Gesture politics
No matter how you try and keep the thing sat in the same place, it always seems to wander.
Not so the MT, of course - it's fixed, held in place by the four rubber feet on its base and held up at a slight angle by the tubular battery compartment - two AAs included - at the back. The main body is sturdy aluminium alloy.
Select your gestures
Apple's laptop trackpads these days are themselves big buttons, and the MT is no different, a gentle, light click coming as feedback when you push it. Personally, I'd rather tap to click, so I immediately enabled this option in the Trackpad control panel, which was off by default. Folk who often tap accidentally may prefer to leave it as is.
Battery swap guidance is a click away - handy because you'll be changing them often
The MT provides the full array of Apple gestures, checking for one, two, three or four simultaneous finger presses, plus drag, rotate and pinch manoeuvres. If you've used an Apple laptop trackpad in the past few years, you'll know what to expect. If you don't, check out Apple's Multi-Touch Trackpad Update 1.0 software patch, which adds these features to some older machines.
Next page: Assault on batteries
COMMENTS
iCock
Yeah Apple, thanks a lot for not considering the bad feng-shui of having to equip old computers with a Bluetooth dongle.
In fact, why stop there - damned inconsiderate of them not to take account of those of us without computers at all! What's that all about, eh? Eh?
in fact, fuck it why not go the whole hog- Apple, you're just a bunch of self-serving pricks who are only focused on COMPUTER USERS from the LAST 10 YEARS who want to get on and USE THEIR SYSTEMS - how DARE you!?!?!?! What about the rest of the population? What about little kids in Africa who don't have a computer and never will have - or what about PETS and ANIMALS who can't even type - did you consider them in your drive to develop genuinely useful stuff? No of course not, you inconsiderate bastards!
</sarcasm>
Innovation?
>> "While it may not be the innovator it likes to think it is, it does have a knack for re-inventing old ideas and coming up with something better."
Isn't that the essence of innovation? It is very seldom that inventions come from pure ether or thought-stuff. Oxford dictionary defines the word as follows.
in-no-vate
verb [ intrans. ]
make changes in something established, esp. by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.
ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: from Latin innovare, in- "into" + novare "make new".
-dZ.
Silly boy...
I'll bite. For starters, I cannot recall any tech pundit or Apple representative claiming that this was a first-to-market product, besides, Apple already have quite a few patents about multi-touch and gesture based input, i'd imagine this is one of the fruits of those particular filings. Second, the Bamboo Touch costs **more** than the Magic Trackpad, the 'cheaper' one on Amazon, for instance, doesn't provide a touch interface. It's worth noting that it's RRP is actually more (£20) that the MT. Third, the Bamboo isn't wireless--another USB port taken up and more cables to snag. Fourth, the Bamboo will show as many marks as the MT and with that you really are clutching at straws!
I don't believe anyone would have an issue with legitimate complaints, but you just sound like a bitter [insert Apple rival here] fanboy with a very dull and tired rhetoric. Here's a thought; stop reading articles about Apple, their products, employees or users/consumers--they clearly piss you off an awful lot, or will you stop when the school holidays are finished?
The only gesture fit for your comments is an open fist, waved from side to side...
"but why would I want one on a desk?"
Er, try reading the review, it gives a few reasons!
