The new Glass Multi-Touch trackpad

Apple hates buttons, there’s just no other way to put it. For years they resisted releasing a two-button mouse, and as soon as they supported multi-button features, they released a no-button mouse. And now they’ve taken this hatred onto the laptop.

The new Macbook line features what Apple is calling the “new large glass Multi-Touch™ trackpads.” They feature almost 40 percent more tracking area and support more Multi-Touch gestures, including the pinch and rotate gestures familiar to iPhone users, as well as three and four-finger gestures. Macbook users will be able to to “swipe” through photos, use their fingers to activate Expose features, and click anywhere on the trackpad.

Of course, Apple still believes that everyone wants to single-click through their applications, and so they say that users “can easily enable multiple virtual buttons in software, such as right-clicking.” Apple describes it thusly:

…just press down anywhere and consider it clicked. No separate button means there’s 39 percent more room for your fingers to move on the silky glass surface. Now that Multi-Touch gestures have come to MacBook, all the function is in your fingers. Use two fingers to scroll up and down a page. Pinch to zoom in and out. Swipe with three fingers to flip through your photo libraries. Rotate to adjust an image with your fingertips. Using the new four-finger swipe gesture, swipe up or down to access Exposé modes and left or right to switch between open applications. If you’re coming from a right-click world, you can right-click with two fingers or configure a right-click area on the trackpad.

The benefit of this new design? No more crumbs, hair, or what-have-you getting trapped under the trackpad. The downside? You can no longer rest your thumb on the button until you need it.