Will next Apple notebook take cues from iPhone?

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Does anyone think that Apple will incorporate any of its multi-touch technology in its next major revision of notebooks?



I'm thinking of a much better keyboard and more accurate trackpad...What do you think?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    I wonder if Apple would do away from a traditional keyboard and just have a dual screen laptop. Bundle it with a stylus (for graphic tablet ability), have multi-mode keyboards in different languages, Dvorak, a real number pad, etc. And how about keyboard plugins? In Photoshop, who needs the full keyboard unless you are entering text? How about a context sensitive tool area?



    The biggest con would definately be the lack of tactile feel.



    Other than that, I thinkn it's safe to assume the next MacBook/Pro will have the faster wireless.
  • Reply 2 of 16
    Quote:

    I wonder if Apple would do away from a traditional keyboard and just have a dual screen laptop. Bundle it with a stylus (for graphic tablet ability), have multi-mode keyboards in different languages, Dvorak, a real number pad, etc. And how about keyboard plugins? In Photoshop, who needs the full keyboard unless you are entering text? How about a context sensitive tool area?



    The biggest con would definately be the lack of tactile feel.



    Other than that, I thinkn it's safe to assume the next MacBook/Pro will have the faster wireless.



    Not sure it will arrive in the next laptop update. But surely this is on the cards for the future?



    The iPhone screams Star Trek tech'. How long before Mac LCDs/laptops/computers get the iPhone treatment?



    Lemon Bon Bon
  • Reply 3 of 16
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Not sure how the iPhone affects the keyboard, but a programable multi-touch track pad seems inevitable. Two finger scrolling and right click are baby steps in that direction.



    I think at the moment a laptop screen with the iPhones capacities would be prohibitively expensive, but how cool would direct object manipulation be? I'm thinking of Aperture with the kind of light box tricks we saw in that multi-touch demo which I can't be bothered to find the link for right now.
  • Reply 4 of 16
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Outsider View Post


    I wonder if Apple would do away from a traditional keyboard and just have a dual screen laptop.



    Why dual screen? Just have one display. The lack of tactile feedback would make dual screens a bit useless except for workspace but then you'd be massively increasing cost as well as cutting battery life significantly. If they made a taller screen to account for there being a soft keyboard (back to 4:3), we could get our old laptop sizes back. I would absolutely love a 4:3 12" touch screen laptop with a 1280x1024 resolution (a keyboard would take it down to 1280x800).
  • Reply 5 of 16
    I think it would work, but not with the iphone type screen as a whole second screen. Maybe as a trackpad LCD below the keyboard, programmable to show extra app controls, widgets etc (I'm thinking of it being somewhere inbetween the MS Vista sideshow laptop screens and an Optimus 3 key display, but as a trackpad.
  • Reply 6 of 16
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    Why dual screen? Just have one display. The lack of tactile feedback would make dual screens a bit useless except for workspace but then you'd be massively increasing cost as well as cutting battery life significantly. If they made a taller screen to account for there being a soft keyboard (back to 4:3), we could get our old laptop sizes back. I would absolutely love a 4:3 12" touch screen laptop with a 1280x1024 resolution (a keyboard would take it down to 1280x800).



    Maybe I didn't elaborate enough but the second screen would be where the keyboard and trackpad are now and would be a lower resolution, not as bright and power hungry, but have multitouch technology. It would eat up more power than a traditional keyboard and trackpad, but progress is always being made in battery technology... I'm not married to the idea, but it's certainly possible.
  • Reply 7 of 16
    Yea we know but its a stupid idea so were discussing other possibilities...
  • Reply 8 of 16
    macroninmacronin Posts: 1,174member
    Part of the 200+ patents Apple filed towards multi-touch interface has a diagram of a laptop, with the section usually occupied by the trackpad filled in with a full-chassis width LCD screen...
  • Reply 9 of 16
    I mentioned in another thread the idea of a keyboard that was user-definable, which would be great for a portable.



    The multi-touch pad would have a "standard" keyboard layout but would also allow the user to create new keyboards by designing the layout (I want five keys of this size over here, with a scroll pad here...) using a small app. That way, lefties could configure it best for them, righties could do the same, people with special needs could have their own keyboards, musicians could have a layout (presto: keyboard, recording controls, mixer controls, etc), and so on.



    Apple applied for some interchangeable keyboard patent, but I think it is a software interchangeability that is coming.



    In many new apps, you can make linkable items (any object can become a button). Now Apple could have DesignYourOwnKeyboard.
  • Reply 10 of 16
    ryukyuryukyu Posts: 450member
    Why would you want a separate track pad when you can just use your finger right on the display?
  • Reply 11 of 16
    Detachable.
  • Reply 12 of 16
    ryukyuryukyu Posts: 450member
    I must be really dense.

    Why do you want it detachable?

    It's analogous to a standard Wacom vs. a Cintiq. All things being equal, why would you want to draw on a surface that is removed from your interface, when you could draw directly on it?

    I would think that the point of the touch screen would be to further advance the user interface experience, not to just find another way of doing the same old thing.
  • Reply 13 of 16
    Of course both are a great idea. I also think a multitouch pad would make a great keyboard for a desktop.

    A portable computer, with a detachable keyboard could be mounted upright to some degree. I don't know about you, but I get a real pain in my neck hunched over a laptop for any length of time. Just dreaming; I haven't slept in 48 hours, and I guess it is beginning to show.



    THe super sub compact model of course should have a tablet format, type on the screen.



    One can always dream.



    Good night.
  • Reply 14 of 16
    I don't expect Apple to incorporate multi-touch into its desktop or notebook PCs. While I agree that the technology is terrific, I can't think of a good reason why it should be used in anything but a handheld computer, other than the novelty of such an input method.
  • Reply 15 of 16
    Multi-touch style pinch zooming and a few other multi-finger gesture-related trackpad features and improvements is in all likelihood all we will see from the next Macbooks.
  • Reply 16 of 16
    slewisslewis Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DHagan4755 View Post


    Does anyone think that Apple will incorporate any of its multi-touch technology in its next major revision of notebooks?



    I'm thinking of a much better keyboard and more accurate trackpad...What do you think?



    In a word, No.



    In a few words, if you're talking about improving the Trackpad, then sure, but it already has 2 finger scrolling that does what the iPhone does, only you don't pinch you move 2 fingers forward.



    Sebastian
Sign In or Register to comment.