Review: Apple Magic Trackpad

I’ve been using trackpads on my laptops for many years and used them on the desktop for awhile as well, so when my father started raving about the Apple Magic Trackpad, I thought I’d give it a try. I had read a few reviews of it and heard people talk about it on podcasts, so I thought I’d immediately like it. When I received it, I easily paired it to my MacBook Pro and tried to use it. As I had always been a mechanical click kind of person, I found the trackpad hard to use even though it had mechanical buttons in the front feet. I kept trying to use it for a few days and then simply put it away and forgot about it.

Last week we travelled to San Jose for Thanksgiving and stayed in a hotel (if you go some place for Thanksgiving, I highly recommend staying in a hotel instead of with the in-laws; much easier to have your own space for an extended stay). We put our son down pretty early and I didn’t want to disturb him with the mechanical clicking of my MacBook Pro’s trackpad, so I turned on tap to click. I spent several days learning how to use this feature and first, it was hard to use, but once I changed the double click settings to be slower, I got the hang of it. The hardest part was dragging as every time I was trying to drag, it would double click (hence changing the settings).

When we got back, I pulled out the Magic Trackpad and started to use it again. I had been using my Handshoe Mouse which I really like. My only complaint was all the dirt it picked up which made it feel gritty when I moved it. Within a few minutes, I understood what my dad had been saying about it. It works quite well once you turn on tap to click; if you use the mechanical click, it works poorly as dragging is almost impossible (at least for me). Now that I’ve been using the Magic Trackpad, I’m almost ready to put my mouse out to pasture. The only area that I seem to switch back to the mouse is when I use the iPhone Simulator and have to swipe up as it seems harder to do with a trackpad.

Pros

• Takes up very little room.
• Easy to pair with my Mac.
• Reasonable price.
• Very customizable (there is a free app called BetterTouch Tool that adds even more customizations).
• Large surface area (larger than my MacBook Pro’s trackpad).

Cons

• Mechanical clicking works poorly.
• Tap to click/drag can take a little getting used to if you haven’t used it before.
• Doesn’t come with rechargeable batteries (when I replace the batteries, I’ll use the Eneloop ones that I’ve had for a few years).
• Bluetooth is sometimes annoying if I take my MacBook Pro in the other room and the trackpad randomly connects/disconnects (other room is maybe 15 feet away).

Summary

It seems that Apple is moving in the direction of touch for everything and the Magic Trackpad is a natural extension. If you’re tired of dragging a mouse around or cleaning a trackball, the Magic Trackpad is worth considering. The customizable gestures, including the pinch to zoom and swipes is the future of where Apple is going with input, in my opinion. The only real downside I see to the device is the learning curve, at least for me. If I hadn’t forced myself to get used to the tap to click, I would have definitely said that this device was a waste of money. However, once I figured out that this was my problem, I’m happily using the trackpad and am using my MacBook Pro’s internal trackpad more efficiently as well. I would not be surprised if Apple drops the mechanical click in the future.