Wide (Multitouch?) Touchpad for Apple Laptops

[Maccus Aurelius]

I mainly use my thumb to use the trackpad as I don't often lift my hand entirely from the keyboard. I'd like to see if this gizmo can disregard the base of my palms while my thumb glides along the center. If it disregards large contacts, I would imagine that it should.

 

[JPark]

well, at least they didn't waste too much money on an artist to sketch that up.

You mean the crooked lines and screwy perspective aren't part of the patent? I figured this was their new Macbook Picasso Edition.

 

[Raidersmojo]

you make a touch screen laptop with OS X and I'll give you my money.

I already love touch screen or multi-touch on my iphone and can't wait to have it on one of my computers.

apples comes out with something like this and I'll be one of the first in line

 

[EagerDragon]

Did anyone else notice that the mouse button in the picture actually has 2 buttons?

Your right.

The screen also has a full width hinge, you know what that means

The Artist (if you can call it that) probably is a PC laptop user, LOL.

I think this is cool and woul;d welcome it.

However I wonder if it would pass the "obviousness" test. There are multitouch pattents out there, the tablet patents are out there, the trackpad is out there, the multitouch index patent is out there. All of those point to a lot of previous art and this is just an enlargement of the surface with the capabilities of all the other patents on top.

Sounds obvious to me.

the question is, do i have to keep lifting my wrists to use it as a mouse? or can i keep one wrist rested while the other uses the trackpad...

Depends how many arms you have. The more the easier. 3 would be perfect

 

[aswitcher]

If there are indeed a long track pads then just maybe its like the iPhone, acting as track pad and displaying at the same time... I would buy that!

 

[Maccus Aurelius]

I just hope Sony doesn't sue Apple for using a cubist rendition of a Viao notebook in their patent.

 

[Black Belt]

The Artist (if you can call it that) probably is a PC laptop user, LOL.

Sorry, definitely done on a Mac. It smacks of the old Newton logos.

 

[KingofAwesome]

I bet that wide touchpad would be even more functional if it was a little LCD... you could put the dock in it, iPhoto controls, video playback controls, timelines, and so on. Someday...

 

[digitalbiker]

Wasted space

It still seems like a big waste of space. Gestures are meant to be confined to a small area. The macbooks standard trackpad size is large enough. Why make it so wide?

I think a better use of space would be for seperate arrow and number keypads with an expansion of the standard keyboard. This combined with a multitouch gesture trackpad would provide a lot of flexibility of use.

 

[superspiffy]

It still seems like a big waste of space. Gestures are meant to be confined to a small area. The macbooks standard trackpad size is large enough. Why make it so wide?

True. Why elongate the trackpad from left to right? Wouldn't it therefore take you longer to scroll from one side of the screen to the other when you've got wider space to travel? So what can this new wide trackpad do that the current one can't?

 

[EagerDragon]

True. Why elongate the trackpad from left to right? Wouldn't it therefore take you longer to scroll from one side of the screen to the other when you've got wider space to travel? So what can this new wide trackpad do that the current one can't?

Finer control.

 

[superspiffy]

Finer control.

There's sensitivity settings for that.

 

[offwidafairies]

Where in "tablet notebook" is "mac" ?

the mactab or the tabmac

 

[Mysrt]

why is item 200 just pointing into blank space?

 

[Maccus Aurelius]

why is item 200 just pointing into blank space?

Duh, the cubist rendition of course.

 

[acslater017]

why is item 200 just pointing into blank space?

haha i hadn't noticed...maybe there's some sort of sensor that reads your gestures above the computer? it's probably a "TOP SECRET" feature that they'll reveal 6 months after the initial sneak peek

 

[twoodcc]

seems nice. i guess it would only be on the larger laptops?

 

[iMichael72]

Interesting idea. I wonder what size it would be?

 

[Maccus Aurelius]

I guess we have to consider the possibility that Apple never actually uses this design, or the possibility that Apple dumps the keyboard altogether and uses a giant touch surface

 

[StuPidQPid]

I mentioned this in another forum, but why couldn't a laptop have two screens?
A main output screen as it is now, and a full keyboard sized iPhone-like touch screen input replacing the keyboard (a bit like the TouchStream from Fingerworks, but with an actual screen). It would involve true "touch typing" - probably not to the liking of some, but the applications would be endless. The screen would be infinitely customizable for whatever input you need and would get rid of the need for a touch pad altogether. Would obviously be a bit more expensive than a normal keyboard, but likely not that much given that a smaller touch screen is included in the iPhone.

 

[mongoos150]

I was thinking the exact same thing. What is up with the sketch?

They purposely draw the sketch to be the least-revealing it can be. If Apple submitted accurate, detailed sketches, we'd all know what the new device would look like. They put two buttons on the mouse, a fat hinge, etc...

 

[Draythor]

I mentioned this in another forum, but why couldn't a laptop have two screens?
A main output screen as it is now, and a full keyboard sized iPhone-like touch screen input replacing the keyboard (a bit like the TouchStream from Fingerworks, but with an actual screen). It would involve true "touch typing" - probably not to the liking of some, but the applications would be endless. The screen would be infinitely customizable for whatever input you need and would get rid of the need for a touch pad altogether. Would obviously be a bit more expensive than a normal keyboard, but likely not that much given that a smaller touch screen is included in the iPhone.

Nice to find a like minded person!
I agree. Basically the touchpad would adapt to the application. AKA one massive Nintendo DS...

 

[StuPidQPid]

Nice to find a like minded person!
I agree. Basically the touchpad would adapt to the application. AKA one massive Nintendo DS...

Oh yes, I forgot about the Nintendo DS! - but done in a more cool Apple-like way...

 

[itcomesinwaves]

iLife '08

After playing around with iLife '08 I'm convinced that Apple is developing a (multi) touch computer. Specifically the feature in iPhoto and iMovie that let you scrub a clip or 'event' by moving your mouse horizontally over it.

 

[Football1maniac]

I mentioned this in another forum, but why couldn't a laptop have two screens?
A main output screen as it is now, and a full keyboard sized iPhone-like touch screen input replacing the keyboard (a bit like the TouchStream from Fingerworks, but with an actual screen). It would involve true "touch typing" - probably not to the liking of some, but the applications would be endless. The screen would be infinitely customizable for whatever input you need and would get rid of the need for a touch pad altogether. Would obviously be a bit more expensive than a normal keyboard, but likely not that much given that a smaller touch screen is included in the iPhone.

That would be a practical way that this technology could evolve to. But what ever happen if for some reason, the bottom part of the computer (the touch-sensitive part) gets damaged or short-circuited? Knowing with this technology, Apple will pull a "We'll charge you $99.00 and $10.00 shipping and handling to fix it for you" Just like the iPod/iPhone batteries.