Do you remember the ThinkPad, the laptop that drowned between the keys of the keyboard had that curious red dot called Trackpoint that acted in the place of a mouse? Well, thirty years have passed since that lucky PC, which, precisely because of the brilliant idea of that sort of “built-in mouse”, had a resounding success.
Apple today is thinking of something similar, albeit completely different. Allow us the pun, which we try to explain. In Cupertino, in short, they are trying to understand how to equip MacBook Pro with an “internal” mouse and among the solutions under development there is one that is suggestive, to say the least, according to which a key on the keyboard would be removable to become through and through a little mouse.
WE PROCEED WITH CAUTION
The Deployable Key Mouse, as defined in the patent, is a sign that this technology is taken quite seriously. The idea of the mouse inserted inside a button that can be pulled out came to Paul X. Wang, the prolific inventor of Apple who is responsible, among other things, for the patent on the curved glass iMac. But let’s not digress. ” The removable mouse – reads the patent – can have a position sensor, so that it can be used as a computer pointing device “.
Apple knows that the idea of the mouse embedded in a key on the keyboard of its MacBooks of the future will only follow if it gives users a real advantage. The patent application reads:
Over the years, the mouse has undergone a number of innovations, including the addition of a right and a left button, a scroll wheel, an optical sensor, and a sensor for wireless communication with the computer. On laptops and tablets, you benefit from using an external peripherals such as a mouse, which however forces you to carry separate hardware with you. The idea is to make this external device redundant and to rely on an integrated pointing device.
LONG LIVE THE TRACKPAD
The integrated and removable mouse will not replace the trackpad but will represent an additional opportunity for users who have to perform special operations. Indeed, maybe it will be integrated with it, coming to define new gestures that for now, we do not yet know.
Curiosity rises, but there are still many problems to be solved. The mouse in question, although very small, being independent of the PC, must be equipped with a battery and integrated communication systems. Not only that, it must be ergonomically functional: if there is one thing that has changed little over the years, it is the size of the peripheral that we all know.