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Why doesn't the MacBook Air have the same trackpad as the MBP and MB?
- Thread starter mrsir2009
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This is the real reason. If you depress the Glass Trackpad, it will press further down than the Macbook Air is thick. I'm sure Apple is trying to figure out a solution to this problem.
People have been making this argument since the MB/MBP trackpads were introduced. It is flawed logic. Just because the trackpad Apple is using in the MB/MBPs is thicker or deeper than the MBA would allow doesn't mean Apple cannot make a single piece of glass that uses a buttonless design in the MBA. Understand that the criteria made for the MB/MBP may not be the same as the MBA, but that doesn't mean Apple cannot make the same component with same function given the space available in the MBA.
Apple could have had so many trackpads available since the MBA wasn't a big seller, that it didn't need to make new inventory and could be using its initial inventory of trackpads in the MBAs. I seriously doubt this is a limitation os space available in the MBA to create the design. While the exact same part Apple uses in the MB/MBP may not fit in the MBA, it doesn't mean Apple cannot make a "silky-smooth" glass buttonless trackpad for the MBA.
Forget not pressing it down "farther" than the MBA is deep/thick. Have you measured how far the button currently travels on the MBA? Is that not deep enough to make a "click?" Now tell me why Apple, who can create an iPad, iPhone, and Macs cannot create a glass buttonless trackpad that fits in the space of the MBA? Give me a real reason to believe you... not just a failed analogy if trackpad equals X in MBP, then trackpad must equal X in MBA. There is no proof the trackpad MUST equal X in the first place, so there's no reason the glass buttonless trackpad cannot be designed to fit in the MBA given its space limitations. These might look and function exactly the same to the end users of the MBP and MBA but the portion of the product not visible to the end user could be made thinner on the MBA so it fits within the space available in the MBA.
Sorry but I don't buy the logic that if the trackpad equals X in MBP that it must also equal X to provide the same user experience in the MBA. It simply means Apple couldn't use the trackpads from the current MBP in the current MBA. However, even that doesn't mean Apple cannot make a new trackpad for the MBA that also fits the same in the MBP and thereby allowing it to manufacture one trackpad that would work in all Mac notebooks.
I agree with you, and I clearly stated that Apple is working on a solution (meaning they can make the pad thinner). I was just trying to show that originally this was the delay. I am just as surprised as you that Apple did not introduce a glass trackpad yet, even if if was completely flat with a button. I expect something new is coming in the next version.
Yes, but why can't the whole trackpad be the button, like on the MBPs. It doesn't have to be glass. The whole thing just needs to be able to click. Or does that somehow take up too much room?