Original MacBook Air Capable of 4 Finger Gestures Through Software Update
Hardmac points back to a post made in our own forums which details the experience of one user enabling four finger gestures on his 1st generation MacBook Air.
When Apple introduced the new notebooks in October, they introduced a new four-finger gesture that could be used to invoke Expose. It hadn't been clear if the four-finger gesture would be possible on existing multi-touch trackpads which have shipped in the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro since early 2008.
Update: First-generation MacBook Air is now available at a large discount.
I can confirm the four finger gesture is possible on pre-October 2008 laptops, and I currently have four finger Expos and Application Switching working on my January 2008 MacBook Air.
This method is very much a "hack" at this time and is certainly not recommended for the casual user, but does suggest that Apple could enable the four-finger gestures on early 2008 MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs through a simple software update.When Apple introduced the new notebooks in October, they introduced a new four-finger gesture that could be used to invoke Expose. It hadn't been clear if the four-finger gesture would be possible on existing multi-touch trackpads which have shipped in the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro since early 2008.
Update: First-generation MacBook Air is now available at a large discount.
Top Rated Comments
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42 months ago
That's great. Too bad Apple probably won't do that. Someone needs to come out with a user-friendly way to do this, however. I would gladly pay for the ability to use four finger gestures on my 1st gen Air.
42 months ago
I don't think its a shock to anyone that this is possible on pre-October 2008 models. It's just apple being apple
42 months ago
I wonder just how much of "gesturing" is really hardware-based if this pans out.
42 months ago
Would a similar version of this "hack" work on previous-edition Macbooks? Or did the Macbooks ever get 4-fingered gestures?
42 months ago
Has Apple ever been known to backwards-enable new functionality in old products? Not that I can think of, but I'm curious.
42 months ago
Has Apple ever been known to backwards-enable new functionality in old products? Not that I can think of, but I'm curious.
Ipod Touch software updates, anyone? ;)
42 months ago
Would a similar version of this "hack" work on previous-edition Macbooks? Or did the Macbooks ever get 4-fingered gestures?
The pre-multitouch laptops have trackpads designed by Synaptics rather than Apple, if I recall.
42 months ago
Would a similar version of this "hack" work on previous-edition Macbooks? Or did the Macbooks ever get 4-fingered gestures?
Previous generation MacBooks will not be able to.
There are 3 different types of trackpads out there:
Regular trackpad (non Multi-Touch) which does offer two finger scrolling
Multi-Touch Trackpad - came with MBA and Early 2008 MBPs
Glass Multi-Touch Trackpad - came with Oct 2008 MBs and MBPs
It seems the functionality of the Glass and the non Glass multi-touch are similar enough that they can both detect 4-finger gestures. I don't believe it's possible for the regular trackpads to do anything but what they already do.
arn
42 months ago
Apple for the longest time opposed a two button mouse, now they expect us to use two or more fingers? This is outrageous. Maybe in the future we can reboot our macs using a 12-finger gesture.
42 months ago
Thanks, Jeff and Arn, for the reply to my question.
LOL. That made me crack up. :D
Apple for the longest time opposed a two button mouse, now they expect us to use two or more fingers? This is outrageous. Maybe in the future we can reboot our macs using a 12-finger gesture.
LOL. That made me crack up. :D
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