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First....Neat stuff.... just need to figure out how it can help more than a track pad.....
pietermaes.com

Jul 29, 08 - 09:35 am Comment from: shen

now that is remote control.....

Jul 29, 08 - 09:37 am Comment from: British Mac Head

Ooh that's schweeeeet

I want to play with it now please

The New Macbook touch, I'll love the new slogan!...Twice the view...Half the battery life!

Jul 29, 08 - 10:24 am Comment from: dd

Looks awesome, but until battery technology gets better, it should get about 1/2 hour.

I am not sure I understand why an iphone like multi-touch area would be better than a plain old keyboard and trackpad with multi-touch features. It seems like as a user we would constantly be switching between looking at the screen and the multi-touch area. How is this better than ignoring completely the lower part because we know where everything is and focusing solely on the display?

The big new idea is what happens when you have a keyboard that is completely user-configurable? You'll be able to download specialized keyboards for different tasks - an IM keyboard, a Photoshop keyboard, a keyboard for bloggers, a keyboard for website developers, etc., and toggle between them. There will be animated keyboards, like the iPhone's, that anticipate the user. There will be alternative keyboard designs we' can't even imagine yet.

Or, clear away the entire keyboard to work with multitouch on a giant trackpad. Sketch on it.

This would be a stunning and revolutionary development.

This is a needed feature. Apple has a chance to change everything. I don't think it will look a clunky as the picture above based on what I am hearing.

Jul 29, 08 - 11:02 am Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

Crikey! This sends shivers down me spine!

Jul 29, 08 - 11:19 am Comment from: ChrisM

The touch keyboard on the iPhone is a tradeoff that allows more screen real estate and a small overall size of the device. Device and screen size are two of the driving forces in cell phone design. This is simply not the case for full sized laptops. Will anyone argue that a physical keyboard is not as responsive as a virtual one? I doubt it. Then why, if you have the real estate, would you choose a virtual keyboard over a physical one in this form factor? If you are going SFF or tablet, then yes, I could see a touch keyboard possibility. But for a clamshell laptop? There's no way they would replace the keyboard.

Jul 29, 08 - 11:21 am Comment from: Demon

The First steps in moving to Star Trek Next Generation Enterprise console configurations for the function and person using it.
Of course is Apple going to be the first to pull off a 100% user/function configurable multi touch surface for computer input.
I'd say they are and when they do it's going to slowly replace how people interact with computers and how computers are used. The old hardcore keyboard users, touch typing types will have a hard transition to a none mechanical keyboard current keyboard. Like the iPhone/iPod touch keyboards you'll have your old school die hard physical keyboard camp but as time goes by that number will shrink just as it is with iPhone Plastic chicklet key lovers.

Jul 29, 08 - 11:46 am Comment from: CYxodus

I think I know what Apple is going to do, they've going to replace the keyboard with a touch sensitive screen with auto-rising areas for the feel of a keyboard.

I hate to be the voice of reason here, but Apple is never going to get rid of the physical keyboard. The MacBook touch will have a 12" screen which is fully multi-touch capable with a regular physical keyboard as the lower half. Of course, you'll be able to twist or flip the screen so that it lies flat against the keyboard for times when you only want to interact with the touch screen.

The iPhone / iPod touch work without a keyboard for two reasons. First, there is not enough space for the form factor. This is not an issue with the form factor of a laptop. Second, the iPhone is not meant to be a data entry device. Sure, you can send a few quick IMs or enter a URL into the browser, but you're not going to write a book with it. However, a laptop is meant for text entry. The idea of even writing this comment on the iPhone or on a virtual keyboard on a slick piece of glass is silly.

Note: I just saw ChrisM's response and totally agree.

Glass is heavy.

A more useful implementation would be:

Replace the trackpad with a built-in Wacom that serves as a trackpad.

Jul 29, 08 - 02:57 pm Comment from: rasterbator

"We are working to develop new products that contain technologies that our competition will not be able to match." - Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, July 21, 2008

Uh, they are already doing that!

The key question is, if you were to replace the keyboard with a track pad, how much thinner can you make the MacBook (plain, Pro, or Air)? If you were to make the screen of a higher resolution, how much smaller can you make the form factor?

i'm horny now.