Apple has new products up today, and Cali has the scoop on them in her post. While we discussed the Magic Trackpad, I mentioned that I had a somewhat negative take on it. (Her response: “Oh… what’s wrong with you?” Thanks Cali!)
I’ve always been a big trackball fan. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with me. I’m not crazy about mice; I’d take a mouse over a trackpad any day.
The idea of releasing a trackpad as a separate input device just does nothing for me. To my mind, it’s a lot like a small Wacom tablet without the precision, or like a touchscreen without the screen. It’s caught between input paradigms, having inherited none of the benefits of either.
I don’t hate the idea. I’m sure for some of you it’ll be fantastic. What do you think, readers? Sound off in the comments. Am I totally off base? Do trackpads offer the precision that Wacom tablets have? Will the 80% increase in size make them more comfortable or useful? Your opinions are important to us!
I still don’t see the point on using them instead of a mouse, but maybe as a remote trackpad for am HTCP or as a bigger, more comfortable, trackpad for your laptop.
I don’t mind them. I don’t love them. With most of these “mice” I find that once you get used to it, it becomes serviceable.
I don’t love mice either. I’ve been waiting for 20 years for the next human interface device for navigating the OS.
Like most, I’ll head to the Apple store and check out this new trackpad. Maybe the 80% increase in size will make a performance improvement.
It looks neat Cali, but I’m really not sure why you would choose a trackpad when a mouse that fits your hand is so much better. Just IMHO
The skin on my fingers hate it. It becomes painful after moderate use. I’d prefer it over a mouse if it wasn’t painful.
I’m not so big on it. I’m fighting off carpal tunnel enough without doing finger acrobatics with the trackpad. I always carry a mouse with my laptop anytime I’m doing any serious work.
Hey, Rolando here. I just wanted to chime in on this. I think its a cool little gadget but aside from casual use I don’t think it will have much purpose. I am a designer so I don’t think it would be of much use to me. I have a Magic Mouse for both my iMac and my Macbook bro. Track pads, in my opinion are not the most practical for the type of work that I do. Wacom Tablets are a little more specific and have their place but this is really only going to be useful to casual users… I think… ?
I love the idea. I love the trackpad on my macbook and miss using it when I have the macbook docked. This will allow me to still have the same functionality.
I’m not a fan of trackpads at all. My favorite mouse is the Microsoft Arc mouse, but I also like the thumb thrackball mice like Logitech’s Trackman. I only use my laptop’s trackpad when traveling, but still can’t use it on an airplane very well unless I’m in 1st Class – not enough space.
I do most of my work in Terminal.app and use the mouse to move multiple terminal windows around. Otherwise, I prefer a 2 button Bluetooth mouse with a clutch scroll wheel.
Trackball or Mouse. Touchpads just don’t cut it for MMO gaming
Love it – have been waiting for it ever since I heard the rumours of it. I’ve gotten used to using gestures on my Macbook Pro, and using the trackpad means a lot less need to grab and move scrollbars…it’s just a single two-finger gesture when you’re in a window.
This will be incredibly useful in Final Cut Pro when I’m editing a long timeline using the Mac Pro tower…just hover over the timeline and gesture sidewise instead of locating the scroll bar handle, clicking it, and then sliding it sideways.
Wow, thanks for the replies, guys! Love the diversity of opinion you’re showing. I can’t wait to see how well it does on the market, good or bad.
Problem is that the learning curve of anything but the standard mouse is steep. Which for all practical purposes mean that most people will never tacle the intricassies of digitizer, trackball or touchpad, although the benefits of using anything but mouse is well documented. If you tune the settings of a touchpad correctly, you are able to controll you device much more accuratly- and with much less stress than with any other pointing device. AS a test: do a slight circular movement with your finger on a touchpad, and try to replicate the same pointermovement with a mouse
I have loved trackpads since before they were more popular than track balls on laptops. The first time I ever made a point to buying a nice input device for myself it was a standalone trackpad. Seeing this announced today makes my day. I like trackpads because they don’t have to move around, I don’t have to pick them up and rearrange them, they have no moving parts (of consequence) to clean out and thanks to modern innovation they have really handy (no pun intended) gestures to make them even more useful. Moving from laptop, to iPad to iMac, this will consolidate my input methods. Touch is the way to go, even if it isn’t on a screen. I like the magic mouse but I will definitely be trading it in for this touch pad.
I love the trackpad on my Macbook and i really haven’t found a mouse that fits my hand (I’m 6′-6″ with fairly long fingers, so even the largest mice really don’t let me rest my palm on the body of the mouse) so I think this trackpad with its large surface mould do the trick when I’m working on the desktop.
Now THAT’s a very interesting take, Tim. I have long fingers myself, though I’m not nearly that tall. A lot of mice are iffy for me. It wouldn’t have occurred to me though, because the trackball I use fits my hand perfectly. That, and Joshua’s mention of carpal tunnel (which I also have) makes me a bit more interested in it.
It’s also possible that the inclined position it rests in could make a difference. I’d love to hear from some of you who are looking to get one after you’ve had a chance to play with it for a while.
I don’t like them on laptops, why would I want it on a desktop. If I want something like that I have a more useful wacom tablet.
I use a 17″ MacBook Pro on the go for my graphic design and photography business and although I prefer the precision of my Magic Mouse, scrolling with my mouse makes my tendons hurt for a few days regularly and I resource to my laptop trackpad whether I like it or not. So now having the option to move my trackpad around is a good option for those days when I can’t use my mouse.
Mousing for hours on end bothers my wrist near the end of the day, so I’m looking forward to trying this out. The trackpad alone was what sold me on buying a Macbook Pro instead of a PC laptop. I could never go back to a tiny PC laptop trackpad or Lenovo eraser head.
- B
Ohhh…I hate track pads. I’m so much less productive with one. Why can’t they bring back the trackballs in laptops?
Yeah, what is wrong with you?? Have you ever used the multi-touch track pads on the MacBook (Pro)’s? It’s the greatest advancement in human interfaces since the keyboard.
I’d be lost without the gestures. I’m so glad I NEVER EVER have to use a stupid mouse again.
I like the inertial scrolling update for my MBP, but I have to side with the mousers, especially if you get one of the Logitech mice that have “hyperfast scrolling.” The scroll wheel on those already provides inertial scrolling. They’re a little $pendy, but oh, so nice.
One thing about this is the possibility of bringing the digital world and reality closer. What if you could use more than one? Would this make all macs touchable? Would it create an entire new way we interact with are computer? I don’t know what this can do but I do see potential for someone to take this to the next level. I do agree with you in that currently I’ll take a mouse any day over a track pad. It didn’t seem great when the magic mouse came out but it was a cool idea, however, it was only as good as what it let you do. I think http://magicprefs.com was more of a leap forward with the magic mouse and this device might be a cool tool someone one day takes advantage of.
I just ordered one. Hope this old dog can learn how to use it!
I think the biggest advantage to the Magic Trackpad is that it give you a usable option for the Mac Mini in the living room that takes full advantage of the gestures and isn’t too small or awkward enough to use in your lap. Now that the Mini has HDMI, apple had a void as far as branded products to work in the HTPC department. The little five button remote doesn’t work for navigating around Hulu or Netflix without customizations and third party software. It also makes viewing pictures slide shows on the TV more appealing and natural, since there aren’t many good HTPC devices that have migrated far from the awkward mouse or media remote control concept.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see an update Apple TV with bluetooth and support for gestures, or an update to Frontrow to be more AppleTV like with an internet TV and podcast focus.
I think that video editor’s will rejoice at this option! The trackpad on the mac makes using FCP or iMovie a breeze to “scrub” through and edit video very very easily. I know I dont even go near my magic mouse the minute I open either two of the video editors. This ease of use is going to make editing on a MacPro or even an iMac or Macmini a Cinch! Its only a matter of time till the hackers get their hands on the code and start writing drivers for PC as well…!!
So any youtubers out there or sort film makers looking for a very fast way to get through the sometimes painful process of editing clips together I think the trackpad is a great addition!!
Just my two cents worth…and what do you really get for two cents these days!!??
For multi-touch commands, the track pad is FAR better than the magic mouse. I love using the trackpad with a mouse even on my macbook pro when editing in Logic. Heres why:
Mouse = better for click / dragging
Trackpad = better for two finger scrolling and two finger zooming in and out
This simple combination of use, is why I would consider the magic trackpad if I ended up getting an imac
Let me know if you all have any other killer combos of mouse + trackpad use!
Trackless are my least favorite fiorm of cursor control. A mouse is my first choice followed by the Dell point stick. I only use a pad when nothing else is available.
Love the Apple Magic Mouse with all of its swipe features. I can’t see going to the Magic Trackpad unless there’s a really compelling reason to do so.