Do you have a demo/documentation on the proper way to hold the Magic Mouse? I have never heard that, but maybe I am "holding it wrong".
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
New 'Magic Mouse 2' and Apple Wireless Keyboard With Bluetooth 4.2 Appear in FCC Filings
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Do you have a demo/documentation on the proper way to hold the Magic Mouse? I have never heard that, but maybe I am "holding it wrong".
So many of these posts have made me smile especially those in relation to lit keyboards and carpal tunnel etc.
Back lit keyboards you say - well goodness knows how many of you would have faired when I first learned to type some forty years ago on a Remington manual typwriter. What you would have made of the 'carriage return', changing the 'ribbon' or the inclined heavy manual keys I cannot imagine.
When learning, the keys were completley covered so touch typing was the order of the day. I could manage 50 WPM on the old manual, 60 on a good day. At my best on a PC keyboard I could manage 110 WPM.
Forget lit keys and learn to touch type, you will never look back.
Back lit keyboards you say - well goodness knows how many of you would have faired when I first learned to type some forty years ago on a Remington manual typwriter. What you would have made of the 'carriage return', changing the 'ribbon' or the inclined heavy manual keys I cannot imagine.
When learning, the keys were completley covered so touch typing was the order of the day. I could manage 50 WPM on the old manual, 60 on a good day. At my best on a PC keyboard I could manage 110 WPM.
Forget lit keys and learn to touch type, you will never look back.
I can touch type with my eyes closed. Why do I want a backlit keyboard? Because I'm not always using the keyboard to type, I'm often using it to press one or two keys in sequence which don't naturally fall under the one hand I'm using whilst I'm controlling some other device.
Not everyone is using their keyboard in the same way that you would use a typewriter, and not everyone is using their machine in a well lit environment.
I am seeing a lot of hate regarding rechargable versus removable batteries. This is obvious not an image of the product, but it looks like there is still a battery door, at least on the mouse. Could that mean a removable battery?
But the batteries already last a very long time. I guess I can see people forgetting to charge them, but for weeks at a time? I am sure there will be some sort of cradle, or perhaps even inductive charging, who knows? I don't see this is the travesty that some people do. And aloowing myself to sound a little snarky, how incredibly important is your workflow if you're doing it on a Magic mouse?
But the batteries already last a very long time. I guess I can see people forgetting to charge them, but for weeks at a time? I am sure there will be some sort of cradle, or perhaps even inductive charging, who knows? I don't see this is the travesty that some people do. And aloowing myself to sound a little snarky, how incredibly important is your workflow if you're doing it on a Magic mouse?
System Preferences > Mouse
But that's not how I prefer to use it. I like to keep both my index and middle forward and right-click with my middle finger, not with index finger like shown in the demo.
It's still baffling to me that Magic Mouse can't be used for simultaneous left and right click. Isn't it a multitouch mouse?
I taught myself to touch type using a book titled "Typing Made Simple" on an Underwood that was probably manufactured in the 1950s. As you may know, it's often said that the QWERTY layout was intentionally designed to slow typing speed and prevent key jams, although that's been called into question. Regardless, the arrangement stuck and survived the transition to electric and then electronic keyboards.
Computer keyboards differ from manual typewriters in many ergonomic respects, including the tiered key placement, higher activation force, and others. Overall, I think that the ones we use nowadays are superior ergonomically. But they also let typists enter many more symbols and commands using key combinations, making it very difficult to do everything without glancing down, at least occasionally. So, while I agree that touch typing is a valuable skill, backlit keyboards have their place in dimly-lit environments.
No, it is an anachronism because the reason the numbed was invented, and the reason it ended up on the IBM computer keyboard, was to allow for quick data entry. Data entry as a profession is definitely well past its 1980s-90s heyday, which makes the tool which primarily existed in the first place to make it more efficient anachronistic.
Now, yes, people do input numbers, and a numeric keypad is much more efficient for that than a row of numbers. But, the relative need to enter numbers versus the need to enter text is not the same as it was for those "data workers" of the 80s and 90s, nor anywhere near it. To wit, if you are entering a lot of numbers on a regular basis today, you are not in the 90% "sweet spot" of consumers Apple is aiming for, and would be better served getting special-purpose equipment rather than expecting the mass market to continue to cater to your specific needs. If you are not entering numbers frequently, most likely you are better served by a few more inches of space for your mouse / other crap on the desktop rather than a dedicated numeric keypad that sits idle 99% of the time. Again, though, if you are in that fringe of users who actually needs the numeric keypad more than the desk space, see above comments; Apple's peripherals are not for you.
Again, sounds like you fall into the data entry professional camp for whatever reason. You are not well served by Apple's peripherals. Fortunately, every Apple computer sold has a way to attach a variety of third-party keyboards which cater to your specific needs. On the hand finding it without looking, these USB standalone numeric keypads are quite big and bulky enough for a hand cast off to the right to find them and orient to them very easily. And, there's always duct tape
But seriously, if you need a keypad at near-instant touch repositioning to your home row on the keyboard, it sounds like you need a special purpose piece of equipment. Most people do not.Desk space .. well, let's just say some value that extra 3.5" or so more than you do. It is all about personal tradeoffs.
... once a year. I should also note that I personally haven't had to enter any numbers off paper forms in the past three years; W2s and 1099s and 1098s are increasingly being made electronically available, so the only thing the paper is good for is to verify that the electronic amounts jive with what they printed out and sent to me (which is secondary to making sure they jive with my own records).
Yes, agitated. Caps locking words, not reading to the end of my replies, attacking me rather than my point, etc. You found a point you think you can call hypocritical and keep hammering on my integrity for having made it despite my efforts to explain further. I could have just called you a troll as you did me, but I chose "agitated" instead-- I honestly don't think you're trolling, I think that your emotions got the better of you.
So let me address that point first in the hopes that you'll read further to why I think this part of the argument is unnecessary. You're bothered that I talked about the tray being "big" and the keyboard being "tiny". Perhaps I chose my words imprecisely, or was overly succinct, or god forbid, whimsical. Mea culpa. In my defense, however, those weren't the only words I wrote on the subject-- you just chose to ignore the rest. It is not the physical size that concerns me, it is the fact that it takes a product that was designed to sit a certain way and adds material to it. Maybe saying that I'm using the older wireless keyboard (with number pad) is evidence that I'm a super-duper hypocrite complaining about the size of one thing while using something bigger-- or maybe it's evidence that my concern isn't merely the size and you're missing my point. I trust Apple's design; I trust 3rd party molded plastic less. I don't mind the keyboard being bigger if that size isn't counter to ergonomics. In truth, I think a larger keyboard is more ergonomic. The Amazon reviews, and the link I provided, however suggest that the added plastic of the Clique does affect the ergonomics of the trackpad and won't even hold the number pad.
Let me repeat that: it won't even hold the number pad. So can we stop arguing about that solution?
And yes, there are other ways of attaching other third party number pads to Apple keyboards-- including putting a $30 film on a $60 trackpad and using a $30 piece of plastic to bind them together with a $60 keyboard as you suggest. I've tried some of them, and found them lacking ergonomically or functionally. I also find it expensive.
If you'd bothered to look into the solutions you suggest, as I, the purported troll did, or just read my responses and links before attacking me for not liking them, you'd notice that all but that buttonless plastic film on trackpad solution won't work because they grab the trackpad by the battery bar-- where the Belkin has a lump.
There are also solutions from other manufacturers.
Or the solution I'm currently using.
Let me repeat that too: the solution I'm currently using. I've replied several times that I have a wireless keyboard with a number pad and yet you still accuse me of complaining, trolling, and not seriously looking for a solution. I think it's because you're agitated and you're not reading my full response past the point you think you can attack me.
All of this argument seems to overlook the point of this entire thread: Apple appears to be preparing to announce a new keyboard that we've only seen a sketch of the back of. I would be more likely to buy it if that keyboard has a number pad attached. I'm sorry if that opinion, or my willingness to discuss peoples thinking a bit deeper offends you, but there it is.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Batteries that you can only buy from Apple no doubt at five times the price of any one else's.
Surely a detachable USB cable for cabled/charging use and separate for wireless would be the complete solution.
Every Apple bluetooth device i have had has failed, two mice and a trackpad, wired for me every time mow at the desktop. With the Wacom i don't really use one much any way but i did like the trackpad for left hand use and the Wacom pen for right hand use.
Surely a detachable USB cable for cabled/charging use and separate for wireless would be the complete solution.
Every Apple bluetooth device i have had has failed, two mice and a trackpad, wired for me every time mow at the desktop. With the Wacom i don't really use one much any way but i did like the trackpad for left hand use and the Wacom pen for right hand use.
Last edited:
But the security issue is how to be 100% sure that your mouse and only your mouse is sending that "okay to unlock" message. It isn't insurmountable (ex, iPhone/iWatch communication), but it is definitely a concern which will need to be well-vetted before I trust any remote unlock.
Vote 2 for Home, End, Page Up and Page Down. I will never give these up.
Also would like a wired Magic Trackpad and a wired Magic Mouse.
Last edited:
If you are in a company doing big data and you are typing data in rather than importing or copy/pasting, you are doing it very very wrong, and I would like to know which company this is so I could avoid their products.
I do a lot of relatively lightweight data analysis, generally in Excel (Access oddly doesn't seem to work very well on my Mac ...), and I would kick myself in the balls before typing data into Excel. Back in the day I did truly big-data scientific analysis, and even then I never hand-transcribed anything if it couldn't be helped.
Accountants, I can see. They are still stuck with paper-based sources of data and someone needs to do the transcribing. But anything that deems itself "big data" really really should not even dream of having fallible human employees copying numbers from one place to another using a 10-key.
As a personal anecdote, a few years back I was in a lawyer's office who deemed himself a whiz on a 10-key calculator who was transcribing data from Excel spreadsheets of all things into his hand calculator to add stuff up, rather than just using the built-in functions to do the exact same calculations right in Excel ... not everyone who swears by a 10-key is really making their life easier with it; sometimes it is just old habits not having an impetus to die.
I do the same-- I don't rest my hand on it, I just use my thumb and ring finger to push it around and my index and middle to click. I hadn't paid attention to the SysPrefs posture before, but I have to think it would get really uncomfortable fast...System Preferences > Mouse
But that's not how I prefer to use it. I like to keep both my index and middle forward and right-click with my middle finger, not with index finger like shown in the demo.
It's still baffling to me that Magic Mouse can't be used for simultaneous left and right click. Isn't it a multitouch mouse?
It would be nice to have a more versatile touch surface on the new one though.
Last edited:
15 years ago (more like 25 really) people would have a set of data either hand-written by someone in the field, or typed up in a different office, printed, and faxed over, or printed in a reference manual three inches thick with onion-skin paper in an 8-point font, and would need to get that into their own local database for data processing.
I know this because I briefly worked such a job (poorly), and knew several others who worked such jobs through the mid-1990s (they were much better at it than I). That skill set is no longer in demand. All of us who worked such horrible temp jobs have long since shifted our skills to be productive members of modern society, and rarely if ever input numbers with our fingers like neanderthals.
I can tell you as an absolute fact that more businesses than you may imagine still use the numeric pad on the keyboard. Businesses that for example use a Unix database using the next block, clear block, next field system.
Without the numeric pad such databases would not be able to operate. Government departments in particular still use a number of these databases and make heavy use of the numeric pad.
The majority of peer reviewed research I've seen shows the split keyboards as having no appreciable effect on instances of RSI injuries, actually. So much for what "everybody knows".
Split keyboards are more comfortable for some people, and less so for others. If they are good for you, there are a number of manufacturers making them (Apple doesn't need to make every device or peripheral you buy, does it?)Sigh, okay, you win. They are using ancient systems which require ancient and error-prone methods of data entry, but I will no longer label them nor the tools they require "anachronistic". Whatever.
Again, if you happen to be in one of these mind-numbing jobs, you have my absolute sympathies, and my permission to buy any 110-key keyboard made by any company out there. I hereby release you from any obligation you may have felt to only type on a keyboard produced by Apple, Inc.
I don't see why your dead-end job should dictate what is on my desk, though. And, yes, I can buy a non-Apple keyboard just as easily as you can, should Apple switch to selling gargantuan extended keyboards again. Yet, Apple has chosen for several years to sell just one keyboard style, and to cater that keyboard style to the people who do not need a numeric keyboard (not even a goofy one superimposed on the UIO/JKL/M<> keys). I'd submit that Apple are not idiots, and know which of the two market segments buys more keyboards.
johnnyturbouk
macrumors 68000
Firstly, I hated the first MM, ended up selling it and getting a random 3rd party logitech model, that i have used twice since. For my needs, i find the trackpad irreplaceable, and thus the MM is superfluous with the trackpad.
Secondly, i think i would be rather unpopular here, but i would love to have a backlit keyboard, of similar build, tactility, and robustness as the keyboard on the rMBP. If some on here are vehemently opposed to backlit, then one compromise could be for the option to turn the backlit keys off, however, I believe i speak for many, where a backlit keyboard would be an instant hit for my workflow.
Secondly, i think i would be rather unpopular here, but i would love to have a backlit keyboard, of similar build, tactility, and robustness as the keyboard on the rMBP. If some on here are vehemently opposed to backlit, then one compromise could be for the option to turn the backlit keys off, however, I believe i speak for many, where a backlit keyboard would be an instant hit for my workflow.
- Mouse All aluminum top that looks like the Magic Trackpad. Thrown in force touch.
- Keyboard: loose the battery tube, black backlit keys with less throw like the new MacBook, and give a number pad.
johnnyturbouk
macrumors 68000
This comment made me chuckle! Could one also ask how you abacus is fairing in the digital era?
You mean my string with knots?
Typing is an old skill brought bang up to date in the age of computers. However, I reckon I can give many of today's generation of computer users a good run for their money when it comes to knocking out a long document. No open punctuation or centre justified either - all properly punctuated to professional business standards. P.S. I still own a circa 1997 Cherry keyboard - it really was/is a good keyboard to work on.