“There’s not much in [Apple’s Magic Trackpad] box besides the trackpad and a manual. The enclosure is made of aluminum with a thin layer of glass on the tracking surface, though you wouldn’t know it from the touch. The Magic Trackpad is designed to mirror the functionality and feel of the trackpads built into Apple’s MacBook Pros, but to look like a partner to Apple’s Wireless Keyboard. The top and bottom align with the keyboard perfectly, and they match each other aesthetically,” Jacqui Cheng reports for Ars Technica.
“The Magic Trackpad can be set up for use on Mac OS X (10.6.4 or later) on either a portable or desktop machine, though it makes no sense as to why you would want to use it with a notebook,” Cheng reports. “It can also be used under Windows with some, but not all multitouch gesture support. The gestures are the main attraction, though, so the only reason we can see to use it under Windows is if you already have it installed on your Mac and you’re dual-booting into Windows for some other reason.”
“Once you have it all set up to your liking, off you go! If you are already familiar with the multitouch gestures that work on Apple’s notebook line, then using them on the Magic Trackpad works exactly the same way,” Cheng reports. “The two that I’m most addicted to are two-finger scroll and four-finger swipe up and down to expose the desktop. I’m also a huge fan of the two-finger right click… Despite the lack of a traditional button for clicking, you can indeed click on the Magic Trackpad… The bottom of the whole device depresses slightly when you press down on it with your thumb thanks to the feet on the bottom. This is just like the clicking mechanism on the MacBook Pro (there’s no button there either), and it’s difficult to click accidentally.”
Cheng reports, “Nobody needs to spend $70 on this, and to be totally honest, if I was buying it for myself, I probably wouldn’t either. I like it, but I like having $70 more. (I would happily accept one as a gift, though.)”
Read the full review – recommended – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
I agree with the review. I want one, but I won’t pay $70 plus tax for it. I’ll use a discount and pay closer to $60, or wait for the refurbs. It is nice but not necessary – just like most things. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Even as a Mac user of many years, I see what we have here are the usual MacDailyNews fanboys who are the worst kind, because you’ll even jump on the journalists who write the best and most thorough OS X reviews on the planet. Heck, they’re so Mac-friendly that Apple haters regularly accuse them of a serious pro-Apple bias. Fanboys, to jump on your own allies is not a good move.
It’s great when you’re using it for work, but not so good for games which are still very much based on the mouse. Hopefully it won’t take too long before the developers start to build the multi-touch into their interfaces. At which point Trackpads will become the thing to have.
Tha MacBook Pro is more then just portable laptop. It’s a great desktop computer with a 24″ cinema screen. The new track pad stays on my desk next to the key board. A Mac Book Pro is two computers for the price of one.
“Who else needs to move their entire arm to operate a mouse?”
Actually, according to ergonomics research you are much less likely to injure your wrist with RSI/carpal tunnel if you shift your whole arm around to move the mouse, instead of concentrating all mouse movement through your wrist.
If you keep your arm stationary and constantly torque your wrist to move your mouse, in fact…you are doing it wrong.
Personally, I don’t see the added value in the trackpad over the Magic Mouse. Can’t I do everything the trackpad does on the Magic Mouse anyway?
Not necessary?
Well, I don’t think that anything I have is really necessary. My computer, my iPod, my phone, my car etc… That’s just a stupid headline. They can say that about anything.
There’s a growing chasm between people who JUST DON’T GET IT with Apple innovations and those who TOTALLY GET IT AND EMBRACE IT and are way more productive and happier
I am of the latter group.
I have been using my Magic Trackpad with my MacBook Pro for about 2 hours now and I love it.
All my wired/wireless mice and trackballs (including Kensington Expert Mouse and Turbo Mouse) are going into a storage box at the end of today. The Expert Mouse used to be my device of choice.
(I wish they didn’t make Windows drivers for it though.)
Regarding the comment about games, I am going to try playing StarCraft 2 with the Magic Trackpad tonight and that will be the acid test.
Probably will take a few days of getting used to (basically, two-finger tapping to issue a move command) but I think it will work well to replace the mouse. I had tried it with the MacBook Pro Trackpad before but the positioning was awkward. Now it should work well right next to the keyboard.
(Speaking of which, it is highly notable that SC2 was released with both a Mac and a Windows version; used to be we’d have to wait a year for a port; the writing is on the wall for PC games!).