Mac Screen Rotate's goal is to bring a bit of iPad functionality to the MacBook Air by enabling you to hold the laptop on its side and have the screen rotate to a vertical orientation. While the site markets it as a way to "read" your MacBook Air like a real book, the result is cumbersome. MacBook Airs have just enough heft to where holding them in this position for any length of time is annoying.
Where a program such as Mac Screen Rotate comes in handy is if you're wanting to show off a vertical photo, graphic design or spreadsheet. It would come in handy for certain niches that work in these particular fields and gives you a bit more room to show off a document without having to compensate for the narrow horizontal screen.
Then there's also the fact that you can do this for free in OS X. Go into System Preferences and hold down the option and command keys while selecting the Displays tab. This reveals a rotation menu that allows you to rotate your screen. However, what it doesn't do is rotate the trackpad's functionality as well, which makes for awkward maneuvering indeed, and this is how Mac Screen Rotate sets itself off from the free offering. The developers of Mac Screen Rotate also detail the free process on their site, and kudos to them for doing this.
Does it work though? Yes, very well. The trackpad behaves as expected in vertical mode and recognizes most of the Lion gestures, though it's very apparent that these gestures were made for a horizontal-oriented trackpad rather than vertical. The gestures work, but even with my small hand it was difficult to do some of the more complicated gestures.
If you fall into the niche that would most likely take advantage of this, Mac Screen Rotate is $4.99 with a 3-day trial, but is currently on sale for $3.99.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Mac Screen Rotate originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/04/tuaws-daily-mac-app-mac-screen-rotate/
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