I went to the Apple Store and tried it out. It feels a little better than my current MacBooks trackpad. Good times. I think the best part is being able to click at the very top, and the extra click after the first one if you press even harder. It's the little touches that add up, especially on things that you literally use thousands of times.. Maybe tens of thousands or more. I thought the keypresses felt sturdy, too. I think the force touch should not be used for a different function than the light touch, than its something else to remember. It should be used to control the same function at different levels.. Like fast forwarding speed or volume turned down quicker or muted.
It looks interesting. I'm glad Apple keeps innovating the keyboards and trackpads. Now I'd love a new mouse. Force touch, haptic feedback and a real, honest, mechanical flywheel for a scroll wheel ala Logitech's models. Most people I talk to like definite buttons and clicks. I'm sure the haptic feedback can replace the mechanical click feel but I never liked amorphous buttons. Clear separation for mice buttons is always nice.
I love the Logitech Anywhere MX mouse but it's a known engineering defect that single presses soon become double and triple presses.
I'm maybe a tad worried about the lack of depth that Jason Snell brought up on the new keyboard. Typing nuts rely on a certain 'feel' to maximize speed. Though I did max out at 129 wpm on an old mechanical typewriter in 7th grade...so I guess you can learn on anything.
I don't think you'd want it flush either, otherwise you'd end up with your finger sliding off onto the case.
Also if it touches the screen, glass-on-glass is going to cause scratches. (I have a $3500 Dell laptop where the plastic keyboard bezel gouged out chunks of the screen... not only can you see it, you can feel it with your fingernail.)
Let's get this out of the way up front: the Force Touch trackpad is really cool. The glass touch surface --the same found on every Apple notebook in recent memory --sits atop a totally redesigned chassis that relies on four strain gauges, one in each corner, to determine when and how hard the user is pressing down.
When it detects a press, it fires off a vibration from a series of disparately-sized electromagnets seated underneath the pad, designed to mimic the visceral snick that you get from the older trackpads.
The effect is stunning; it feels just like clicking with the previous generation, if a little softer and less jarring. Pressing down harder yields a deeper thunk that gives the impression of a significant deformation, even though the plate actually moves less than a millimeter.
Perhaps more impressive is that the effect stays the same, no matter where on the pad you press. In the middle, at the top, or deep into the corner, it feels like you're always pushing directly on the center of a very satisfying button.
You get a taste of the possibilities in Preview's new signatures pane. The old method -- writing your signature on a piece of paper and holding it up to the FaceTime camera --still works, but now you can also sign directly on the trackpad.
Using the pressure sensing APIs, Preview varies the width of the stroke based on how hard you press down. It's fairly impressive, capturing even the gradual taper that many people leave at the end of their final stroke.
Reading the highlighted text...
When it detects a press, it fires off a vibrationdesigned to mimic the visceral snick thatfeels just like clickingthat gives the impression of pushing directly on the center of a very satisfying button.
Writing your signature, now you can also sign directly on the trackpad.
Doesn't anyone realize the significance of this?
Think of Microsoft's Surface tablet with the Wacom digitizer and it's pressure sensitive pen...
Apple can incorporate the force touch tech into an iPad, and with the force touch technology, the iPad's screen will become a pressure sensitive digitizer - a hybrid of the Wacom digitizer and its pressure sensitive pen.
The iPad will finally allow you to be able to feel the button press of the keyboard, AND with a regular stylus, write directly on the screen, where you can use the iPad as a drawing pad.
I’ll reserve final judgement until I've tried it, but I'm not a fan of moving the trackpad. I like to just tap and be done with it. I've never liked the extra click you can theoretically do on the current trackpads.
I love the magic track pad and prefer it over a mouse. Since I use it in the living room with my TV hooked up to a mini I have never used the mechanical click feature and have always used tap to click and two finger tap to right click. I always thought is was much easier and should have been the default setting. The new track pad sounds great to me. I've yet to find a windows laptop you could comfortably use without a mouse.
My feelings and usage exactly. I'd also add gestures as being a killer feature on the Apple trackpads. I have used the Magic TrackPad since it first came out and have it on all of of my desktop Macs. I've never liked mice in any way, shape, or form and especially Apple's (sorry!). Before the Magic I was strictly a trackball user but the Magic turned me away from trackballs forever - although I'd imagine Apple could do a very interesting stationary trackball with 3D effects using a modified version of Force Touch.
I'd buy a More Magic TrackPad with Force Touch in a heartbeat if Apple makes it available.
*sigh* I just had to order a new lifecycle laptop at work; I got the 15" MBP. I really wish the 15" had been updated with the Force Touch, now I'll have to wait three years to get my fingers on one.
Perhaps I'm odd, but I find the glass trackpad - and the iPad - to hurt my fingertips after using them for very long. I don't have the same problem with the old plastic trackpads.
I wonder if Apple got this idea from Nintendo. The Balance Board also has four strain gauges.
I have a 2014 15" MBP and it's not level with the case.
My mid-2010 MBP's trackpad surface is very slightly recessed, although I'd never really paid attention to it. Stacking two Post-It note sheets makes it perfectly flush with the upper case, so now we know that.
I have mine set at the lightest setting and it is awesome. Scrolling over to something and being able to click without having to move lower on the trackpad first is a killer feature all by itself. Entering notes in a music scoring program really brings this home as no matter where you just moved the cursor to you can just lightly press and the note pops in. This is way more important than it seems because it affects everything you are doing as you do it.
The trackpad is slightly lower than the surface of the rest which I think is a good thing as you can better feel for where it is without looking and also feel where the boundary is.
It is impossible to oversell this new trackpad. I could see a keyboard working similarly, but having such a mechanism on each key is probably prohibitively expensive and would use too much space below the keyboard.
like ya'll have said it's these kind of things that make Apple. Not mhz. So is this basically like a Galaxy Note in a trackpad, with the addition of giving tactile feedback? If so that'd be awesome. Inkwell? Does it do handwriting recognition perhaps? Sensitive like the Note? I might have to just look at these units. Was beginning to think this would be another year of a whole lot of nothing on the laptop front.
InteliusQ... EXACTLY. That sounds awesome! I want one. They should also make a MacBook Air "Surface" edition. I'm telling ya'll I'd buy it. Others would. Worth a shot. Hey it'll sell more units than the Cube anyway.
Perhaps I'm odd, but I find the glass trackpad - and the iPad - to hurt my fingertips after using them for very long. I don't have the same problem with the old plastic trackpads.
I also get sore fingertip(s) after extensive (excessive) use!
Comments
I love the Logitech Anywhere MX mouse but it's a known engineering defect that single presses soon become double and triple presses.
I'm maybe a tad worried about the lack of depth that Jason Snell brought up on the new keyboard. Typing nuts rely on a certain 'feel' to maximize speed. Though I did max out at 129 wpm on an old mechanical typewriter in 7th grade...so I guess you can learn on anything.
I don't think you'd want it flush either, otherwise you'd end up with your finger sliding off onto the case.
Also if it touches the screen, glass-on-glass is going to cause scratches. (I have a $3500 Dell laptop where the plastic keyboard bezel gouged out chunks of the screen... not only can you see it, you can feel it with your fingernail.)
Let's get this out of the way up front: the Force Touch trackpad is really cool. The glass touch surface --the same found on every Apple notebook in recent memory --sits atop a totally redesigned chassis that relies on four strain gauges, one in each corner, to determine when and how hard the user is pressing down.
When it detects a press, it fires off a vibration from a series of disparately-sized electromagnets seated underneath the pad, designed to mimic the visceral snick that you get from the older trackpads.
The effect is stunning; it feels just like clicking with the previous generation, if a little softer and less jarring. Pressing down harder yields a deeper thunk that gives the impression of a significant deformation, even though the plate actually moves less than a millimeter.
Perhaps more impressive is that the effect stays the same, no matter where on the pad you press. In the middle, at the top, or deep into the corner, it feels like you're always pushing directly on the center of a very satisfying button.
You get a taste of the possibilities in Preview's new signatures pane. The old method -- writing your signature on a piece of paper and holding it up to the FaceTime camera --still works, but now you can also sign directly on the trackpad.
Using the pressure sensing APIs, Preview varies the width of the stroke based on how hard you press down. It's fairly impressive, capturing even the gradual taper that many people leave at the end of their final stroke.
Reading the highlighted text...
When it detects a press, it fires off a vibration designed to mimic the visceral snick that feels just like clicking that gives the impression of pushing directly on the center of a very satisfying button.
Writing your signature, now you can also sign directly on the trackpad.
Doesn't anyone realize the significance of this?
Think of Microsoft's Surface tablet with the Wacom digitizer and it's pressure sensitive pen...
Apple can incorporate the force touch tech into an iPad, and with the force touch technology, the iPad's screen will become a pressure sensitive digitizer - a hybrid of the Wacom digitizer and its pressure sensitive pen.
The iPad will finally allow you to be able to feel the button press of the keyboard, AND with a regular stylus, write directly on the screen, where you can use the iPad as a drawing pad.
I think I just described the iPad Pro.
I’ll reserve final judgement until I've tried it, but I'm not a fan of moving the trackpad. I like to just tap and be done with it. I've never liked the extra click you can theoretically do on the current trackpads.
As such, this is not a feature that interests me.
I love the magic track pad and prefer it over a mouse. Since I use it in the living room with my TV hooked up to a mini I have never used the mechanical click feature and have always used tap to click and two finger tap to right click. I always thought is was much easier and should have been the default setting. The new track pad sounds great to me. I've yet to find a windows laptop you could comfortably use without a mouse.
My feelings and usage exactly. I'd also add gestures as being a killer feature on the Apple trackpads. I have used the Magic TrackPad since it first came out and have it on all of of my desktop Macs. I've never liked mice in any way, shape, or form and especially Apple's (sorry!). Before the Magic I was strictly a trackball user but the Magic turned me away from trackballs forever - although I'd imagine Apple could do a very interesting stationary trackball with 3D effects using a modified version of Force Touch.
I'd buy a More Magic TrackPad with Force Touch in a heartbeat if Apple makes it available.
Dear Tim - I'd be willing to spend $80 for one.
*sigh* I just had to order a new lifecycle laptop at work; I got the 15" MBP. I really wish the 15" had been updated with the Force Touch, now I'll have to wait three years to get my fingers on one.
Perhaps I'm odd, but I find the glass trackpad - and the iPad - to hurt my fingertips after using them for very long. I don't have the same problem with the old plastic trackpads.
I wonder if Apple got this idea from Nintendo. The Balance Board also has four strain gauges.
I have a 2014 15" MBP and it's not level with the case.
My mid-2010 MBP's trackpad surface is very slightly recessed, although I'd never really paid attention to it. Stacking two Post-It note sheets makes it perfectly flush with the upper case, so now we know that.
The trackpad is slightly lower than the surface of the rest which I think is a good thing as you can better feel for where it is without looking and also feel where the boundary is.
It is impossible to oversell this new trackpad. I could see a keyboard working similarly, but having such a mechanism on each key is probably prohibitively expensive and would use too much space below the keyboard.
like ya'll have said it's these kind of things that make Apple. Not mhz. So is this basically like a Galaxy Note in a trackpad, with the addition of giving tactile feedback? If so that'd be awesome. Inkwell? Does it do handwriting recognition perhaps? Sensitive like the Note? I might have to just look at these units. Was beginning to think this would be another year of a whole lot of nothing on the laptop front.
InteliusQ... EXACTLY. That sounds awesome! I want one. They should also make a MacBook Air "Surface" edition. I'm telling ya'll I'd buy it. Others would. Worth a shot. Hey it'll sell more units than the Cube anyway.
Double post, sorry!
Perhaps I'm odd, but I find the glass trackpad - and the iPad - to hurt my fingertips after using them for very long. I don't have the same problem with the old plastic trackpads.
I also get sore fingertip(s) after extensive (excessive) use!
Will a spilled beverage seep into the computer?
A keyboard-sized control surface with Force Touch that would work with Apple's audio and video apps would be cool also.