“Apple has rebooted its lineup of Mac accessories,” Nathan Olivarez-Giles writes for The Wall Street Journal. “There’s a new thinner keyboard, an updated Magic Mouse, and a new Magic Trackpad equipped with Force Touch. All three are improvements over their predecessors, but are they worth the cost of upgrading?”
“The trio has ditched AA-battery power for built-in rechargeable batteries. And those batteries get replenished using the same Lightning cable that you use to juice up iPhones and iPads. This cable also makes for easy pairing. When you plug in the device, it automatically established a wireless connection,” Olivarez-Giles writes. “The batteries on all three accessories should last a month between charges, but what’s great about this wired/wireless connection is that if they ever do die, you can quickly plug them in and get back on track. You also don’t have to fumble around in the Bluetooth menu, or worry about whether or not you’ve paired your trackpad with a computer before.”
“The standout here, thanks to some fresh talents, is the Magic Trackpad 2,” Olivarez-Giles writes. “For one thing, it’s thinner while also being 30% larger than the previous wireless trackpad. I love the larger size because it makes gestures and swiping easier than before. You just have more space to move around. Though it looks different, the feel of the trackpad’s glass is the same as the previous generation, which isn’t bad. Apple has long made the best trackpads on the market, and while clicks can still get misinterpreted, there’s no trackpad I’d rather use.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Non-Apple trackpads are so tremendously bad, it never fails to amaze that people would waste their money on such garbage.
SEE ALSO:
Why is Apple’s New Magic Trackpad 2 So expensive? – October 15, 2015
PC Magazine reviews Apple Magic Trackpad 2: ‘A solid update to the original’ – October 14, 2015
Lightning strikes again for Apple with all-new Magic Mouse 2, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad 3 – October 13, 2015
Apple’s cool new Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad 2, and Magic Mouse 2 rethink how we interact with computers – October 13, 2015
Apple’s new iMacs offer affordable, high-performance desktop systems, powerful peripherals – October 13, 2015
Apple updates iMac family with new Retina displays, unveils all-new Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2 – October 13, 2015
I don’t see it. While the new trackpad may be a significant step forward, in the final analysis the keyboard is a step backward and the mouse is just a rechargeable version of the old mouse.
Apple does not need to go to the extremes for ergonomics (just look back at the Apple Adjustable Keyboard of 1993 to see how far to the extreme Apple went in that regard), but this new keyboard is a move to the exact opposite extreme. It’s almost as flat as a laptop keyboard and has no inherent ability to change that slant. The key travel and reaction is similar to that of a laptop, and I would never consider a laptop’s keyboard as the epitome of what a keyboard should be. (And for the record, I use a laptop stand that tilts the keyboard when I use a laptop at my desk for any extended period of time.)
And, putting the charging/lightning port on the user end of the mouse? This makes it extremely inconvenient to charge and use the mouse concurrently. Sure, it’s possible, but putting the connector on the other end makes it a worst case situation no worse than any other cabled mouse. You know people will forget to plug it in, it will die, and they’ll need to work with it plugged in. It WILL happen all too often.
Lastly, when is Apple going to come out with a wireless extended keyboard? I’ve been forced to buy third party keyboards for my teams for several years now.
That mouse is hockey puck -the sequel.
No wires on a wireless mouse.
Insanely stupid, Jony.
Sealed batteries and a white touch surface. No & no.
Force Touch, could not care less.
Lack of Fingerprint reader like the Authentec technology they bought at this late hour is stupid.
Apple broke the Authentec SW and never patched it. The least they could do would be to build a Fingerprint reader into either the keyboard or the touch pad.
The deep force touch doesn’t matter all that much. The ability to be able to lightly click anywhere on the surface is a huge game-changing deal.
I have the new keyboard and the new trackpad. Both are beautiful. They are more solid than their predecessors and a joy to use. Keyboards should be flat. Tilted keyboards are just bad ergonomics.
Less travel on the keyboard. No backlighting on keys and can only use on one device at a time. I find the magic most to be unusable. But I do like the trackpad and got one for work and home.
These require Bluetooth 4.0-enabled Mac computer with OS X v10.11 or later. As my 2009 iMac is still going quite strong, I’m relegated to use the original Trackpad, which I’ve been using since its Day One, and love it. I found the original Magic Mouse to be lovely, but too heavy for day long use, and the new one is even heavier, according to the specs I can find. And, it looks like Apple has discontinued the original model.