Test driving Apple's Force Touch trackpad
Test driving Apple's Force Touch trackpad
2:49

Test driving Apple's Force Touch trackpad

Laptops
[MUSIC] I'm Dan Ackerman, and I'm here with an updated version of Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro that includes the new Force Touch trackpad, which is a new feature that you're gonna get on the still-unreleased 12-inch MacBook that everyone is very excited about. Even though it looks the same, it works a lot differently. The big difference is an older trackpad. I do have kind of a hinge along the top, and the whole pad would click down like this when you press on it. In this pad, you can click down from anywhere, and if you press harder, you'll click down again a second time, kind of a step movement, bump bump, and then back up, bump bump, like that. However, the pad's not actually moving. What you're getting is a little bit of haptic force feedback, a little push back against your finger that gives you the illusion. That the hand is actually clicking down even when it's not. It's remarkable, even when you know what's happening. On the new force touch track bend, this is still a tiny bit of flex to glass, but it's not actually the same as clicking down. That second step in clicking in the new Four-Step Traphead, that gives you contextual responses depending on what you're doing. I can highlight a word here and then click down really hard on it, and I'm gonna get like a dictionary definition. Or I can choose another word and click on it, and I can get a Wikipedia definition and I can get news stories related to it. Or if I'm looking up where someplace is and I have an address I can click on it with that, again, that deeper force click and it's gonna pop up a map. I wanted to find out what would happen when we showed people the new track pen and let them try it, and then told them what was happening under their fingers. And now, press down harder. Click it, and then click down more. Oh. And you can see two layers. Um-bum, and then bum-bum like that. It does. Nothing is actually happening. The touch pane is not actually moving. Well, I know that. But it does feel like it's moving actually. There's a little bit of a haptic feedback. It's giving you a little jab, a little shuffle kind kind of. But it's not actually going down. Something actually has to be moving. Feels like a desk. [INAUDIBLE] Like step, step. There's a step yes, but it's not actually going down. Really? Giving a little like I'm completely convinced that you stepped down. Now take your finger and put it on there and press deeper. Oh. Feel a second level? That's weird. A little step up and down? Now here's the weird thing. The pad is not actually going down at all. It's not? It's an illusion. What do you mean? No. It's haptic feedback, it's giving you a little jog that makes it feel like you're pressing it down. Oh wow. For now you can only get the new. Force Touch trackpad in this updated 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro, although it'll be coming in April to the 12 inch super slim MacBook. And I bet in the next generation of all the other MacBooks, you'll get it as well. I'm Dan Ackerman with Apple's new Force Touch trackpad. [MUSIC]

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