Apple update adds inertial scrolling and three-finger drag gesture to MacBooks

Finally, inertial scrolling has come to our trackpads on older MacBooks via Magic Trackpad and Multi-Touch Trackpad Update 1.0. The 79MB update requires a restart but now my mid-2009 13″ MacBook Pro has inertial (momentum-based) scrolling. The faster you flick, the further you scroll. Previously I had a 3rd party app installed but this official update adds much smoother inertial scrolling.

I haven’t figured out how to use the 3-finger gesture for window dragging yet, nor did I see a new option in the Trackpad prefpane.

Apple also released updates for Windows that add support for the Magic Trackpad. A 6.62MB update is available for 32-bit flavors of Windows, while the 64-bit software is 3.98MB.

Inertial Scrolling and Three-Finger Drag Gesture Support

These Mac portables support inertial scrolling and the three-finger drag gesture after you install Magic Trackpad and Multi-Touch Trackpad Update 1.0:

MacBook
MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009)
MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009)
MacBook (13-inch, Late 2009)
MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008)

MacBook Pro
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010)
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53 GHz, Mid 2009)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009)
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009)
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2008)

The following Mac portables support inertial scrolling after installing Magic Trackpad and Multi-Touch Trackpad Update 1.0:

MacBook Air
MacBook Air
MacBook Air (Mid 2009)

MacBook Pro
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2008)
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2008)