Apple has discontinued the 13-inch MacBook Professional, the ultimate mannequin with a Contact Bar. Nonetheless, I’d like to have a standalone keyboard with a Contact Bar and backlighting.
A March 23 Apple patent (quantity 11,281,305) for a “keyboard with contact sensor and illumination” suggests Apple is at the least contemplating such a tool.
Apple added the Contact Bar to its laptops in 2016, particularly the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Professionals. The {hardware} function was launched as a kind of Twenty first-century substitute to the acquainted row of perform keys that exist on virtually all laptop computer and desktop computer systems. It was a controversial function that Apple eliminated when it debuted its 2021 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Professionals.
Within the patent, Apple notes that some keyboards have trackpads to permit a consumer to provide contact enter. Because of house issues and different constraints, it may be tough or inconceivable to supply desired contact sensor performance to elements similar to keyboards. Apple’s concept is for a backlight keyboard supplied with overlapping contact sensor circuitry to obtain contact enter from a consumer. Which, to me, appears like a TouchBar function.
What’s extra, in June 2022 Apple filed for a patent that hints at a Contact Bar keyboard on a laptop computer that has Apple Pencil assist. I doubt that we’ll see the Contact Bar on one other Mac laptop computer, however a standalone Contact Bar keyboard with Apple Pencil assist can be candy. The patent submitting includes enter units incorporating a stylus that’s removably mounted to a keyboard or related machine.
