

As a MacBook Air user, I will have to seriously consider switching back to the MacBook now that it’s gained these new features and lightened its load by half a pound. The new MacBook isn’t close to the three-pound Air on weight, but it’s noticeably lighter than its predecessor and it’s cheaper and faster than the Air.

With its new complement of previously-Pro-only features and its lighter weight, people who have been considering the MacBook Air will probably want to give that purchase some more consideration. Swipe left or right and the application switcher appears.Īt 4.5 pounds, the new MacBook is half a pound lighter than the old version. Flick down with the same four fingers, and Expose shows all windows.
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Place four fingers on the trackpad and flick them up, and Expose hides all your windows and exposes the desktop. The laptops’ new four-finger gestures are built into the system and can’t be customized, but they’re still pretty cool. (There’s no support for any additional button mappings, however.) So the no-button laptop can act as a two-button laptop after all. In other words, if you click in the bottom corner of the trackpad, it can be registered as a right-click. You can program either the bottom right or left corner of the trackpad to act as a secondary mouse button. The gestures supported by the past generation of laptops are still there, including two-finger scrolling, pinching and spreading fingers to zoom in and out, and swiping three fingers to navigate forward and back.īut the new trackpad has a few new tricks up its sleeve. With the new trackpad come a new set of supported multi-finger gestures, all configured via the new Trackpad preference pane. It definitely doesn’t feel like you’re running your finger across a pane of glass, though that’s what it is. The sensation of moving your fingers across it is a little disconcerting there’s friction but not a lot of texture. But it’s smoother than an old-style Apple trackpad. It’s painted the same color as the MacBook’s aluminum body. The new trackpad looks pretty much like the old trackpad. (For clicking and dragging, you’ll basically still need two fingers.) And of course, those who are adventurous will get used to pressing with their index finger as they mouse around, giving their thumbs a break. The trackpad is smart enough not to get confused by the presence of a finger and a thumb on the trackpad. However, it’s a pretty easy step to just slide your hand up on the trackpad so that you continue to point with one finger and click on the pad with your thumb.

Longtime users of Apple laptops will find it quite a bit disconcerting to reach below the trackpad with their thumbs, only to find no button there. One of the most ballyhooed new features of these MacBooks is the new clickable glass trackpad. (Previously the MacBook Pro’s slot was on the front.) Yes, this means that the new MacBook joins the MacBook Air in not offering any sort of FireWire connectivity. Both models offer a slot-loading SuperDrive on the right side.
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In addition to the ports shared by the two systems, the MacBook Pro offers a single FireWire 800 port (yes, you can buy a FireWire 800 to FireWire 400 adapter) and an ExpressCard slot hidden behind an aluminum door. The MacBook Pro, which previously offered most of its ports on its left side-but with a few ports on the right-has joined the MacBook in offering ports on only one side. So far as I can tell, the speakers are more or less the same as in past generations. And the MacBook continues to have its stereo speakers embedded right next to the display’s hinge, so that the sound can bounce off the screen. The MacBook Pro’s prominent speaker grille holes on both sides of its keyboard are now much smaller, owing to Apple’s new production process. Yeah, it’ll be more work and more cost, but it’s not as if there isn’t an option out there if you just can’t stand the glossy look. However, since the displays are a single span of glass, there’s an easy solution for fans of anti-glare-coated displays: if they don’t already, companies will no doubt begin to make screen protectors, like those already available for the iPhone, that you can apply to your display in order to remove the shine and return an old-school matte finish. In my extensive time with the MacBook Air over the past few months, I’ve found that the bright LED-lit screen could overpower just about every bright, glaring location you could think of. Users who are fans of the matte finish on the MacBook Pro are going to be quite disappointed about these new systems’ standardization, iMac style, on a glossy glass-covered display.
