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Apple's 'Magic Trackpad' or 'Magic Slate' Revealed?

Anuba said:
Doesn't look fine at all. :p

The ergonomic benefit of getting rid of the numerical keypad is that you have have the alphanumerical keys centered right in front of you. If you do this with an old-school keyboard you'll either have off-center keys or the numpad will be sticking out on the right.

kb1_comparison.jpg


The lady on the left will have plenty of mouse arm pain when she goes to bed...

That's why I'm going to place the 'magic pad' on the left. I'm a southpaw anyway, but not one of those who put the mouse on the left side.
Click to expand...


All 4 images look the same to me :rolleyes:

I really do not care about where people place them...I just want 2 like yesterday :p
 
I actually think that this is one of the most useless devices in a long time.

Perhaps it is just me, but I don't buy external mice for my notebooks because the trackpad is so amazing that I don't want to wear it out.

I like the feel of a mouse, the precision, the physical buttons.

I understand some people love notebook trackpads I assume, or Wacom tablets and whatnot, but I cannot stand using them for more than specific tasks. Sure, I can surf the net with a notebook trackpad, and tablets are good for art, but that's about it in my world.

I would hate having a touchscreen keyboard, or buttons I cannot physically click.

As cool as multitouch and whatnot is, it's more of a gimmick Apple is riding out as opposed to better functionality. Sure, on an iphone where you lack physical buttons save for the home button, it's very much useful.

On a mouse? I'd rather have my 5 buttons and scroll wheel.
 
Using words that I don't like

This is the leftover of an earlier unibody MBP or iMac launch. Apple didn't want to cannibalise (I hate this word) the sales of the new mouse.

Personally, I posted several times about wishing a keyboard with the unibody trackpad. By looking at the thing, it is obvious that at one stage, that was tested. Instead, Apple realised that a separate item means more revenue and more flexibility. Also, why not to stick with a smaller size when you can get a larger one? This thing will not replace graphic tablets (I have a touch-sensitive Wacom and it's pretty good), but it will certainly enhance the Mac experience (ah, I hate that word too).
 
InvalidBassist said:
Do you think it work with the iPad like the keyboard does?
Click to expand...

What would you need it for on the iPad? You can just touch the screen of the iPad with your finger, you don't need this device. This would require a cursor to indicate where you are on the screen as you touched around on the trackpad, which would break the entire iPhone OS paradigm.

Who knows, maybe they will introduce a cursor for the new ATV (whichever OS it uses) which this might then work for, but that's only because you can't touch your television screen and have it recognise input from your finger.
 
Cute, but what I'd buy straight away is a larger wireless BT keyboard with a touchpad below the keyboard--one with the exact layout of the MBP or MBA keyboard/touchpad. So much better than having to switch my finger memory from laptop mode to (argh!) keyboard/MMouse mode when using the desktop. Heck, I could even lean back in my chair with the longer keyboard in my lap (just like a laptop) and interact with my desktop or other device.

Apple, please....!
 
Perfect for HTPC

Think it would be a great "remote" for HTPC. Mousing just sucks lying on the couch. I can see where this would be very useful if for nothing better than mindless surfing on my big screen...
 
aiqw9182 said:
Just place it at the same place the mouse would go, to the right of the keyboard.
Click to expand...

I would want it to the left of my keyboard for my left hand to use along with my mouse in my right. A trackpad could NEVER solely replace a mouse.
 
Woah omg.. I was thinking about that when the new trackpad was introduced! why not instead of a magic mouse have an option for a trackpad as a mouse for desktops.. I just really do hope it's not that big!
 
chadder007 said:
Same, I hate the magic mouse. Its too flat and uncomfortable to click for me. I'd rather just have my hand on a pad.
Click to expand...
Same here. I prefer the Mighty Mouse, which I never thought I'd prefer to anything, so that's saying something...

The multi-touch is great, but the sissy shape reduces the Magic Mouse to a coffee table trinket with very little productivity potential. Mouse design is really the wrong platform for weird "think different" experiments. Using a car analogy, some aspects of the 'cockpit' are OK to be creative with (digital instrumentation instead of analog, buttons on the steering wheel instead of the dashboard etc) but the fundamental stuff you operate the car with such as steering wheel and pedals should stick to the familiar paradigm. No "hey, let's see what happens if we make a square steering wheel or replace it with handlebars, or maybe replace the brake pedal with a voice command module".
 
I've been waiting for something like this for a long time. Kinda wish it was not slanted so you could also use it under the keyboard like on a Macbook, but you need some place to put the batteries in. I love that the BT keyboard takes AA batteries. Docking stations for wireless peripherals just suck.

The Mighty Mouse was a disaster IMO. Poor or non-functioning tracking, scroll ball would only function on some axis after a while and was impossible to clean. Magic mouse is just not ergonomic. And the Macintosh Mouse acceleration curve is still totally wrong, it jumps from super-slow to lightning fast without a curve.

The trackpads on Macbooks however are wonderful. So bring on the desktop trackpads!
 
Harmless Abuse said:
I actually think that this is one of the most useless devices in a long time.

Perhaps it is just me, but I don't buy external mice for my notebooks because the trackpad is so amazing that I don't want to wear it out.

I like the feel of a mouse, the precision, the physical buttons.

I understand some people love notebook trackpads I assume, or Wacom tablets and whatnot, but I cannot stand using them for more than specific tasks. Sure, I can surf the net with a notebook trackpad, and tablets are good for art, but that's about it in my world.

I would hate having a touchscreen keyboard, or buttons I cannot physically click.

As cool as multitouch and whatnot is, it's more of a gimmick Apple is riding out as opposed to better functionality. Sure, on an iphone where you lack physical buttons save for the home button, it's very much useful.

On a mouse? I'd rather have my 5 buttons and scroll wheel.
Click to expand...

I think they both have their place.

I don't think a touch key board would ever replace a physical keyboard. Unless you don't know how to type, having the ability to physically feel where the keys are means you are that much faster cause you don't have to keep looking down to align your hands. Only way I could see this is if hand writing recognition gets so good that people could just write on the touch pad but even still there will be people like me that much prefer typing to writing (I *HATE* writing and my handwriting is atrocious. It would have to be a magical handwriting recognition that would be able to recognize mine without at least a little hassle or me having to be extra careful when I write. I mean I had an ipaq that wasn't so bad and was good as handwriting recognition goes but I still was much slower than if I could type. Shoot, it's easier for me to type longer replies on the touch screen iphone than the handwriting on the ipaq).

But as for some stuff, yes, gestures are a lot better than physical buttons. More intuitive, faster than searching for the button. I love my magic mouse. I love scrolling by just moving my finger up and down, it is so much nicer than a scroll wheel. I love using swipe to tell the browser to go back or forward or even to peruse around my computer (you can go back and forward between folders that way). It's much quicker than even moving the mouse to the back button or using a keyboard shortcut. But I still like having a mouse to actually physically move to point at things too. The magic mouse is so great cause it combines the two and it makes for very efficient surfing around (I swear this is the ultimate web surfing mouse or even when working on word processing documents or searching through your computer for stuff). I wouldn't want a trackpad (it's fine on my laptop when you have to compromise, but even so my magic mouse is so portable I just take it with me and I still prefer it even over my new macbook pro's trackpad).

So, I think they both really have their place. I think a touch screen keyboard that works as well as the iphone's is great for a small portable device where you don't want to have too much extra bulk. I liked having a foldable keyboard for my ipaq, I'm not sure it will be worth it with the iphone to have more stuff to carry around. The touch keyboard is good enough compromise between portability and usability. But for my laptop? Yeah, I want a keyboard and that is a big reason why I'd pick my laptop even over an ipad (and it's a full computer as well). The size difference for the ipad for me does not make up for lack of keyboard. And adding a keyboard means you still add bulk to carry around. The laptop is one nice package without having to carry around and put together two pieces.
 
It's a bit bigger than a trackpad.:p

And its not made of cheese - what is your point?
 
I for one will purchase this if it comes out. I use my macbook closed with an external monitor about 80% of the time... And I dislike how I lose the trackpad when doing so.
 
Anuba said:
The multi-touch is great, but the sissy shape reduces the Magic Mouse to a coffee table trinket with very little productivity potential. .
Click to expand...

My Creative Suite CS4 experience is way better with the custom gestures. Productivity increased majorly. My Magic Mouse is invaluable in my graphic design.
 
Jason Beck said:
My Creative Suite CS4 experience is way better with the custom gestures. Productivity increased majorly. My Magic Mouse is invaluable in my graphic design.
Click to expand...

What third party software did you use to tweak your Magic Mouse settings?


synth3tik said:
The trackpad is the most annoying feature on my macbook. Stupid idea.
Click to expand...

Boy are you in the minority! Try learning to use it / give it a chance.
 
Pressure sensitive gestures

I doubt this ‘Magic Trackpad’ will be like the one described in this article, at least, I certainly hope Apple could do a lot better. A Wacom multi-touch pad currently available will do all described here and they are not very good either. Unfortunately, like all other Apple touch surfaces it will be a capacitive pad technolgy similar to those that already exist on their laptops. These pads are slow, have poor resolution, do not measure pressure (z-axis) which means they feel 'lift and retouch' is an acceptable user experience, also they are very expensive.

Coming very soon is a pad with and update rate exceeding 1000 pts/sec (the fastest gaming mouse will give you about 160 pts/sec). The resolution will be 10 pts/mm, that’s right, do the math the width of a human hair. The pad will also accurately measure pressure eliminating ‘lift and retouch’ with simply ‘press’. This sensor is complete/demonstrable and production discussions with OEMs under way to deliver at retail under $25. Here’s a clue http://www.simasystems.com/gemi_pad4.mov

BTW, touch sensors that do not measure 'touch pressure' accurately are already obsolete. I am sure Apple and MS would like to patent the ability to measure not only the gesture but the force of the gesture (a new gesture paradigm) but that is already done. A two dimensional world of x/y is, in fact, probabaly adequate for 90+ of the planet for now but a three dimensional world of x/y + z is the future and that future is now.
 
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