Apple Magic Trackpad

Can you say 'just like that' please?

I'll get a better feel for it then.

"You'll like this, not a lot".

Gary, being the resident Apple king, I'm amazed you don't have these two at your finger tips.

Derek, I'll reply to your email when I've got a moment. I know you like details, but I don't think the forum has much interest.

I would be very interested in hearing your opinions of the Magic Track Pad. I am so very tempted to get one, however all my attempts to test one out in an Apple store have been interrupted.

In short

Trackpad = good
Magic mouse = Bad (unless you have very delicate child hands)

I'm quite tempted by one of these; never liked apple mice generally.

We're interested count.d! So what's the main benefit do you think?

When I work on a computer, it's usually in periods of many hours at a time. Much of this work is in Photoshop which requires intricate cursor manoeuvring, and because of this I've always suffered from finger, hand and wrist ache of some sort. Having the Magic Trackpad on the left, rests my right hand from doing mundane tasks such as scrolling through files, etc. I've set the pad to react to tapping rather than clicking (physically pushing the pad down) and the gentlest touch highlights/selects with ease. I've only had it a week and find it a revelation. On the web, one finger is cursor positioning/selecting, two fingers scroll up/down, three fingers swiping left/right go back/forward pages and four fingers up/down show all open applications and more. You can set the finger actions to do many things and they all work perfectly every time, well nearly. Amazon do it for £54 delivered.

I like the Magic Mouse. It's very precise and the low height relaxes my hand. I love the touch sensitive features, especially when zooming/scrolling in Photoshop and like the Trackpad, it releases my hand from repetitive actions.

I'm not sure a demonstration in the Apple store would be a true test. I found it to be most beneficial after changing preferences and after a few hours use.

It's all personal preference.

I'm hoping that at least the shop should be able to show the principle of the Trackpad, as I'm having great difficulty in getting my head around these actions.

Have been using a Trackpad for two months now Bloody Fantastic!
Not sure why anyone needs a magic mouse as well. Mine has gone back into its nice presentaion box

BigH are you are actually using an apple track pad on a mac?

They are exceptionally easy to use, but on a PC restricted as I understand it.

Count have you used Wacom, it really is the only interface for photoshop if accuracy is paramount.

quote:

BigH are you are actually using an apple track pad on a mac?

No only the standard iMAC wired mouse .

The introduction of the Trackpad is an interesting statement of the role of the laptop versus the desktop.

It was not so long ago that the desktop was the main machine and the laptop was the secondary machine - so users of the laptop needed a positional input tool that they were used to - The Mouse.
As time progressed the Laptop positional input tool improved to become the little panels on the current Mac laptops.

This gives a situation where the laptop owner is left hanging when they use the desk top machine and mouse and so the Trackpad was introduced. So giving the desktop user the same positional input technique as the laptop user.

Well that is my theory any way.

I agree with Gary re the Wacom for graphic work - it is a survival requirement for any accurate positional graphic work - eg painting and drawing. It is also now very useful in Aperture 3.

OK had a quick play in the local iStore. I now see what this device is about, 2 fingers up, 4 down , checkmate .

I guess I'll have to get the matching W/L keyboard as well.

quote:

Count have you used Wacom, it really is the only interface for photoshop if accuracy is paramount.

Gary, no I've not used Wacom, although a couple of web designers I do work for, use the system. If I need accuracy in Photoshop, I enlarge the image 200-400% and not had a problem. Perhaps I'm missing something?

Speed especially with brush work

Also crop tool especially with the perspective correction tool is faster (in my view) with the Wacom - oh and also using the scratch move to change numeric values in the various functions.

however YMMV as always there is at least three ways of achieving a given objective in PS

Count. I can honestly say the wacom is the only way I can deal with creative suite, I am willing to bet you will love it.

I cannot honestly give you any negatives. The software is superb on mac, the hardware is good and ultimately your hand posture is fine and the natural feel of writing, including levels of pressure and indeed angle and tilt make it a real tool. Photoshop totally have wacom built into the software, flip the pen up and it becomes an eraser in photoshop. The wacom tablet has a scroll wheel which can be used to increase brush size, zoom in etc.

Basically I am a sad geek form and am in front of a computer at least 5 hours a day, a lot of what I do now is producing tenders for my company using indeisgn/illustrator/photoshop. Its terribly clunky with a mouse.

My only downsides would be:

1. Get the proper wacom, intous 4.
2. Try and have a go on one. The obvious choice would be the big ones, but they then require you to move your entire arm to cover the space. I have the A5 sized one, which is about perfect for me.
3. If you have two screens you by definition lose half the sensitivity of the wacom which is fine if it lives there. for me though I take it to work every day to use with my laptop, so when I bring home and put on the mac with two screens it initially feels odd

My advice if you are working with wacom is just buy one, its a no brainer.

Thanks Gary, I'll have a look. Medium size rather than large?

Thats my preference, as I say the bigger the surface the more you have to move.