Apple Magic Trackpad first hands-on
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted July 27th 2010 9:57AM
posted July 27th 2010 9:57AM
posted July 27th 2010 9:57AM
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If anything, it looks cool (and shiny).
@SolidSnake
Looks cool, indeed. But I don't think I'll buy one. I use a desktop with a mouse to get away from trackpads. Not sure where they're going with this...
@SolidSnake
3 fingers moves the window around? That's a feature that just makes sense. So much easier than trying to find the little bar (especially if you are as vision impared as I am). I may be a PC, but I really really do wish my Dell had multi-touch gestures like this built in....
@SolidSnake
I've been using a laptop for so long I may have to get one. After, of course, someone makes an alternative for Windows.
@Joe Cool
I won't buy this for daily use.
INSTEAD!
I will buy it for home theatre purposes.
It's a pain to use a mouse from a couch.
If it doesn't have a mouse, you blew it.
@Engrudget
-.-
Seriously?
Regardless, apart from the multitouch functionality, this is pretty much not that practical IMO.
@Revolutionary Not a bad idea, especially if you can turn gestures into left/right/up/down/back/enter... would actually be pretty cool, artistically. Not sure there aren't better alternatives for HTPC though...
@TMoney4Life
I wonder which idiot would buy this so they can get a bigger trackpad for the MacBook.
@Revolutionary Wow didn't even think about that. Can't wait for someone to whip this bad boy out at 'bucks! I'm gonna laugh my arse off!
@TMoney4Life
instead when you use a mac mini for a htpc you don't use a mouse across your couch you use this and its making me reconsider about a mac mini
@SolidSnake
Actually I really dislike the look, the just like the look of the keyboard.
But I find the idea very interesting. As a quick way to interact with the screen while using the keyboard, it might be better than grabbing a mouse.
It will not replace a fast and precise mouse of course.
@SolidSnake
Actually I really dislike the look, just like the look of the Apple keyboard.
But I find the idea very interesting. As a quick way to interact with the screen while using the keyboard, it might be better than grabbing a mouse.
It will not replace a fast and precise mouse of course.
@Joe Cool No offense but im pretty sure they didnt make this saying "we covered all the bases now! the people who have bad sight can now find excessively apparent different colored bars on the top of their windows."
Seriously it's not as hard as you make it out to be to find a very apparent blue bar on the top of a windows your in. Using a computer wasn't hard before this came out and this didn't make it any easier. If you REALLY needed something like this you would have bought a bamboo trackpad a while ago.
@Joe Cool Funny enough, my acer had no multi-touch on XP, but as soon as I have upgraded (yes upgraded) it to the latest ubuntu, BLAM! Multi touch support. Not a fan of apple'ation of ubuntu, but the point stands. Linux can ADD functionality to your windows lappy.
@Kuzma
XP? That's ancient! Upgrade to 7, and probably you will have multi-touch support.
@SolidSnake
This is definitely nice, but I don't think it would work well with my 3-computer KVM setup which consists of two windows machines and the new Mac Mini.
Sorry Apple, I wanted to like it!
@ramia So you think telling people they shouldn't buy something based on illogical rubbish makes you somehow more intelligent?
@SolidSnake
I personally would still prefer a mouse over a pad. Though I do like the pad on the MBP...when I don't have access to a mouse.
@ramia
http://www.engadget.com/exclude/apple
Bookmark this page, and I guarantee you, no apple news for life!
@TMoney4Life
Would you still not buy one knowing you can turn it into a graphics tablet with the Pogo Stylus Sketch? Then again, I'd probably just get a Wacom.
@joe23521 How about a mouse and a pad. It'd be like patting your head and rubbing your belly..
To me this doesn't best the mouse. Why place the friction on my fingers and wear my fingerprints, when I could simply drag a mouse around? Yeah multitouch is nice, but it isn't really worth it.
@Revolutionary
I bet there will be tons of those idiots. Sad, ain't it?
@ramia Seriously? Calm down. The first part of your post was acceptable and got an approving chuckle from the screenshot. The second was way out of line. You don't need to resort to foul language and trolling to get your point across.
@ramia
LOL, nice one dude. Wait around till 'Apple launches new goodies day' then complain about the number of Apple references on the site. You realize that on other days, e.g. the WP7 announcements, all of these circles would have read 'Microsoft'. In fact, the only bit you circled that's more or less fixed is the button to download the iPhone Engadget app.
You're life must be truly miserable if stuff like this gets you so aggrevated.
@Revolutionary nice. thank you.
@SolidSnake
I don't see the point, myself. A mouse is better suited for most tasks than a trackpad, if you need more precision than you can get a Wacom or similar pen-input tablet, and mice with programmable buttons are even more useful than the gesture support on this. End result is a big "Meh" from me, your opinions may vary.
@SolidSnake "a three-finger move that lets you drag windows around" Isnt there a 1-finger you cna use to do that with a mouse?
@TMoney4Life With a good trackpad, you'll prefer it to a mouse (except for games).
just be careful, because holding it in your left hand detunes the bluetooth receiver, causing you to have to re-pair it.
@ramia
YOU STILL USE INTERNET EXPLORER?!
DIE IN A FIRE!
--Web Developer
@Tohe you've obviously never used a newer trackpad on a macbook pro. the whole thing is made of glass and is practically friction free. it has to be one of the smoothest surfaces i've ever used.
i've designed no less than 4 websites using only the trackpad on my MBpro. my wife lays out an entire 64pg magazine with the trackpad.
i am now considering dumpin the apple tv, getting a macmini with bluetooth keyboard and this trackpad for an htpc. this should rock.
@Toyzer Pogo + Inklet would probably work well enough for less than Wacom.
@TMoney4Life
Chances are that most places that aren't technology companies don't let you use any browser but IE. The worst is when you're stuck with IE 6. IE 7 and 8 are at least useable.
@ramia SRSLY, STFU bro, my brain hurts after reading your msg!
@ramia
Dude, calm down. You have Microsoft Paint pinned to your task bar - I don't think that affords you any moral superiority to be completely honest.
@gristan CAPS LOCK! HULK SMASH.
@ashwinkn
My apologies. Not quite sure how I missed the massive amount of productivity happening in his screenshot.
I mean... look at those applications on his taskbar! He is getting some serious work done!
@SolidSnake
You forgot expensive but I guess that was already a given....
@TMoney4Life
I have a macbook pro, and to point out. Im not exactly an apple fanboy. This is my very first mac and the track pad is HUGE lol no joke. and the multitouch just works so well in OSX. I mean, 4 fingers down shows me all the windows I have open, 4 fingers up clears the screen of windows and a 2 finger touch works as a right click. Idk about magic but I do know that every other computer I use i find myself missing this feature and I even caught myself performing a 4 fingers down gesture on my brothers Asus haha.
@Revolutionary
Living room setups.
@awlh And what's wrong with ms paint? doesn't it circle stuff? I don't know I mean should I buy photoshop or something to make red circles around images?
@ramia Oh and it's not pinned.. If that's what you think.. It's just there because it's open.
@Revolutionary No kidding! I completely agree - you have found a reason for me to buy this!
@TMoney4Life That's what I thought until I got my unibody MacBook. I got rid of my excellent wireless Logitech Nano mouse and never looked back. It's THAT good! You've never used a trackpad like this one before. When I use trackpads on my friends' laptops, I miss mine terribly. It's hard to explain, but don't discount this one until you've used one in real life and seen ALL it can do. It's just very intuitive, very accurate and a whole lot more functional than normal trackpads.
@Revolutionary
If someone had an older MacBook that doesn't support all the multitouch gestures, I can't see anything wrong with buying one then.
@ramia
since when does engadget do serious testing with a trackpad?
@TMoney4Life Just what I thought!
@Nitesh Yeah, it's kind of a specialized device. FingerWorks sold something similar back before they were bought out by Apple in 2005, complete with multi-touch, and there was a market for them - a very small market. Of course, now that Apple are offering a shiny Apple-branded version it'll probably sell like hotcakes.