Ever wished your MacBook laptop has the same touchscreen feature as any 2-in-1 laptop but lose hope since Apple would not consider adding such feature in any of its lineup? Dream no more, a third-party company by the name of Neonode has already developed an add-on device for the 13-inch MacBook which give its users the wanted touchscreen feature for only $99—the AirBar.
How the AirBar does its wonders is no magic. Designed for a simple plug-and-play, all the users need to do is to magnetically attach the portable device to the laptop’s bottom part of the display and connect it via USB for input transfer.
Although invisible to the person’s naked eye, how the AirBar gathers and translates hand gestures and touches happen with its infrared lights and is electronically transferred to the computer via the USB as the conduit.
Unlike genuine touchscreen displays which show insensitivity to touch when making gesture without using the actual fingers of the hand, this nifty product is sensitive to literally almost anything.
https://youtu.be/qWjrTMLRvBM
This means that even when the users’ hands are in a glove, using a brush, or whatever medium they may have in hand, the device’s touchscreen capability is as responsive as using an actual fingertip.
All these happen seamlessly, the actual experience is not a stray far from using a smartphone, a tablet, or a 2-in-1 device, if not better.
Of all the laptops in the market, though, the MacBook has the best trackpad available so having touchscreen support isn’t all that necessary.
The AirBar is nothing new in the tech industry. Previously designed to cater for traditional 15.6-inch Windows laptops conspicuously lacking touchscreen-capability by default, this handy external device has now jumped to the MacBook and is slated for additional support on other Apple laptop products later this year.
Source: The Verge