve himself. (or one of his minions)

Nope, sorry. Its an entirely different trackpad design.

Steve
​

Click to expand...

that is such a crock of ****. The MBA has the iPhone trackpad, which can register four inputs at once. Serious Boo
 
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