First Macbook Air multi-touch control panel screenshot

That's right, it's like you're looking into some crazy crystal ball, one which is showing you how all your future interactions with your Mac will be carried out... probably. Feast your eyes on this glimpse into the soon-to-arrive apocalyptic nightmare-world of gestures.

[Barry @ Jan 15th 2008 6:55PM]

Screen zoom is one of my favorite things about OS X. Glad they're building it into the touchpad.

[Larry @ Jan 15th 2008 7:17PM]

It's already built in. All you need to do is press Ctrl and use the two-finger scroll. Used it quite a bit already on my MacBook Pro.

[Dalton @ Jan 15th 2008 7:36PM]

@Larry - Holy crap, that works on my G4 Powerbook, too. Nice!

[Mike @ Jan 15th 2008 8:22PM]

It works on my iBook G4, too!

Thanks for the tip, Larry!

[JDizzle @ Jan 15th 2008 9:08PM]

The only Mac I've ever used was my friends Macbook and I was just wondering what makes these Macbook Air laptops worth $1800?

[Carl Vitullo @ Jan 15th 2008 9:18PM]

duh, they're sexy.
i mean, jesus, did you think that's what the components cost?

[steve @ Jan 16th 2008 3:23AM]

it's 3/4 of an inch thick! That's why it's so expensive. TBH it's about in range with most other ultra portables.
I've been looking for something like this for some time, I may have found exactly what I wanted. It'd be my first mac, but for this hardware, it may be worth it. Then again, the change in personality that comes with it may not be.

[Dr. Benway @ Jan 16th 2008 3:56PM]

I believe it's entirely useless on the touchpad. Cmd-+ is so much easier than pinching on a mouse pad. I see the only real use is that it will impress the person next to you on the bus/train/plane, while they struggle to get Vista to read a CD.

[Josh @ Jan 15th 2008 6:56PM]

I wish there was someway to turn my MacBook touchpad (bought the thing two months ago) into a Multi-Touchpad. I know the hardware isn't there but maybe someone will somehow develop some software that can do it for me.

[Mitch @ Jan 15th 2008 7:18PM]

Sigh, just like someone might be able to right some software to give my iPod Touch bluetooth..?

[Josh @ Jan 15th 2008 7:20PM]

Was it ever confirmed whether or not the Touch even had a bluetooth chip in it?

[CcntMnky @ Jan 15th 2008 7:49PM]

Why isn't the hardware there? It supports two fingers at the same time, and this is just a different use of that capability. The three-finger support may or may not work, but it looks like there's only one feature that uses it.

[MrNako @ Jan 15th 2008 9:55PM]

The three-finger tapping does work on the current trackpad of my MacBook since that's the right click on Ubuntu. I'm 100% sure these new features of the "multi-touch trackpad" of the MacBook Air is possible to achieve on the current MacBooks through software.

[Ian Armstrong @ Jan 15th 2008 10:20PM]

The disections I've seen show the same basic control chip in the iPhone and iTouch - which can be ordered with or without onboard Bluetooth. The exact chip is written down at home... so you don't get to find out what it is today.

That said - the iPhone contains an a/b/g WiFi chip *without* the bluetooth on board. BT is handled by a seperate daughter chip.

Unfortunately, the absense of a BT daughter chip on the iTouch makes it highly unlikely that the WiFi chip has the on-board feature. I mean... why order a different varient for the Touch if you aren't going to use it? Manufacturing just doesn't work like that.

So, sadly, the only band you aren't getting on your iTouch... is likely WiFi A.

[dan kass @ Jan 15th 2008 6:58PM]

so this does mean you can use a mouse like with a regular notebook/laptop?

[mike @ Jan 15th 2008 7:08PM]

Yes - note the checkbox stating "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present"

[Eh @ Jan 15th 2008 7:09PM]

10.5.2?

[Stu L Tissimus @ Jan 15th 2008 7:15PM]

Are we so sure that the old Macbook/Pro won't be getting this? I mean, I know my MBP can detect when I'm using two fingers. Hell, I'm using the two finger scroll gesture right now.

[Josh @ Jan 15th 2008 7:18PM]

Exactly. My MacBook has the same thing. Hopefully someone will figure it out.

[bob @ Jan 15th 2008 7:39PM]

there is a hardware diference between knowing two seperate touch points and knowing things like their location and more than 2 touch positions im afraid, maybe next rev.

[fuma @ Jan 15th 2008 7:25PM]

wrong finger... seriously engadget... are we doomed to a plethora of "first looks" from this piece of dog pile for days on end now?

First look at the cursor...
first look at the spinning beachball...
first look at the error message saying you can't connect to your network...
first look at someone throwing it across the room...

i think it's time to set gizmodo as my home page... wait they're just as mac-slappy today too... geez.. there's got to be other news today!

[Ian @ Jan 15th 2008 7:36PM]

yes there is other news, and guess what its even posted!!! OMG dude get over it CES had like a billion differnt HD TV's most of which i skipped right over. and yes there were some pretty kick ass things from CES. But now its MacWorld time. if you dont like it dont read it

[Tim @ Jan 15th 2008 7:47PM]

Fuma has a point. Spare us the lame posts by compiling them in a full review or something.

The headline is about as lame as posting "First!" to a blog or news article.

[bob @ Jan 15th 2008 7:41PM]

what a fool, not only did you read an article you werent interested in, you spent time commenting on it and then confirming your comment to post it....saaad.

[Zak @ Jan 15th 2008 7:55PM]

fuma - Were you bitching when Engadget was reporting dozens upon dozens of pages worth of CES stories without a single Apple story in sight? "Gee, there's got to be other news besides CES today!" Yeah, I didn't think so. Cry me a river.

[DelSource @ Jan 15th 2008 8:05PM]

Zak (and other Apple suckups),

The difference is we weren't presented with pictures of the latest Bravia's menus, articles (sic) about Samsung's store coming down for an update, 11 posts in half a day on the same product....etc etc.

As for the usual whine of "if you don't like it don't read it/go elsewhere", well, I have one thing to say in answer to that:

Say that to Engadgets sponsors and see what they think of that.

[JeromeOD @ Jan 15th 2008 8:23PM]

well , the servers got overloaded with people hitting them for info today, so guess what? I think AOL probably wants them doing stories about macworld. duh.

[Constable Odo @ Jan 15th 2008 8:32PM]

@DelSource

Tough titties. We can't always get what we want. Suck it up for a day or so. Hahahaha.

[Erick @ Jan 15th 2008 7:26PM]

I banking on this as an driver for macbooks. Could be wrong though as I can only seem to move one finger at a time on mine (for scrolling and such).

[Curtis @ Jan 15th 2008 7:46PM]

I'm pretty sure it's not possible to do it as a driver upgrade, though if it is I'm sure they'll happily be charging $20 for it!

[e @ Jan 15th 2008 7:27PM]

hey, no trackpad shortcuts. So no multi-touch customizing?

[ChodalBerryWagon @ Jan 15th 2008 7:34PM]

What is this, apple.com?
every single article on the front page is about something mac...

[Dalton @ Jan 15th 2008 7:38PM]

Gee, I wonder why?

[David @ Jan 15th 2008 7:38PM]

Thats because today is the keynote for Macworld 2008.

[Curtis @ Jan 15th 2008 7:40PM]

Hhhhmmmm, it almost looks like some big apple event was today...oh wait it was.

[mcatrage @ Jan 15th 2008 7:59PM]

Apple news gets engadget tons of hits hence 20 articles when 2 or 3 would do. If more linux people came to engadget maybe they would have mentioned that KDE4 was released but no this is apple territory.

[Carl Vitullo @ Jan 15th 2008 9:21PM]

oo oo let me make a fourth comment about there being macworld! :D

[Ian @ Jan 15th 2008 7:37PM]

dude MacWorld just started today. did you see people complaining when CES started and THATS all there was? no get over it man

[Curtis @ Jan 15th 2008 7:47PM]

That went right over your head didn't it...

[!!! @ Jan 15th 2008 9:25PM]

A post by Ian, followed by a post by Curtis.

Oh loooove, love will tear us aparrrt, tonight. :D

[Macha88 @ Jan 15th 2008 7:56PM]

so it can tell if your giving the bird to it?

[Jimbo @ Jan 15th 2008 7:56PM]

Are apple planning a PRICE CUT on the iPod touches??
Ive just visited the UK site and in the compare section it says 8GB £186 and the 16GB £256!!

Im hoping this is just a miss type. Because costly updates and price slashes all in one day!! A early ipod touch buyer cant take much more!

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=browse&mco=7B723644&node=home/shop_ipod/family/ipod_touch

[Warren @ Jan 15th 2008 8:15PM]

To all the haters:

You're missing the point of this post. Multi-touch has never been used in notebook hardware. So, the author just wanted to show everyone what the settings look like, what can be controlled/modified, etc.

And shut up about "nomg 2 much aple!" When a company's products are revolutionary and are dominating a market, they damn well deserve some topics.

[Tony @ Jan 15th 2008 8:57PM]

I have never seen the Aero interface on notepad yet either. Make an article for that too!

[JustinM @ Jan 16th 2008 12:40PM]

So what's revolutionary about this aside from requiring factory maintenance every couple years?

And what computer market is Apple dominating, exactly? Just because they dominate the PMP market doesn't mean they dominate all consumer electronics.

[therpham @ Jan 15th 2008 8:25PM]

My brain combined
"Three fingers
Swipe to navigate"
into
"Three finger salute"
at first glance.

[Adam @ Jan 15th 2008 9:00PM]

Yep... knew I should have stayed away from Engadget today. I figured it would be bad, but when 43 out of the last 45 articles posted are about Apple I call that somewhat excessive.

[John @ Jan 15th 2008 9:11PM]

However, that's a great made up statistic. And most of the posts have one or two lines after them, they're just for showing hands-on pictures of the brand spanking new products. I hear a freaking wahmbulance. shut up.

[ZeroCorpse @ Jan 16th 2008 1:59PM]

So do you go to political blogs on election day and complain that all they're talking about are the candidates and the elections?

Do me a favor: Use the $25 you saved buying a PC and buy yourself a clue.

[!!! @ Jan 15th 2008 9:29PM]

You know, to be honest, I'm kinda let down by today's announcement. I was really banking on a MacBook Touch with a multi-touch screen. You would not believe how much fun and useful that would be.