iOS devices foster an intimacy between users and their screens that Macs thus far can’t recreate. It’s an operating system that begs to be touched, with good reason. I only ordered my Magic Trackpad after my first dalliances with Apple’s initial Lion developer preview. Certainly, it would seem that if you don’t have one, you’re missing out on an entire layer of functionality. The forthcoming 10.7 reportedly integrates improved support for multitouch gestures throughout the operating system, thus making a multitouch input device almost a necessity.
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But really, Cupertino’s clear goal in launching multiple multitouch Mac peripherals was to prepare us for an OS that embraces such gestures to a greater and more powerful extent than Snow Leopard already does.ĭM: You’re speaking, of course, of Apple’s Mac OS X Lion. Because I think Apple knew just what it was doing when it introduced the Magic Mouse: Creating further future demand for the Magic Trackpad. LF: Well, Dan, I’m glad I paid you to write that paragraph. And Apple admits as much, by limiting what multitouch gestures you can use on it: The device doesn’t support any of the Magic Trackpad’s three- or four-finger gestures (which can be used for dragging, triggering Exposé, and swiping between applications).ĭM: You know, it’s almost as though the Magic Mouse is some kind of Trojan, er, Mouse, designed to inculcate touch gestures in us, preparing us for a future in which we’re all subjected to an autocratic requirement to use only Magic Trackpads. The multitouch surface of the Magic Mouse is crippled by its narrow width. LF: That’s my second-biggest knock against the Magic Mouse as a multitouch device. In fact, I’ll take it one step further: The Magic Trackpad is better than the trackpad on your MacBook-because it’s bigger. Are you saying that a Magic Trackpad is the same thing as the trackpad on my MacBook? Not to mention the fact that if you can find your way around an iPhone, you can handle a Magic Trackpad, too.ĭM: Whoa, whoa, whoa. And whenever I used any other input device-a trackball I relied upon for a while, a Mighty Mouse, and others of that ilk-I missed the delicious shortcuts a MagicTrackpad (and only a Magic Trackpad) can offer. But that hesitation lasted only a few seconds, until I realized that I used a pseudo-Magic Trackpad almost every day, courtesy of the lovely glass surface resting below the keyboard of my trusty MacBook Pro. LF: I can admit, I was hesitant about my decision when I first bought the Magic Trackpad. They’re, dare I say, downright un-American. But a trackpad? They confuse, befuddle, perplex.
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The Magic Trackpad, I’ll grant you, is a rather dull-looking slab, and it’s sadly laserless-but what it lacks in style, it more than makes up for in sheer awesomeness.ĭM: Look, everybody knows how to use a mouse. And you’ve nailed the two best points of the Magic Mouse-it uses lasers and it looks nice. And, have I mentioned, it’s a sharp-looking accessory to any Mac? The fact remains that the Magic Mouse incorporates not only a multitouch surface that allows users to easily scroll, zoom, and navigate their Mac, but also acts as a pointing device with pinpoint laser accuracy. Am I reading you right?ĭM: Don’t change the subject. If I’m reading you right, you’re implying that you, like me, feel that there are numerous benefits to the Magic Trackpad. (Also, I believe the third word you were looking for was “flimflam.”) Friedman, I notice you launch your argument by attacking your opponent, rather than by discussing the benefits of your own chosen input device-which, I should add, are many. So the mere fact that you would even attempt to defend, let alone celebrate, it here is truly unthinkable. LF: Let me start by saying this: The Magic Mouse places itself on a “best-of-both-worlds” pedestal, but it’s a scam, a sham, and another word that rhymes with “scam.” It’s a decent mouse, but its multitouch features are sorely lacking. Senior Associate Editor Dan Moren (DM) and Staff Writer Lex Friedman (LF) decided to debate the pros and cons of each Apple accessory in this point/counterpoint-which didn’t quite go as expected.
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