Numerous 15-inch MacBook pro owners and MacDailyNews readers have emailed us with news of an undocumented feature in Apple’s latest Mac OS X Update. Apple’s Mac OS X 10.4.7 Update released yesterday has brought two finger right-clicking to the 15-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Pro joins the MacBook and 17-inch MacBook Pro models which offer secondary click (right click) in typically elegant Apple style. There’s no need to physically chop the click button into two: just place two fingers anywhere on the trackpad and click the button to secondary click. Alternatively, users can eliminate need for the button altogether for right-clicking by enabling “Trackpad Clicking” and checking the “Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click” option in the Keyboard & Mouse Trackpad section of System Preferences.
Both options are typically elegant solutions from Apple that work very well.
[Thanks to all the MacDailyNews Readers who emailed us.]
MacDailyNews Note: Many MacDailyNews readers have reported success with iScroll2 which is a modified trackpad driver that adds two-finger scrolling and other trackpad capabilities (right-click) to supported pre-2005 PowerBooks and iBooks on OS X 10.3 and higher. Supported models include aluminum PowerBooks introduced from 2003 to 2004 as well as all G4 iBooks. Also, the US$15 shareware SideTrack has worked for us in the past.
[UPDATE: 12:28pm EDT: Added info about option to enable two-finger trackpad click without button.]
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Related MacDailyNews article:
Apple releases Mac OS X 10.4.7 Update – June 27, 2006
YES!!!!!!
Would be nice to have on my G4 iBook. I have two finger scrolling, but would love to have the right click option on the scroll pad.
Just had a friend switch and he bought a macbook. One of his questions was if he could right click. Now I can tell him he can.
this is a great feature for all, but especially for recent switchers as myself (feb. 06). i’m so much more productive with the right click (mighty mouse).
i know i would just hate having to press the cmd key + click every time i wanted a contextual menu. in fact it’s a “feature”/preference i miss in safari of having to press cmd + click to get links to open in tabs rather than other windows.
firefox is able to to this by changing a setting, i prefer to use safari though.
anyhoo, i’m saving for a macbook now. i can’t wait.
on my macbook I can turn on a clicking method that lets me tap the track pad with two fingers to right click… I don’t even need the button. Can this be done now with the 15 MBP? I have only heard the hold-to-fingers-down-and-click-the-button method.
Awesome!
This is great news for laptop users who actually use their laptops as laptops. I always crack up when I go to a cafe and see some poor bastard with a big clunky PC laptop, with a mouse and power supply plugged in. They typically have some massive bag too. They connect the whole thing up, turn in on, wait for Windows to boot, and five minutes after they sat down they can start working.
I whip my 5.5lb MacBook Pro out of my <1lb bag, open it and get right to work.
face,
All MacBook and MacBook Pro users also now have the option you described. I’ve amended the article to reflect that fact. Thank you.
I don’t know about the MBP, but I had this option on my MacBook before installing the 10.4.7 update.
pat,
Hence MacDailyNews’ sentence, “Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Pro joins the MacBook and 17-inch MacBook Pro models which offer secondary click (right click) in typically elegant Apple style.”
I magically made the Intellitext ads disappear too.
I’m just kidding
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
(I’m not really the web-master, was just hoping…)
‘Fake MacDailyNews Webmaster’ repeat after me (in your best moron like monotone voice): “intellitxt” gooood.
So any possibility of getting that two finger right-click on a 2005 PB G4 15″?
Does anyone know of a hack that will enable this on a last revision G4 iBook?
Or even a way to turn the useless key next to the arrow keys at the bottom of the keyboard on an iBook into a cntrl key?
2macbook after wwdc
“.. cmd + click to get links to open in tabs rather than other windows.”
try Safari Stand, its free and there’s the option you miss among others
I use this method to get two finger scrolling and right clicking on my G4 Powerbook. A few glitches after sleep but easily overcome by reassigning default settings in the system preferences where it creates a preference pane.
iScroll2 is a modified trackpad driver that adds two-finger scrolling capabilities to supported pre-2005 PowerBooks and iBooks on OS X 10.3 and up.
Supported models include most aluminum PowerBooks introduced from 2003 to 2004 as well as all G4 iBooks.
A link to iscroll2 site is
http://iscroll2.sourceforge.net/
enjoy
LeftRearTire and Amyhre,
See Colbo’s post and link above. iScroll2 enables this for your laptops. I have used it since its debut, and it works great. Plus, it’s free!
I let out a loud “WHOOOOOOOOOOOOA!” this morning. Glad no one was in the office just yet. I was hoping that this feature was not hardware specific and could be brought to the 15 inch MBP with a simple software update. Afterwards, I exclaimed “I f#*king love this company!”
I updated OSX last night. The right click works like a charm on my 15″ MBP. Can’t believe all it takes is a two fingered tap. Rock on.
Does anybody else want to see the old Netscape click and hold for approx .5 seconds (or an adjustable time) to bring up the context menu?
Unfortunately this was a Netscape only thing, but Apple could make this an option in OS X….
iScroll does not support my 2005 Powerbook. Is there any other software that I can get that gives me right clicking?…
sure am relieved,
I absolutely loved that feature. I wish they brought it back and turned it into an OSX feature.
“i know i would just hate having to press the cmd key + click every time i wanted a contextual menu. in fact it’s a “feature”/preference i miss in safari of having to press cmd + click to get links to open in tabs rather than other windows.”
You can easily do this in Safari by setting it’s Tab preferences. First you enable Tab browsing. Then to get the action you’re talking about, you need to uncheck the “Select new tabs as they are created” box. When you do this, the key commands will change to:
cmd-click: opens a link in a new tab
cmd-shift-click: opens a link n a new tab and selects it
cmd-option-click: opens a link in a new window behind the current one
cmd-option-shift-click: opens a link in a new window and selects it
If you leave the “select new tabs as they are created” box checked, you’ll still be provided these other functions, but the key commands to access them will change to combinations that are more convenient for that mode of operation.
and why is this not in the powerpc update for my powerbook 12″ (last revision)? I dont think this feature has to be intel only!
Anyone help?!
Yay, Macbooks get a ‘three-fingered salute’! More and more like Windows every day.