New Apple patent reveals MacBook with touchpad keyboard and haptic feedback

Last week, a patent filed by Apple back in September 2015 surfaced online on the US Patent and Trademark Office website. Dubbed "Zero Travel," this patent describes what might be the future of Apple's MacBook - a notebook with a touchpad similar to the existing Force Touch trackpad that replaces the traditional physical keyboard. 

The name of the patent suggests that physical key travel will disappear, so we might see a MacBook without any physical keys showing up in the future. Obviously, the described large touchpad uses haptic feedback to handle typing, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. The most interesting part is that - apparently - at least some parts of the control touchpad of the MacBook shown in the patent are customizable. On the other hand, other parts feature small perforations that let the light go through and highlight keys/letters/symbols on the touchpad.

As it usually happens with such patents, they might turn into a product in less than a year, a few years, or even never. Since this is an Apple patent, after all, it would not be a surprise to see the next-gen MacBook or the generation that comes after it to finally drop the physical keyboard and take things one step forward.