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Mobee Magic Numpad

Mobee Magic Numpad

Turn your touchpad into numeric keys, kind of

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Geek Treat of the Week Mobee has built a niche for itself building accessories for Apple’s Magic line of input devices. This one might just be the cleverest of the lot. The package consists of three film overlays, each printed with a different arrangement of buttons, which allow you to use the Magic Trackpad for tapping in digits.

Mobee Magic Numpad

Essentially, it turns the Trackpad into the number pad that went missing from Apple’s keyboards around the time they went wireless. And because, if you’re right-handed, the Trackpad typically sits just to the right of the keyboard, it’s exactly where you would expect to find the number pad.

There are a few quirks. You can’t use the Trackpad as a Trackpad and number pad simultaneously. So you need to switch the number pad on and off. There’s a ‘button’ on the top right of the overlay to switch it off, but you need to use a Menu Bar item to switch it on. That takes a bit of getting used to.

Mobee Magic Numpad

On the plus side, the overlay doesn’t interfere at all with the operation of the Trackpad when you have it in that mode.

You can toggle the Magic Numpad to work with Mac OS X’s Calculator, and customise the function and macro keys. It’s easy to affix the stickers, and there’s a cleaning cloth in the bag so you can ensure the Trackpad is free from debris before you start.

The Numpad is controlled through a free app, but you'll need the serial number that comes with the overlays. So there's no using the app for DIY button sheets.

Mobee Magic Numpad

At £25, it’s a little expensive, but if you have a Magic Trackpad and miss having a number pad, it’s ideal. ®

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£25 for a sticker - and it's copy protected! (Though I suppose it would have to be at that price.)

If you have a decent volume of data entry to do you'll want a pad with real keys.

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Anonymous Coward

Re: but why?!

Or indeed pretty much any usb keyboard without an apple logo on it.

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Re: But ...

Imagine you have a large amount of numbers to input, now tap your desk for two hours. That's what using this for data entry would be like.

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Expensive sticker

What a good idea but terribly thought out. A external USB numeric keypad can be had for less and we all know it would be alot better on those digits. My ZX81 keyboard has more travel than this thing - what more does one need to say.

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Numbers

Doesn't the fact that Apple has removed the number pad from its keyboards speak volumes about what it assumes about its target audience? Compare the fact that they ship iMacs with wireless keyboards which requires the end user to buy a cheap and nasty wired replacement, because in public places i.e. educational establishments, anything that is not connected or worthless will become the victim of a recidivist. Cheap keyboard and cheap mouse with over-priced iMac - quite funny really.

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