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Should I buy a Magic Trackpad?

Here is an answer from someone who previously hated trackpads...

Bought a Magic Mouse well over a year ago and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Love it!

However, when I started playing around with the developers preview of LION I realized that I was sort of limited in gestures (which Lion is all about), or that the experience was not seemingly "full."

So, on a whim, I bought a Magic Trackpad a month ago.

Unbelievable! From the first moment I used it, I was in love with the device.

It doesn't feel like the trackpads of years past or even the ones on the MacBooks.

You have a large playing field to slide your finger across. In fact, I can go from one end of my 27" iMac to the other without lifting a finger (or a Magic Mouse).

Gestures seemingly work so much better. You have more room on the trackpad to manipulate your fingers than the Magic Mouse.

I don't miss running out of mousepad space or having to blow dirt and gunk out of the tracking eye of the Magic Mouse.

Absolutely love the Magic Trackpad. It's a perfect marriage with Lion.
 
NJRonbo said:
Here is an answer from someone who previously hated trackpads...

Bought a Magic Mouse well over a year ago and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Love it!

However, when I started playing around with the developers preview of LION I realized that I was sort of limited in gestures (which Lion is all about), or that the experience was not seemingly "full."

So, on a whim, I bought a Magic Trackpad a month ago.

Unbelievable! From the first moment I used it, I was in love with the device.

It doesn't feel like the trackpads of years past or even the ones on the MacBooks.

You have a large playing field to slide your finger across. In fact, I can go from one end of my 27" iMac to the other without lifting a finger (or a Magic Mouse).

Gestures seemingly work so much better. You have more room on the trackpad to manipulate your fingers than the Magic Mouse.

I don't miss running out of mousepad space or having to blow dirt and gunk out of the tracking eye of the Magic Mouse.

Absolutely love the Magic Trackpad. It's a perfect marriage with Lion.
Click to expand...

Same experience, I just put my Magic Mouse on sale in local listings.;)
 
torana355 said:
If you love trackpads then yes, but if you are like me and prefer a mouse and still want to get the most out of Lion get a Magic Mouse and BetterTouchTool. BTT turns the Magic mouse into the best peripheral ive ever owned and using it with Lion is awesome.
Click to expand...

I have the Magic Mouse with BTT running on my work 2010 MBP. It's awesome, just down right perfect. I wish Lion incorporated the BTT into the OS, but no such luck. :(

BUT I'm planning (today maybe) to buy a Magic Trackpad to go with my 2007 MBP and Lion. The Lion GM is nice, but some of the trackpad gestures I like can't be done on the old machine. So, buying the Magic Trackpad is MUCH cheaper then a new laptop. Beside I typically use it while on my couch and there the mouse just doesn't cut it.
 
Yeah, I think most of you will be amazed at how much the Magic Trackpad enhances LION.
 
I really like my magic trackpad. When I used a mouse in the past (Logitech), I would have problems with sore wrist from time-to-time. I have not experienced this pain since I got the trackpad. ymmv.
 
Have hated trackpads for years. Always happy my Thinkpads had the little nub. But I bought the magic trackpad and now I just LOVE it.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone :D (I love the MacRumours community)

I went into town today and bought one, and I love it already!

I've been using it about ten minutes and it feels so natural. I can see it's gonna get even better when Lion (finally) comes out ^.^
 
Lagmonster said:
Have hated trackpads for years. Always happy my Thinkpads had the little nub. But I bought the magic trackpad and now I just LOVE it.
Click to expand...

Wow it seems even people that didn't like other trackpads are loving the Magic trackpad. I love the Magic Mouse with BTT but everyone in this thread has just talked me into going out and buying one tomorrow lol. Even with Macbook Pro trackpads i can't seem to point where i want easily, are you all sure the Magic TrackPad is better???
 
Everybody has their own preference.

I cannot say for certain you will love the trackpad.

All I can tell you is that this isn't your Dad's trackpad. This isn't a Macbook trackpad. And yes, the trackpad allows you far more comfort, far more real estate for your fingers, and supports more gestures for Lion.

You will amazed to find how fluently the MagicTrackpad and Lion work together.

Buy it. If you don't like it, return.
 
for general navigation and scrolling through things (safari, pages) I find the track pad fantastic

if i am doing things in Lightroom or Photoshop which require moving sliders, i find a mouse with a button much easier

mainly trackpad, with occasional mouse usage

would like the magic mouse (is that the newish one?), to try out as a mouse replacement (magic mouse + trackpad), sounds an ideal combination
 
NJRonbo said:
Everybody has their own preference.

I cannot say for certain you will love the trackpad.

All I can tell you is that this isn't your Dad's trackpad. This isn't a Macbook trackpad. And yes, the trackpad allows you far more comfort, far more real estate for your fingers, and supports more gestures for Lion.

You will amazed to find how fluently the MagicTrackpad and Lion work together.

Buy it. If you don't like it, return.
Click to expand...

Well with BTT the Magic Mouse can actually support more gestures then you would ever use anyway. For me its more about the comfort and the ease of doing certain gestures which has me quite interested now :) Im going to buy one tomorrow, I'm sure the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad will go well together depending on what I'm doing.
 
if you have a macbook pro, will the magic track pad do the same things as the glass track pad?
 
cas85 said:
if you have a macbook pro, will the magic track pad do the same things as the glass track pad?
Click to expand...

Yes, exactly the same. It's just bigger and you can move it where you want!

I've been using mine all afternoon, and it feels different to a MacBook trackpad... I can't describe how, it just feels even better!

Highly recommended
 
I picked up a trackpad a few weeks ago, in preparation for Lion. There are some things I love about it, but for more precise things, or even dragging and dropping, I prefer the magic mouse. I know the trackpad can do everything the mouse can do, but I find the mouse faster for some things. The ideal setup for me would be to have both side by side, but my keyboard drawer doesn't have enough room. I found I have to set the trackpad on top of the desk, which looks a little goofy.

But for some features, the trackpad is fantastic, and this is only on Snow Leopard. Once Lion comes out, which was designed with the trackpad in mind, I'm sure I will find it an even more valuable tool.
 
MasterHowl said:
Yes, exactly the same. It's just bigger and you can move it where you want!

I've been using mine all afternoon, and it feels different to a MacBook trackpad... I can't describe how, it just feels even better!

Highly recommended
Click to expand...

It took me a little getting used to, too, for what I believe to be two reasons:
- It's decidedly larger. The extra area means you interact with it slightly differently. For instance, with the magic trackpad I often find my thumb resting on the trackpad where this would never happen with the built-in trackpad. Luckily Apple's trackpads account for this and don't see my thumb as a third finger when scrolling, for instance. (Try it, have your thumb on the side and do a two-finger swipe. It'll work fine.)
- It's detached and, because of this, slanted. This is mostly a feeling-thing, but when using a built-in trackpad it's usually flat. It being detached means its orientation to the screen can change, whereas the built-in one is always in dead center on the screen. This requires some adjustment on the user's side.
 
Well i picked up my Magic Trackpad about an hour ago and my initial impressions are not as great as i was expecting. For doing the more complicated gestures the trackpad is great but for anything else including simple gestures, tracking and dragging/selecting the Magic Mouse with BetterTouchTool destroys it. I think people that have used laptops a lot would be fine with it but it is not for me.

On a side note i have way more gestures setup on my Magic Mouse with BTT then you get with the trackpad standard with Lion GM.
 
Didn't like the magic mouse, gestures wouldnt activate, felt uncomfortable to hold. Swapped someone for their magic trackpad, love it.
 
Dale Sorel said:
I've got a Logitech Performance Mouse MX and agree wholeheartedly that Apple peripherals are junk. I'm pretty sure that we will be able to access all the swipe stuff through a dock icon. So at this point I don't think I'm in the market for a trackpad.

If you go to the Apple store and look at the iMacs you can see that even Apple doesn't think you need both a Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse as you're given a choice at checkout as to which one you want. Unless you want to spend an extra $69 for both.
Click to expand...

I'm not that worried about the whole swiping thing. The GUI with a mouse and keyboard works fine for me, with hot corners and such. The only thing that I wish Apple would do is make the OS a little more keyboard friendly, although it is pretty good, just not as good as Windows is. That's a pretty minor peeve though, and I certainly wouldn't think of giving up my Mac for it.

If for some reason I needed an iMac, I would get the Trackpad so I could get more money for it on Ebay. :) Then, I'd get some PC peripherals for it!
 
since I started using the trackpad, I don't want to use a mouse anymore. It makes web surfing so easy and intuitive.
 
I've been using a trackpad for a week, but only on Snow Leopard on a Mac Pro. Even on SL I am enjoying it very much and haven't even thought about the mouse, so I imagine on Lion it will be a wonderful thing.
 
torana355 said:
Well i picked up my Magic Trackpad about an hour ago and my initial impressions are not as great as i was expecting. For doing the more complicated gestures the trackpad is great but for anything else including simple gestures, tracking and dragging/selecting the Magic Mouse with BetterTouchTool destroys it. I think people that have used laptops a lot would be fine with it but it is not for me.

On a side note i have way more gestures setup on my Magic Mouse with BTT then you get with the trackpad standard with Lion GM.
Click to expand...

Well i have an update, after a full two days of using the Magic Trackpad im actually starting to get used to it. When you have used a mouse for 15+ years it takes quite some getting used too. I still hold firm that a magic mouse is quicker to do many tasks like managing files but for general websurfing the Magic Trackpad is really growing on me.
 
I've been using mind for two days now, and it just keeps getting better and better.

I only use my mouse for gaming and some photoshop now!
 
torana355 said:
Well i have an update, after a full two days of using the Magic Trackpad im actually starting to get used to it. When you have used a mouse for 15+ years it takes quite some getting used too. I still hold firm that a magic mouse is quicker to do many tasks like managing files but for general websurfing the Magic Trackpad is really growing on me.
Click to expand...

I picked up mine yesterday and played with it for an hour or two. Not bad, not yet natural feeling too me but I'm learning to like it more. I'll give it at least a week to play with it and determine if it is right for me. So far it looks very decent.
 
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