01-07-2009, 07:19 PM
Hey Vince,
Yeah, I think you may have started hitting upon the benefits of the Apple Trackpad, but there are definitely more.
With the new Powerbooks, the trackpad is actually one big button. So if you press on the track pad hard enough, the entire pad will give under your fingers and give you a physical "click". Since there is now a button, the old buttons that accompany a trackpad are now removed, which means the trackpad itself is now huge, and totally manageable with your fingers.
For the Windows users, you can even assign a corner of the pad to click on the left or right to register like a typical windows mouse. It is completely customizable.
The finger motions you were talking about are called "gestures'. You are right--you can use one finger to point and click, or two fingers to scroll a page up and down. Three fingers will let you flip your browser forward and backwards, and four fingers lets you move the actual windows around, when you grab them at the top and drag them. The beauty behind the gestures is that the laptop does a great job interpreting what you want to do. There are many other gestures you can do, like rotating your index finger and thumb on the glass track surface to rotate a picture. Or pinch your fingers together on the glass to shrink and image, while spreading apart your index finger after and thumb will create a zoom effect on photos.
If you go here:
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/features-17inch.html
and scroll down about half way, you'll see a Quicktime video with these gestures in action. I've tried them as well on a new MacBook Pro that my friend purchased, and it is really a productivity booster! Much better than the 2-inch wide pads that you typically find on PC laptops.
But the trackpad is just one of many other cool innovations that Apple came out with. I am actually more impressed with the idea that you can now run the laptop for 8 hours before needing to charge it, while running its 17-inch screen! Now that's impressive...
And I still am not a Mac guy, but getting very close to becoming one.. :-)
Steve
Yeah, I think you may have started hitting upon the benefits of the Apple Trackpad, but there are definitely more.
With the new Powerbooks, the trackpad is actually one big button. So if you press on the track pad hard enough, the entire pad will give under your fingers and give you a physical "click". Since there is now a button, the old buttons that accompany a trackpad are now removed, which means the trackpad itself is now huge, and totally manageable with your fingers.
For the Windows users, you can even assign a corner of the pad to click on the left or right to register like a typical windows mouse. It is completely customizable.
The finger motions you were talking about are called "gestures'. You are right--you can use one finger to point and click, or two fingers to scroll a page up and down. Three fingers will let you flip your browser forward and backwards, and four fingers lets you move the actual windows around, when you grab them at the top and drag them. The beauty behind the gestures is that the laptop does a great job interpreting what you want to do. There are many other gestures you can do, like rotating your index finger and thumb on the glass track surface to rotate a picture. Or pinch your fingers together on the glass to shrink and image, while spreading apart your index finger after and thumb will create a zoom effect on photos.
If you go here:
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/features-17inch.html
and scroll down about half way, you'll see a Quicktime video with these gestures in action. I've tried them as well on a new MacBook Pro that my friend purchased, and it is really a productivity booster! Much better than the 2-inch wide pads that you typically find on PC laptops.
But the trackpad is just one of many other cool innovations that Apple came out with. I am actually more impressed with the idea that you can now run the laptop for 8 hours before needing to charge it, while running its 17-inch screen! Now that's impressive...
And I still am not a Mac guy, but getting very close to becoming one.. :-)
Steve