Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

PabIoEscobar

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 23, 2016
19
16
Germany
i7h7f7X.png


I think this is what would be a really great extension for many people.

It would be so cool if i could write with my apple pencil on the touchpad of my macbook pro - for example to create formulas without the hassle of patching them together using latex.

Of course there are tools to convert hand written formulas into a digital representation, but writing using a mouse is just too complicated and takes too much effort.

So in my vision, the touchpad should be somehow able to locate the tip of the pencil even if it is 1 cm above the touchpad, so that the position of the tip gets rendered at the corresponding position on the screen.

So you could use one hand for writing using a pen and the other hand to zoom in and zoom out etc.

That would be really cool. What do you think?

Here the link to my 5 minutes concept
http://imgur.com/i7h7f7X
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: npolly0212
Doesn't seem feasbile enough for me, but then using a stylus is not in my usage needs. I use a stylus on my SP3 as a mouse rather then drawing.
 
Writing on a trackpad is ankward, not mentioning the size of which is not large enough to have a nice experience.
And we've already have a better and cheaper solution
71%2BFlKwkBuL._SL1500_.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: simonsi
I'm using Astro Pad with my iPad Pro for drawing/editing in PS CC - works similar to a Wacom Cintiq tablet
If i had only known :-D Thanks you!
[doublepost=1459469357][/doublepost]
Because macs don't have touch screens!!!
Also drawing on a screen which doesn't lay on a table as an iPad does would be way too awkward
[doublepost=1459469596][/doublepost]
A trackpad is just not big enough for that to be a sensible option.
Youre probably right. It would be too small for the drawing of images, but for signing and formulas its probably quite nice.
 
....and if you were to ask a WinDoze user who has a Surface Pro or similar, you'd find they're not all that impressed with it's touch screen drawing capabilities.
 
I'm a couple of years away from upgrading my laptop, but my next purchase is definitely going to be a machine where you can draw with a stylus on the screen.

I've heard great things about the iPad Pro and the Pencil for drawing (even with the lack of eraser) but the Surface and the Surface Book let you run full desktop drawing apps and use the stylus directly on the main, high-resolution screen. That's really tempting.

Using the Pencil on the trackpad sounds significantly worse than plugging in an external tablet, unless maybe they make the trackpad like five times the size.
 
Why not draw directly on the screen - like the iPad Pro?

The trackpad is redundant to me.

imho, this is not insanely great.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.