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Force Touch: does it actually click?
- Thread starter GoSUV
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I hear the reason for the lack of mechanical click on the new Macbook is simply because Apple wanted to make it thinner. They couldn't have both ForceTouch and mechanical clicking, for whatever reason. Apparently, this is also the reason the backlit Apple logo was removed from the Macbook.
This is actually what I'm going to miss too. The sound and the feel really made the trackpad a pleasure to use. Not really sure why they couldn't give this thicker computer force touch and a mechanical hinge.
It clicks just fine! Just don't "hold" that click too long (or disable it) or you will get Wikipedia definitions....
I only had the old trackpad for a few weeks before I returned it, but with the force click pressure set to firm it does make a sound that is exactly as I remember the old one.
This has been the biggest struggle for me. To learn not to heavily push down in the effort to move a file.
It's taking some adjusting to control my pressure when "clicking" in order to accomplish what i'm wanting.
There are two click pressures. If you just click and hold as hard as you would with the old trackpad it can be dragged. To pull up Wikipedia/definitions you have to continue and put more pressure. This is on the firm setting. On light setting the difference between levels is not as obvious
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Go to the settings and change the click pressure. On firm there is a clear difference between the two levels.
Can anyone post a screenshot with the new options for the force touch trackpad under System Preferences? Thanks!
Hey guys,
Posting from my new 2015 rMBP with the new trackpad. I posted earlier stating that the lack of satisfying click made me hesitant to purchasing the new MBP.
I'm happy to say that my concerns were all for naught. The haptic feedback is really nice and still produces a good click. Its not quite as strong as the old MBPs, but you can now 'click' anywhere on the trackpad and it will work. This is also just the light click that I'm talking about - the force click is much stronger and feels more or less the same as the old click on the hinge trackpads.
I think its definitely worth the trade off, the possibilities with the harder click are immense.
Don't let the new trackpad deter you!
Posting from my new 2015 rMBP with the new trackpad. I posted earlier stating that the lack of satisfying click made me hesitant to purchasing the new MBP.
I'm happy to say that my concerns were all for naught. The haptic feedback is really nice and still produces a good click. Its not quite as strong as the old MBPs, but you can now 'click' anywhere on the trackpad and it will work. This is also just the light click that I'm talking about - the force click is much stronger and feels more or less the same as the old click on the hinge trackpads.
I think its definitely worth the trade off, the possibilities with the harder click are immense.
Don't let the new trackpad deter you!
Thanks for sharing the screenshot! I have one more question, did they remove the 3-finger drag functionality? Or is that setting under the 'More gestures' tab now? I hope they still have the 3-finger drag which feels really magical (I find it very useful for selections of text) 😀
I only had the old one for a couple weeks so I'm not sure if I remember everything the 3 finger drag did, but you can now drag with a simple click and drag. Ther is no option for a 3 finger drag.
Actually it does, there is an audible click when you press down on it and if you press harder there is a 2nd audible click to indicate you've forced click.
For the first click the pressure does seem less than would be used on previous mac trackpads (I've not tried adjusting the settings yet).
Interestingly it seems impossible to forceclick with 2 fingers, you simply don't get the 2nd click 😱
By the way, guys, if you have the Click Pressure setting (on the screenshot that was posted) at Firm, it feels much closer to the mechanical click of the old MBPs. I would say it feels 90% the same. I had mine on medium and it still felt nice, but on Firm its perfect.
Just changed mine, can't decide if I like medium or firm more. Firm feels closer to my older air, but I was just getting used to medium.... arrgh!
They didn't give it a hinge because that would negate the idea of being able to do a "physical" click everywhere with the same amount of pressure.
I just tried it in the Apple store and honestly it is incredible. The haptic feedback makes it feel like the trackpad is physically giving way to a mechanical switch...yet it never actually moves. Plus you can even change the pressure threshold for both the click and force touch.
Force Touch was also more intuitive than I thought it would be. You just click "deeper" and the trackpad responds with a stronger "click" feedback.
Personally I am a tap to click kind of guy, but the new trackpad might have me switch because I can now easily click from anywhere with my index finger. Right now I only use the mechanical click for drag and drop.
To someone who doesn't follow Apple news it would probably blow their mind to tell them that it doesn't physically click, as it feels that real.
It's more of a very strong tactile feedback that feels like a click.
I got my early-2015 13" rMBP already (i7/16/512) and yes, it really does feel like a click.
But then, Force Touch doesn't really matter to me. It's almost always tethered to my external display in clamshell mode.
I've set mine on the lightest setting and it's made my thumb very happy. Still give a slight click to know you've pressed it.
The top setting feels a lot like the classic mbp this replaced.
I'm just feeling a bit weirded out by the fact I can feel a click but nothing actually moves...
The top setting feels a lot like the classic mbp this replaced.
I'm just feeling a bit weirded out by the fact I can feel a click but nothing actually moves...
Not to mention that you'll probably get more battery life out of it as well verses if it were set to the Firm setting.
Loving the new trackpad. Medium feels perfect to me. With my natural click pressure (coming from a Macbook Air) I really have to consciously press it harder to actually activate the "Force Click" gesture. Also on medium I can just hear the click of the trackpad.
Honestly, when I first got it home and was testing it I was concerned they gave me one of the old ones with the same trackpad. So I personally think it's great.
Honestly, when I first got it home and was testing it I was concerned they gave me one of the old ones with the same trackpad. So I personally think it's great.
Finally got the new 13" rMBP home last night. Upon opening the screen for the first time, I was still somehow hoping those assembly line workers might have made a mistake and installed the old Multi Touch touchpad on mine - I do miss the mechanical click button that much. But no, before power on I pressed the Force Touch touchpad and it doesn't move at all. There is no hinge, no mechanical button. Everything is glued flat. Oh well.
So I powered on the thing for the first time, the usual greetings and initial setup screens appear. Then it asked me for the language used for the OS. So I selected English with the touchpad and clicked... yes! It clicked! This is magic. The touchpad still doesn't move at all, but it gave my finger tip the sensation that it registered a physical click on the touchpad, with an audible click sound included. This is awesome. My initial fears about losing the physical feedback when using a mechanically clickable button was alleviated. The beauty of this is, you can click anywhere on the touchpad and still have the same sensation, whereas with the old Multi Touch you have to click the bottom area of it to gain the maximum leverage as the hinge is at the top.
So for the next few hours while I was waiting for my TM backups to transfer, I was playing with the Force Touch in amazement. I think I am sold. I wouldn't have it any other way in my future laptops. This is simply genius design. After all the transfer was done (another seamless process, everything duplicated from my old 2007 MBP), I went into System Preferences and customized the Force Touch. The default settings were good enough for me, but it is good to know that I can customize everything. It used to be that the old touchpads have slightly different stiffness to the clicks from machine to machine due to manufacturing tolerances, but now even this tiny inconsistency has been ironed out in the new design. This is brilliant. Kudos to the Apple designers and engineers who made this work.
So I powered on the thing for the first time, the usual greetings and initial setup screens appear. Then it asked me for the language used for the OS. So I selected English with the touchpad and clicked... yes! It clicked! This is magic. The touchpad still doesn't move at all, but it gave my finger tip the sensation that it registered a physical click on the touchpad, with an audible click sound included. This is awesome. My initial fears about losing the physical feedback when using a mechanically clickable button was alleviated. The beauty of this is, you can click anywhere on the touchpad and still have the same sensation, whereas with the old Multi Touch you have to click the bottom area of it to gain the maximum leverage as the hinge is at the top.
So for the next few hours while I was waiting for my TM backups to transfer, I was playing with the Force Touch in amazement. I think I am sold. I wouldn't have it any other way in my future laptops. This is simply genius design. After all the transfer was done (another seamless process, everything duplicated from my old 2007 MBP), I went into System Preferences and customized the Force Touch. The default settings were good enough for me, but it is good to know that I can customize everything. It used to be that the old touchpads have slightly different stiffness to the clicks from machine to machine due to manufacturing tolerances, but now even this tiny inconsistency has been ironed out in the new design. This is brilliant. Kudos to the Apple designers and engineers who made this work.
I am unable to use the Force Click option in firefox and google chrome. only works in Safari.
Anyone else having this problem?
Anyone else having this problem?
