Is the new trackpad really made out of glass?

I was just wondering if the new large, multitouch trackpad is really made out of glass like Apple says it is?

Sure, our fingers glide over it "like butter" I mean GLASS....smooth like glass! (lol) But it doesn't look like glass to me. It looks the same as the rest of the case made out of aluminum.

Any thoughts?

-Scott

13" MacBook Pro/4GB RAM/320GB HD - 500MHz iBook G3/640 RAM/160GB HD/WiFi, Other OS, OS X 10.5.x Leopard on the MacBook Pro, and OS X 10.4.11 Tiger on the iBook

Posted on Jul 3, 2009 8:58 AM

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4 replies

Jul 3, 2009 11:51 AM in response to sdschramm

I was just wondering if the new large, multitouch trackpad is really made out of glass like Apple says it is?


It most definitely is made of glass. However, I don't think that it is normal "window" style glass that is a little more prone to shattering. It is similar, I think, to the glass used in iPhones and iPod touches which is a bit more resistant to shock and objects hitting it. However, as evidenced above it is certainly susceptible to cracking if subjected to enough force. That said, I don't think it is really something to worry about too much. I'm sure that they tested it thoroughly in the design process to ensure that there would never be any problems under normal use.

--Travis

Jul 3, 2009 12:16 PM in response to Travis A.

My fingers glide ever so smoothly across the new trackpads compared to the plastic ones on my old MacBooks. If you are only using the old style, you won't notice the stickiness of its surface, but switching back and forth, the old one immediately feels sticky by comparison.

The new trackpad surface is also finely textured. That further reduces skin friction compared to a plain, flat glass surface. The old plastic ones are also textured, but after a year of heavy use, that texturing wears down and you end up with a much higher friction, smooth plastic surface.

Once you are spoiled by effortlessly gliding and tapping, it's really hard to switch back. This was a reason I changed my MacBook to a MacBook Pro 13. It was driving me nuts when I switched between the glass trackpad of my home Unibody 17 to the old MacBook's (daily running around machine)plastic pad.

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Is the new trackpad really made out of glass?

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