Apple's new Magic Trackpad - is it worth it
Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 6:13 pm
After about 3 hours of using it, I'd have to say definitely. If you've ever used any of the more recent mac laptops this works exactly like those do. My laptop is older and isn't the one-click design nor does it support many gestures. So it took me about ten minutes to really start to get the hang of it and to learn the gestures.
The scroll wheels on Apple's mice, pre magic-mouse (which I frankly did not like), always tend to gum up and stick over time. I've got two now that I can't clean back into scrolling correctly at all. This completely eliminates that problem and to me is a much easier way to scroll around the computer.
The biggest reason I bought this was to see if it couldn't help me with an issue that drives me nuts when working with my DAW. The little shelf that holds my keyboard and mouse under my real Keyboard (piano) are always very cramped for space. Dragging and dropping files into projects and selecting and working with timelines has always been a complete pain in the ass. This little guy has completely fixed that problem. It takes up very little space and you can manipulate the mouse easily from corner of screen to corner of screen by just moving your finger. My wrist barely moves and I never run out of desk anymore. I'm finding that I'm cursing less often also.
But the coolest thing that it brings to the table is "pinch to zoom". That is hands down the killer feature here. Beyond the obvious iPhoto advantage (makes your desktop version of iphotos work more like the iPad version), it works inside of Mail and Safari also. So changing the font size is now a simple pinch gesture. So awesome and so usable. I'll never go back for that alone.
In Daw's the pinch is working on the timeline and in waveform's, which is brilliant! It's very easy to select items and dragging and dropping files from a folder into a project is sooo super smooth now.
If there is an application that the mouse is better for, I haven't found it yet. But I've only been using it for a few hours.
It's pretty sweet. And really is more effortless to use than a mouse by a long shot.
B
The scroll wheels on Apple's mice, pre magic-mouse (which I frankly did not like), always tend to gum up and stick over time. I've got two now that I can't clean back into scrolling correctly at all. This completely eliminates that problem and to me is a much easier way to scroll around the computer.
The biggest reason I bought this was to see if it couldn't help me with an issue that drives me nuts when working with my DAW. The little shelf that holds my keyboard and mouse under my real Keyboard (piano) are always very cramped for space. Dragging and dropping files into projects and selecting and working with timelines has always been a complete pain in the ass. This little guy has completely fixed that problem. It takes up very little space and you can manipulate the mouse easily from corner of screen to corner of screen by just moving your finger. My wrist barely moves and I never run out of desk anymore. I'm finding that I'm cursing less often also.
But the coolest thing that it brings to the table is "pinch to zoom". That is hands down the killer feature here. Beyond the obvious iPhoto advantage (makes your desktop version of iphotos work more like the iPad version), it works inside of Mail and Safari also. So changing the font size is now a simple pinch gesture. So awesome and so usable. I'll never go back for that alone.
In Daw's the pinch is working on the timeline and in waveform's, which is brilliant! It's very easy to select items and dragging and dropping files from a folder into a project is sooo super smooth now.
If there is an application that the mouse is better for, I haven't found it yet. But I've only been using it for a few hours.
It's pretty sweet. And really is more effortless to use than a mouse by a long shot.
B