Assault on batteries
All the gestures the MT supports have a nice, large canvas on which to paint. It's larger than any laptop pad and is of a size that, say, shifting the point from one side of the screen to the other, which doesn't require multiple strokes, doesn't feel cramped.
The only flaw here is Apple's use of Bluetooth technology. Yes, it saves having to lose a USB port to a dongle, but it's also less power-efficient than the proprietary wireless protocols developed by controller specialists like Logitech for this very reason.
Rake's progress
Apple says a pair of alkaline AAs will last "months". Reviewers can't wait that long, but I suspect you won't get more than one or two months out the bundled batteries. By comparison, my Magic Mouse batteries lasted just over a month, compared to a year for the same type of cells in a Logitech V550 Nano wireless notebook mouse. I'd expect the MT's battery to last longer than the Magic Mouse's - no tracking laser - but I doubt it'll match the Logitech.
This is, of course, why Apple is pushing rechargeable batteries so hard.
Verdict
It's not magic, of course, but the Magic Trackpad is a fine control device - for laptop users as well as those folk who prefer desktop machines - that's a genuine pleasure to use. ®
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Apple Magic Trackpad
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!
