Mouse vs. trackpad right click.....

How come you can set up a Mac mouse to recognize a right click in the preferences menu, but not the track-pad button?... OR can you?

 

Not sure I get your question, but you can "right click" on a Mac trackpad by tapping with two fingers instead of one. I'm pretty sure this is on by default, but I'm in Bootcamp right now so I can't check.

 

the trackpad button is just that, one big button. there is no left and right click on it. as dylanemcgregor said, you can set it to recognize two finger tap as a right click, or try option + click.

 

Yeah, the trackpad button is one big left click, that's why. If you want to right-click using the trackpad, you can enable the trackpad to respond to a right-click when you place two fingers on the trackpad and press the mouse button, or when you tap the trackpad with two fingers if you enable trackpad tapping.

 

Wow, I actually invoked a response from Sam... Cool. The reason I was asking this is because I went to the Apple store today at a local shopping mall, and I am considering buying a desktop Mac as well as a 15.4" MBP, and when the sales rep there showed me the desktop, he configured the mouse to enable a right click feature, that's why I asked about the trackpad configuration. Yeah, he also showed me the 2 "two" finger methods... VERY COOL. I picked up on it right away. I love it. I am strongly leaning towards Mac in my next computer purchase.

 

Haha, no problem, jrsryder! I enjoy helping people, and I certainly want to keep a friendly and talkative presence here on the forums, and not just be some kind of police officer patrolling the forums .

 

Here do this. Select "Clicking". then select "Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click". I think it will help alot. Tap with 1 finger to left-click. Tap with 2 fingers to right-click.



Or
control + click is also a right-click

 

Just be careful you dont end up like me. After spending years on pc's and after only having by MBP for less than 3 months I just spent 3 minutes tapping a Sony Vaio with my 2 fingers with a confused look on my face wondering why the right-click context menu wasnt coming up. Wouldn't have been so bad if 2 of my mates weren't looking at me. I looked retarded.

 

That happens to me all the time when switching from my MBP to my dell laptop

 

I guess what I'm wondering (and I think I know the answer) is; Does the trackpad button physically have a separate contact switch for the left side and the right side built in underneath it??? because the external Mouse I was playing with (at the Apple store) DOES have a left and right side click. I'm assuming the button on the notebook does NOT, which is fine, because I like the way it works currently, but like many people, I use Windows too, and I could see myself getting frustrated with always switching.

 

The frustration will wear off after a few days. I use a MacBook at home and a Toshiba Satellite at work and nowadays I don't seem to doubletap my way with the latter.

However, the size of an Apple notebook's trackpad might spoil you -- and then you get frustrated with how small the trackpads built on PC notebooks are. But that's another story...

 

No, the trackpad button is physically one left-click button (I think there was some reports that the MacBook Pro trackpad button actually did have a "right-click sensor" but it never made it in, if it did). If you plug in a mouse onto the Mac, it will recognize left and right-click with no problem .

 

no the trackpad does not function like the Mighty Mouse does. but you have brought up a great point. some users have an issue with not having a dedicated right click button, so having the large single button be touch sensitive like the mighty mouse is would be a pretty nice solution. however this would also add to the overall build cost, etc.

i tend to find the two finger tap to be the most efficient way to work on any laptop I have ever used. i tend to primary click with the trackpad button, and whenever I need a secondary click it is just a matter of tapping with another finger. basically, you usually have one finger on the trackpad at all times, if you want to right click, you don't need to lift all fingers off the the pad and tap with them, you can simply have one finger on the trackpad, and tap with another finger of your choice ^_^

same goes for two finger scrolling etc. I have yet to see a more intuitive trackpad setup, except for maybe Apple's newest on the MacBook Air or iPhone.