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Apple Phasing Out Magic Mouse in Favor of Magic Trackpad?
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I have to say the Magic Mouse is the second worse mouse ever, first being the hockey puck mouse. It's the total opposite of ergonomic. The mighty mouse is not the best, but it's way better. There's a reason for the design of other mice from Logitech/Microsoft.
I would go for the Magic Trackpad anytime than the Magic Mouse. The Magic Trackpad is actually very nice.
I want Apple to do a Magic Trackball.
I would go for the Magic Trackpad anytime than the Magic Mouse. The Magic Trackpad is actually very nice.
I want Apple to do a Magic Trackball.
looks like a snail.
I did a (mediocre) photoshopping the day the current magic mouse came out. That's what I want basically: Three buttons plus a cable. You could add a sidway button like in the mighty mouse as well. Was very useful for exposé.
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Thats good to hear. I understand many people do have issues with the Magic Mouse, but I´m not one of them. I do enjoy the Trackpad too, I use em both as i see fit.
Bluetooth nightmare
What do all users do who do not support bluetooth. I get headache and nervous muscle pain as soon as a bluetooth device is nearby. Does anybody at the product development of Apple consider this?
I want a Magic Trackpad with USB and not Bluetooth.
What do all users do who do not support bluetooth. I get headache and nervous muscle pain as soon as a bluetooth device is nearby. Does anybody at the product development of Apple consider this?
I like trackpad on my MacBook but I also use MS mouse. The trackpad is for gesture. The mouse is for drag and click. I am not interested in Magic mouse since it is not good at anything (no room for gesture and not comfort to drag & click) plus it is very expensive compare to standard MS mouse.
lol. you know you CAN plug a gaming mouse into your mac via usb right? lol. i doubt you use a magic mouse for COD. see... you went and threw yourself a fine lil hissy fit didn't you? lol.
Unified trackpad / mouse gestures
Right now, you need to "translate" between Lion 3-finger trackpad gestures and 2-finger Magic Mouse gestures. Why? Because the Magic Mouse is too small to reliably do 3-finger gestures.
A bigger Magic Mouse with a near-MacBook sized trackpad might make it possible to unify the Lion gestures for the new Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse. Less confusing when you switch between machines and pointing devices. And, importantly, less confusing when switching between OS X and iOS devices. If and when it makes sense for Apple to unify OS X and iOS, everyone will be ready because the gestures (at least the 1- 2- and 2-finger gestures) will be nearly or totally identical.
Also, I noticed that 4-finger gestures have changed in Lion. It hurt at first. I loved the 4-finger left/right swipe to bring up the app switcher in Snow Leopard. And I desperately missed Spaces. But then I started using full screen apps and Mission Control and it's all vastly better. It all makes sense now, at least on the MacBook. Haven't installed Lion on any desktop machine yet.
But 4-finger gestures wouldn't work on the current Magic Mouse. Too small. On the other hand, a mouse as big as the MacBook trackpad would be very awkward. I think that must by why Apple removed critical 4-finger gestures in Lion (e.g. replacing 4-finger task switching with 3-finger app switching). To allow everything from iPhone to iPad to Magic Trackpad to Magic Mouse to accept exactly the same multi-touch gestures. (Yes, there are 4-finger gestures in Lion, but they aren't available in iOS, e.g. 4-finger pinch to show Launchpad.)
Thus I suspect that Apple could in fact update the Magic Mouse to be just big enough to handle 3-finger gestures. It might be the best of both worlds: multi-touch as well as legacy mousing gestures. Or it might be an awkward compromise that nobody likes. It'll be interesting to see how Apple evolves its pointing devices (and gradually conditions us to use them).
Right now, you need to "translate" between Lion 3-finger trackpad gestures and 2-finger Magic Mouse gestures. Why? Because the Magic Mouse is too small to reliably do 3-finger gestures.
A bigger Magic Mouse with a near-MacBook sized trackpad might make it possible to unify the Lion gestures for the new Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse. Less confusing when you switch between machines and pointing devices. And, importantly, less confusing when switching between OS X and iOS devices. If and when it makes sense for Apple to unify OS X and iOS, everyone will be ready because the gestures (at least the 1- 2- and 2-finger gestures) will be nearly or totally identical.
Also, I noticed that 4-finger gestures have changed in Lion. It hurt at first. I loved the 4-finger left/right swipe to bring up the app switcher in Snow Leopard. And I desperately missed Spaces. But then I started using full screen apps and Mission Control and it's all vastly better. It all makes sense now, at least on the MacBook. Haven't installed Lion on any desktop machine yet.
But 4-finger gestures wouldn't work on the current Magic Mouse. Too small. On the other hand, a mouse as big as the MacBook trackpad would be very awkward. I think that must by why Apple removed critical 4-finger gestures in Lion (e.g. replacing 4-finger task switching with 3-finger app switching). To allow everything from iPhone to iPad to Magic Trackpad to Magic Mouse to accept exactly the same multi-touch gestures. (Yes, there are 4-finger gestures in Lion, but they aren't available in iOS, e.g. 4-finger pinch to show Launchpad.)
Thus I suspect that Apple could in fact update the Magic Mouse to be just big enough to handle 3-finger gestures. It might be the best of both worlds: multi-touch as well as legacy mousing gestures. Or it might be an awkward compromise that nobody likes. It'll be interesting to see how Apple evolves its pointing devices (and gradually conditions us to use them).
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I was a bit more diplomatic in my last post, but since people still keep saying that "the trackpad can't be used for precision work", I'll be a bit more blunt.
You're wrong. The trackpad is every bit as precise, if not more precise, than a mouse. There are some definite shortcomings to the trackpad, in the form of things you just can't do (although you can map gestures to some of these with tools like BetterTouchTool):
right-click and drag
clicking right+left simultaneously
anything involving a middle click.
But to say that the trackpad is less precise for normal mouse operation (left click, right click, drag, left-click and drag) is just wrong. You're just not used to it.
It's like an American that has played baseball all their life picking up a cricket bat and coming to the conclusion that "it's tougher to hit a ball with a cricket bat than it is a baseball bat". No. It's demonstrably much more difficult to hit a ball with a baseball bat. But if you're used to that, anything different (even if it's actually easier) is going to seem more difficult.
If you're basing your idea on the precision of a trackpad on using an iPhone or iPad (or any touch screen device), you're going to come to the wrong conclusion. A touch-screen is dependent on the size of what you're touching the screen with. Plus, you obscure what you're working on by the very act of touching, so that makes precision work tough.
With a trackpad, you're still manipulating the same 1px x 1px on-screen cursor that you would be moving with a mouse.
The precision of a pointing device is determined by two things: the control of the muscles used to actuate it, and the amount of force required to get it moving (to overcome the inertia of being at rest). In both of these, the trackpad comes out ahead. Even if you're using "precise" mouse movements (i.e., moving the mouse with your wrist, instead of from your elbow or shoulder), a single finger has a much higher degree of muscle control. As for the inertial force -- your finger is much lighter than a mouse, and the friction between the glass trackpad and your finger is lower than (or at worst, equal to) the friction between the mouse and the mousing surface.
So you have a pointing device that requires less effort to start moving, and is controlled by more dextrous muscles. That's a more precise pointing device.
If your muscle memory isn't used to it, that's one thing. But it's not the device's fault. Note that the same analysis holds for a trackball (thumb- or finger-operated, but especially finger-)
You're wrong. The trackpad is every bit as precise, if not more precise, than a mouse. There are some definite shortcomings to the trackpad, in the form of things you just can't do (although you can map gestures to some of these with tools like BetterTouchTool):
right-click and drag
clicking right+left simultaneously
anything involving a middle click.
But to say that the trackpad is less precise for normal mouse operation (left click, right click, drag, left-click and drag) is just wrong. You're just not used to it.
It's like an American that has played baseball all their life picking up a cricket bat and coming to the conclusion that "it's tougher to hit a ball with a cricket bat than it is a baseball bat". No. It's demonstrably much more difficult to hit a ball with a baseball bat. But if you're used to that, anything different (even if it's actually easier) is going to seem more difficult.
If you're basing your idea on the precision of a trackpad on using an iPhone or iPad (or any touch screen device), you're going to come to the wrong conclusion. A touch-screen is dependent on the size of what you're touching the screen with. Plus, you obscure what you're working on by the very act of touching, so that makes precision work tough.
With a trackpad, you're still manipulating the same 1px x 1px on-screen cursor that you would be moving with a mouse.
The precision of a pointing device is determined by two things: the control of the muscles used to actuate it, and the amount of force required to get it moving (to overcome the inertia of being at rest). In both of these, the trackpad comes out ahead. Even if you're using "precise" mouse movements (i.e., moving the mouse with your wrist, instead of from your elbow or shoulder), a single finger has a much higher degree of muscle control. As for the inertial force -- your finger is much lighter than a mouse, and the friction between the glass trackpad and your finger is lower than (or at worst, equal to) the friction between the mouse and the mousing surface.
So you have a pointing device that requires less effort to start moving, and is controlled by more dextrous muscles. That's a more precise pointing device.
If your muscle memory isn't used to it, that's one thing. But it's not the device's fault. Note that the same analysis holds for a trackball (thumb- or finger-operated, but especially finger-)
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You shouldn't be using to be using a trackpad OR a mouse in Photoshop or Illustrator though. You should be using a Wacom. Investment #1 for a professional retoucher or graphic artist. A mouse or trackpad is the most inefficient tool on earth for these programs. And yes, the Wacom comes with a Wacom mouse to use when you're doing normal web browsing and such.
I don't agree with that. I use a magic mouse for 90% of my graphics work, I only use my Wacom for erasing parts of an image, removing blemishes etc.
It feels un-natural trying to select menu items, or adjust bezier handles with a pen... and the Wacom mouse is terrible... It stays in the box it came in.
When I do digital painting in my spare time, I use a Wacom a lot more... but that isn't really what I would class as 'graphic design'.
If Apple are thinking of going touchpad only... they really need to add Wacom pen style input as well. If they did that, I could forgive them. ;0) ...but I would still keep my Magic mouse, for my iMac.
Apple just need to build inductive charging into the stand of the next-gen iMacs... problem solved.
Either that, or wireless power as demonstrated here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html
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You are right with respect to the customization.
Let us recall the history of the pointing devices. It was mouse that first got widely accepted.
When the notebooks came around, the trackpads were used on them as the second-to-best pointing devices --- mice.
Surely, there have been companies that make and sell trackpads, without as successfully as mice.
Thus, from the historical aspect, the first choice for pointing devices was the mouse, with the trackpad being the second choice.
It can be said that the choice was dependent upon the available technology.
That is right! All the tools that are our first choices depend on technology! Now, Apple has proposed some new technology with its iOS and OSX and it has brought back the trackpad.
In my opinion, whether or not the trackpad will replace the mouse all depends on how the technology develops! If Apple continues to invent technology that makes trackpad our first choice as a pointing device, then the mouse will be eventually dominated by the trackpad! As the history has already shown, Apple may succeed in accomplishing this if it is determined to do it.
Probably within a few years, computers with mice will be scarcely seen around the world.
What I want is a touch-screen device that replaces both the keyboard and track pad.
To get around the problem of not having physical keys... the keyboard could track the position of your fingers before you even touch it, by using some sort of camera.
So when you place say; your right index finger on the screen, it knows you want to type a H instead of a J because of the distance and angle between it and your middle finger.
This would mean you could walk up to a screen and start typing away, without even having to look at it.
It's definitely the future... and something Apple could achieve with existing technology.
I agree that the Magic Mouse is terrible. I had to use one for 3 months while working on data entry and would come home with a sore hand almost every day. Logitech so far has the best mouse design in terms of ergonomics (I'm one of those people who thinks the more sculpting the better) but I am currently using a more ambidextrous design from Microsoft which is also great.
That's a matter of opinion. I use both a mouse and a Wacom tablet, but I know many people who work in advertising and graphic design that hate using a tablet and find a mouse far easier to work with. It doesn't matter what you use as long as you are comfortable with it.
I can see so many thing going wrong with that. what if you are just typing with one hand? Or with the back of a pen? Or gloves? Physical keys are pretty important when doing any real typing because you can feel with great accuracy and use that to touch type, something that would be very hard to do with a touchscreen keyboard.
If the screen can 'see' your hands, it would know if you were just using one hand and switch key layouts to something appropriate.
You can't touch-type with 'the back of a pen'?, so you would just use the onscreen keyboard as normal.
Gloves wouldn't make any difference to a camera system... you still have all your fingers.
My point is, if the right keys are always under your fingers, regardless of where you put them... you wouldn't need to feel.
hope the update is true
Just goes to show, don't trust the preemptive post.
Whatever happens, it'll be nice if they do keep the Magic Mouse. Now if they could do something about the blue tooth in the iMac > Lovely.
Just goes to show, don't trust the preemptive post.
Whatever happens, it'll be nice if they do keep the Magic Mouse. Now if they could do something about the blue tooth in the iMac > Lovely.
I have replaced my mouse with the trackpad and use it for full time pro work on CS5 - that coupled with the iPad and wacom intuous is perfect - the mouse was a PITA and my aching wrists are gone - I suspect you're doing something wrong in the way you use it, or in it's positioning.