Apple patent shows idea for how to make trackpad invisible on future MacBooks

Apple’s
2018 MacBook Pro with the trackpad photoshopped out by yours
truly.
Apple/modifications by Business
Insider

• Recent Apple patent filings show that the company has
  interesting ideas for Mac laptop keyboards and
  trackpads.
• The patent designs show Apple could theoretically ditch
  the normal trackpad for a version that could encompass the
  entire top section of the laptop where the keyboard
  lies. 
• Even the keyboard itself could be used for certain
  gestures you’d usually make on a trackpad. 

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A recent patent filing from Apple, spotted by
Apple Insider, shows a Mac laptop without its famous
trackpad.

Indeed, in the filing Apple described a “computing device” that
“may omit the trackpad.”

Instead, one of Apple’s ideas is to turn the entire area
“below the keyboard (e.g., the palm rest region), the areas
along the lateral sides of the keyboard, and even the keyboard
itself” into a giant trackpad. Yes, that essentially means the
entire top surface of a Mac laptop. 

United States Patent and Trademark
Office

It would also mean some changes to the Mac keyboard as we know
it. Instead of buttons for keys, a Mac with a keyboard you can
use as a trackpad could be “virtual,” much like the iPhone and
iPad’s keyboards. The patent also described keys that you can
press down, but could still be used for gestures you might make
on a trackpad, like scrolling down a web page with two
fingers. 

Having a keyboard that could register mouse-like movements and
gestures isn’t brand new. BlackBerry’s done a version of it with
its space bar on its smartphones, where you can swipe down on the
button to scroll down a web page or app.

The company also has ideas to change switch out the metal on the
top part of the laptop — where the keyboard
lies — with glass or plastic with light shining through it
to indicate keys and the trackpad area.

To be clear, these are simply patents, not a sure-fire
indication of what to expect. We may never see these ideas come
to fruition, but they do offer a fascinating look into all the
possibilities Apple’s designers dream up.