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Apple is researching a MacBook keyboard that features a removable key to be used as a precision mouse, according to a newly published patent application.
The patent application, first spotted by Patently Apple, is titled “Deployable Key Mouse” and was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The filing envisages a standard-looking MacBook scissor-system keyboard that features a hidden removable key. This key would contain a position sensor to be used as a pointing device. Apple describes the system as providing a “comfortable, portable, and precise pointer input for a computer input system.”
The filing explains that some precise tasks, such as graphic design, computer-assisted design and modeling, and editing large and complex documents, are better suited to a handheld mouse than a trackpad. Apple acknowledged that carrying a separate mouse with the computer can be a burden and may be “redundant when the computer already has built-in pointing devices.”
The removable key is a viable solution to this issue, according to Apple. In some embodiments, the key would be able to work as normal on the keyboard when it is not deployed and feature a small battery.
Apple outlined various mechanical systems to facilitate the removable key, including sliding a single or set of multiple keys out of the housing vertically, as well as sliding a key out from the side of the machine horizontally. The patent’s illustrations showed the deployable key located toward the edge of the keyboard so that it would not be a key that sees frequent use.
Patent filings cannot be taken as evidence of Apple’s immediate plans, but they do i
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Read the original article: Future MacBook Could Feature Removable Key That Works as a Mouse