Jumbo Trackpads. Would you?

[pcernie]

I'm struggling to come up with anything that you'd still need a mouse for other than perhaps playing a game.
Can you clue me in?

a back button? i cant imagine web browsing without one of those.

?!? You have a button for that?!?
I use a mouse on my desktop Mac at work as well as my PC, and in my whole history of using desktop computers I have never had a back button on the mouse.
I either use the back button in the browser window or I use keyboard shortcuts.

Mark

I only recently got a mouse with a back button, and most of the time I forget it's there

[pcernie]

Apple's secret iOS strategy - Magic Trackpads mean iOS is moving to the Mac

Read more: http://www.techradar.com/news/software/ ... z0v1Y0kLbT

[Linux_User]

Apple's secret iOS strategy - Magic Trackpads mean iOS is moving to the Mac

Read more: http://www.techradar.com/news/software/ ... z0v1Y0kLbT

No thanks, I'll stick with my traditional operating system.

[veato]

Jon, I expected nothing less than an essay defending against anything I said and you didnt dissapoint

To clear up a point though, all the batteries I linked to are 2000mAh and therefore matched

Also I never suggested you HAD to buy it. Why so defensive?

[bobbdobbs]

Jon, I expected nothing less than an essay defending against anything I said and you didnt dissapoint

To clear up a point though, all the batteries I linked to are 2000mAh and therefore matched

Also I never suggested you HAD to buy it. Why so defensive?

Well someone has to stand in for Marklar77
<totally tongue in cheek comment and not meant to be taken seriously in any way>

[bobbdobbs]

I won't be getting one of these. Not just because I don't have a Mac as if I did I still wouldn't have a use for it.

[big_D]

It is all the things that a mouse can't do.

It can't pinch and zoom. It can't rotated images and objects on the page. Three finger and four finger gestures can be added by extra buttons I suppose but I can see so many more reasons to have a multi touch multi gesture trackpad. I don't have the minimum spec to run this one but I do like it a lot.

I just wonder if it will be widely copied by other manufactures.

You can do all that with a mouse too, especially the Space Navigator /Space Pilot series...

[HeatherKay]

Do you really need to try it out to know that?

Yes. If you read my answer to Mark above.

I have no experience of the new trackpads, so I can't form an opinion on whether I'd like the functionality or not.

[veato]

Do you really need to try it out to know that?

Yes. If you read my answer to Mark above.

I have no experience of the new trackpads, so I can't form an opinion on whether I'd like the functionality or not.

I'd like to try it out. TBH I hate my standard windows laptop trackpad but then given this thing is all gestures and pinching whatnots me thinks it could be handy!

[HeatherKay]

you'll still need a mouse for other tasks.

I'm struggling to come up with anything that you'd still need a mouse for other than perhaps playing a game.
Can you clue me in?

Mark

You've never tried to work with bezier curves and placing items accurately in Illustrator or FreeHand? Ever tried creating a manual clipping path in Photoshop with a trackpad?

Both are an exercise in frustration. In both cases, a mouse wins (yes, even over a graphics tablet for me).

[big_D]

Apple's secret iOS strategy - Magic Trackpads mean iOS is moving to the Mac

Read more: http://www.techradar.com/news/software/ ... z0v1Y0kLbT

How is that going to work on dual 24" displays? Or even a single HD display? I currently have a web-browser, e-mail and 3 chat clients visible (Skype, Twitter and Trillian), plus I can see bits of iTunes.

Likewise, when working, I tend to have Word or Excel open on one side and a web browser or something on the other side, with dual monitors, I have the palletes or extra apps visible on the other screen.

I like iOS on a portable device, with a small screen, it fulfills its roll of getting limited information quickly on the move, but it isn't a good replacement for a desktop environment. I always find it frustrating, that I can't see the source information and what I am working on on one screen, when I have to work on a lo-res display.

A lot of desktop applications, like word processors, web browsers etc. just aren't designed to be run full screen on modern hi-res displays - and a lot of websites look dreadful, or are hard to read, if you blow them up to fill the whole screen.

Apple still need devices which can create the content for the iOS devices, which is currently only OS X...

[HeatherKay]

Apple's secret iOS strategy - Magic Trackpads mean iOS is moving to the Mac

Read more: http://www.techradar.com/news/software/ ... z0v1Y0kLbT

How is that going to work on dual 24" displays? Or even a single HD display?

It's not.

Think of it like this. Proper OS for people that like, prefer or need it. iOS for people who like it simples. iOS could quite easily be a layer over the "proper" OS.

[steve74]

I'm struggling to come up with anything that you'd still need a mouse for other than perhaps playing a game.
Can you clue me in?

Well, Heather says it much better (and faster) than I can...

You've never tried to work with bezier curves and placing items accurately in Illustrator or FreeHand? Ever tried creating a manual clipping path in Photoshop with a trackpad?

Both are an exercise in frustration. In both cases, a mouse wins (yes, even over a graphics tablet for me).

If I ever have to do any work in Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator at home on my Powerbook, I just can't do anything that accurate with a trackpad - not drawing-wise anyway. A trackpad is fine for basic everyday tasks like selecting menus, scrolling, moving items about - but drawing, painting or tracing? Nah, they offer no control or accuracy at all, they're rubbish - especially if you've got big or stubby fingers! A mouse wins every time for "real work" (debatable if you can call it that, but you know what I mean!)

[EddArmitage]

I only recently got a mouse with a back button, and most of the time I forget it's there

...until you clobber it accidentally and everything goes poop.

[EddArmitage]

Does you laptop have a physical button, Heather, or is it one of the ones that doesn't?

Mine is old enough still to have the physical button. It does support the two-fingered scroll, though.

Nooooo! I didn't know they'd got rid of the real button! I like using my touchpad with two-fingered scrolling (semi-multi-touch, I guess), but I have the tap-to-click bit turned off. I don't like that! Damn! I was thinking an 13" MBP in a year may be jolly nice. Bugger.