The space at the bottom of the laptops on the left and to the right of the trackpad for a long time does not give rest to Apple engineers. It is used exclusively as a support for the user's hand, which is valuable and healthy - but wasteful. Square millimeter of the surface of the laptop for gold weight. What they just did not offer here - but finally, it seems that these areas have found an application that does not cause objections. They, like some other area of the surface of the laptop, could affect the touch of the user with vibration, reporting on the results of its actions or events in the system. Not attracting the attention of others, not distracting the user and without knocking it from the working rhythm.
Tactile feedback has long and successfully used in smartphones. All the bumps on this path are already stuffed, all the errors that could be done, corrected. Since 2015, it is used in Apple Trekpada - in Apple Magic Trackpad 2 and in those that are built into MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. In addition, as far as I know, tactile feedback in laptops is still not applied.
Smartphones vibrate with all their hull - it does not like it for laptops.
Only the area selected to transmit the signal should vibrate in the laptops. Or several areas if there is a need. But the surface of the housing outside the vibrating regions should remain fixed. The meaning of a particular vibration is determined by its place and character of vibration, therefore the accuracy of the positioning of tactile returns is particularly important.
New MacBook will be taught to vibrate?
It is not a rumor, not an analytics of an analytics and not intercepting the correspondence of economic entities. On March 9, the American Bureau for Patents and Trademarks (USPTO) issued an Apple patent entitled "Portable Computing Device with Discrete Tactile Regions." The patent describes the essence of the invention and the important aspects of its implementation in abstract devices. Ways to limit the vibrations of a given area, for this, special partitions are used under the surface of the case, and much more.
As it should be expected, the implementation of tactile feedback in certain areas of the surface is a non-trivial problem. On some aspects of implementation in the text is not reported. For example, about measures to prevent the destruction of areas of the hull, the surface of which is subjected to vibration. The source is official, although from what is described in patents (Each week, Apple receives them, at least 50 pieces), a very small number of inventions is used in Apple's products. But in this particular case, everything is so real, relatively simple and is obviously useful, which can be hoped for an exception to the rules. Wait and see.
Tactile return will appear in MacBook 2021?
This year, Mac computers should change not only internally, but also externally. The design of many of them practically did not change for almost a decade. Apple indirectly confirmed this. A year ago, one of the journalists asked Tim Cukus. Question:
Rumors that Apple is going to radically change the appearance of MACs and block the model range, and before that. Some form factors will go to the past (IMAC Pro?), New, Mac will appear again in the focus of the company and they are waiting for great things. New laptops, 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro are expected to this fall. Or even in spring. Are you waiting for new mappuki? Would you like this chip? Tell me in the comments or in our chat in Telegram.
The patent came out surprising on time. If discrete tactile areas are really going to apply in these models, it would be necessary to protect the copyright for this invention now. Patent - not instructions for embedding this function in a laptop. About problems without which embedding will not be accurate, and about how to overcome them or bypass, it is not reported. In some companies (Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi and others) powerful brain centers, which are quite a hint - to the rest they will reach themselves. This will require a lot of time. With all the simplicity and clearness of the idea, its implementation is nontrivial.
If discrete tactile areas appear in 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, after the start of their sales, the samples for copying will appear in companies that American authorities and patents do not bother - for example, Huawei. If the function will seem to be attention to them, and they will understand how to repeat it, they will repeat it. It may even earlier than it appears in the MacBook AIR, the design of which should be updated only next year.