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If Apple were to ever get rid of the physical home button on the iPhone, I could see this tech playing a part in a soft home button. I imagine a touch id sensor built into the screen, the screen separately illuminating the home area, and force touch mimicking a physical press of the button.
 
The "diving board" design on previous trackpads made it difficult to click toward the top of the trackpad, forcing users to move their fingers toward the bottom of the trackpad to click.

On some really cheap and nasty or 10 year-old laptop maybe, but I think that whole statement needs challenging. I'm not denying what Apple are providing here is cool, but this makes it sounds like they're rescuing us from years of angst, suffering and frustration with current trackpads (presumably including theirs)
 
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But does the Trackpad detect a range of pressure levels or it just distinguishes between soft/hard touches?

I'd be happy to read somewhere that this is true pressure sensitive and that it can be used by other applications.

I want a pressure sensitive magic trackpad!
 
But does the Trackpad detect a range of pressure levels or it just distinguishes between soft/hard touches?

I'd be happy to read somewhere that this is true pressure sensitive and that it can be used by other applications.

I want a pressure sensitive magic trackpad!

Yes it's pressure sensitive. When watching a video for example, the harder you press the faster it rewinds/fast forwards.
 
From the article: " This feedback relies on phenomenon called lateral force fields (LFFs), which can cause humans to experience vibrations as haptic ‘textures’ ".

What does it cause other mammalian species to experience?
 
I never ever use the click on my rMBP preferring the feather light touch that can be set up. No matter what the gesture like a three finger tap to bring up the dictionary, a 'tap' is really not the right word because it really just takes the lightest of touches which I find to be an exceedingly satisfying experience. It seems to me that if more gestures were required that it would be nicer to set up more touch controls with better touch tool. Having said that the haptic feedback keyboard sounds like it would be fun, but not useful to me.
 
Interesting, while on paper this seems cool, I do wonder how it will be in real world usage. I can't wait to see this in an apple store and try it out myself.

I'm still not sold on the 12" MB, but I suspect apple will be bringing this to the 15" MBP for the next refresh
 
I wish people would stop writing that it doesn't move, it makes it sounds like the taptic feedback is actually electric shocks or something, rather than movement.
 
Can't wait to try it. My favorite part about Apple laptops in comparison to other laptops has since 2006 been the trackpad and keyboard quality. Everything else feels like junk.

We use Lenovo at the office where I work, and with the new X240 they have actually made a pretty nice machine, but I don't know what on earth they were thinking when they made the trackpad. It's a bit like they tried to make the "diving board" Apple are moving away from, but failed... It's really not good.
 
You've been able to do this in macs for years now.

Enable voice commands in the voice settings menu.
You can choose a word or button to press to make the computer listen for a command.
You can also create your own commands.

Granted it hardly works and rarely recognises a voice command, but, you can still do it. (Kinda)

How do you do this? Where is the "voice settings menu"? Do you mean System Preferences > Dictation & Speech > Dictation? How do you "create your own commands"?
 
Why would I press on the trackpad when I already have features like tap to click and three finger drag?
 
What you're saying makes no sense. MacBooks are all aluminum, just like the iMac, and have black keys.

So true, I hope the Apple standalone wireless keyboard comes with black keys. A space grey aluminum body would also be a nice addition. I've been using Apple keyboard for so long and to be honest and it's one of the best keyboard around. Been using the wired Apple keyboard for my PC too. Plays nicely with Windows and I also love the USB ports on the side.

Doubt that will happen anytime soon, but one may always hope.
 
People who don't use Macs don't understand how great the trackpads are.

I am leary about this, but I can't wait to try it. If it actually feels like the current trackpad then I am in.

I have to say though, I like the diving board quality. I use my index finger at the top to navigate and my thumb to click at the bottom. Makes things very quick. So I hope this still works right since the whole thing now clicks.
 
Still waiting on touchscreen for the MacBook

Touch screen laptops (and desktops in their current configuration) are the wrong technology for the wrong application. They make no sense practically speaking as you have to move your fingers and hands from the flat, resting, plane in front of you to a unsupported vertical plane.

Instead, maybe ditch the keyboard and replace it with a second screen that can be an on screen keyboard and trackpad when you need it to be like a standard laptop (and with haptic feedback and varying sensitivity could also function as a Wacom-like input device, which would make more sense than Microsoft's version where the you have to make the screen itself be the input area), then when turned on its side, could be a duel screen monitor. Both screens could be identical so that it doesn't matter how you open it, you'd end up with screen in the vertical and keyboard in the horizontal plane.
 
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