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Aluminum Unibody MacBook Q&A - Published November 8, 2008
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How does the "Multi-Touch" trackpad on the "Unibody" MacBook and MacBook Pro work? How does it feel?
At first glance, no doubt many will see the "Unibody" MacBook and MacBook Pro models and wonder how to use a trackpad without a button. In marketing copy, Apple explains that the:
Trackpad doubles as a button -- just press down anywhere and consider it clicked. No separate button means there's 39 percent more room for your fingers to move on the silky glass surface. Now that Multi-Touch gestures have come to MacBook, all the function is in your fingers. Use two fingers to scroll up and down a page. Pinch to zoom in and out. Swipe with three fingers to flip through your photo libraries. Rotate to adjust an image with your fingertips. Using the new four-finger swipe gesture, swipe up or down to access Exposé modes and left or right to switch between open applications.
In practical use, however, reviewers were decidedly mixed about the multi-touch trackpad.
In perhaps the most glowing terms -- although the reviewer also noted the need for some "fine tuning" -- the always outstanding MacInTouch [no longer online] found that:
The feel is superb. The surface is smoother than a traditional trackpad's, with a matte finish that provides an excellent mix of slip and stick. Apple's pride in the feel of their their new trackpad is well justified.
The WSJ's legendary Walt Mossberg found it took some practice:
At first, I found its surface so slippery that I had trouble accurately placing the cursor on the item I wanted to select. But three other people I asked to test this had no such trouble, and my own woes with this disappeared after a few days, either because I got more used to it, or because the surface picked up enough dirt to become less slick.
The widely regarded Engadget blog more bluntly weighed in with:
After a week of use, we found the trackpad to be largely comfortable, though at the end of the day we would have preferred a physical button (or two) to this solution. It may be elegant, but it's less functional or natural.
Perhaps most disturbingly, the well respected AnandTech reported that:
While I wasn't won over by the gestures, I would be fine with the new trackpad if it didn't have so many problems. I have had some issues with clicks not registering; I'm not sure if this is a hardware problem or a software one. The trackpad would physically click but the click wouldn't register in OS X. This problem appeared more on the MacBook Pro than the MacBook, and it didn't matter where I clicked on the pad, it just wouldn't register. Eventually it would sort itself out and everything would be back to normal.
Ultimately, with all functions involving "feel" you may wish to evaluate a system in person prior to purchase to see if you like the trackpad on the "Unibody" MacBooks or would prefer to purchase an older Mac notebook -- or a MacBook Air -- that has a "traditional" button below the trackpad.
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