New 'Magic' From Apple Reviewed

[SamirD]

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/10/mini-review-apples-new-magic-keyboard-magic-mouse-2-and-magic-trackpad-2/

It seems that those that love the keyboard will probably love it more, and those that don't like it won't be changing their mind either.  Interesting how the article actually addresses the  keyboards with Cherry switches and how the userbase that uses those won't like the 'magic' products.

There's also a great comment that user 'microsoft windows' would love:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/10/mini-review-apples-new-magic-keyboard-magic-mouse-2-and-magic-trackpad-2/?comments=1&post=29927353#comment-29927353

[raymogi]

I NEED that Magic Trackpad.

[Jokrik]

I can live without the mouse and (especially) keyboard
but I've to admit their trackpad is one of the best, love how my productivity improve with my current trackpad with no fatigue

[ideus]

Nothing new, Apple cannot care less about high quality input devices, by themselves, they are working as hard as they can in making the overall experience with Apple products well integrated; that is, the Apple's black hole, if you are near its vortex you will be sucked in.

[Belfong]

I can live without the mouse and (especially) keyboard
but I've to admit their trackpad is one of the best, love how my productivity improve with my current trackpad with no fatigue

I'm not sure. I find that the Trackpad lags at time, connecting to my MacBook Air 13".

[Altis]

I can't for the life of me figure out how anyone can use the Magic Mouse. It's so unergonomic, doesn't slide well, is quite heavy, and the mouse acceleration in OS X is absolutely atrocious. I don't know why they don't fix it.

The new trackpad definitely looks nice, and I think the flatter angle will be more suitable.

The keyboard.... I actually quite liked the now previous gen, but the new one has very shallow key travel. I don't know why they design it as they would a laptop keyboard (minimal space). Even a TKL with some key travel would be a lot more pleasant and useful.

And really? Light grey on white? Apple seems dead set on ruining everyone's eyes with their ultra low contrast.

[tararais]

I can't for the life of me figure out how anyone can use the Magic Mouse. It's so unergonomic, doesn't slide well, is quite heavy, and the mouse acceleration in OS X is absolutely atrocious. I don't know why they don't fix it.

 
To be honest, I'm not really sure why people don't use 'gaming mice' more often. Sure they have a larger footprint, but why on earth would you rather use a crap HP mouse when you could buy a decent mouse for $20 that actually feels good in the hand?

[ideus]

The only 'magic' in this is how advertising move masses to use uncomfortable stuff that the only beneficiary is a company that keeps its customers captive inside its own product's ecosystem.

[Findecanor]

WTF!? $129 for the new Tragick MacPad!

The edges under the sides of the old keyboard and trackpad facilitated picking it up. How do you move the new ones at all? Slide them to the edge of the desk and then pick them up?

I can't for the life of me figure out how anyone can use the Magic Mouse. It's so unergonomic, doesn't slide well, is quite heavy, and the mouse acceleration in OS X is absolutely atrocious. I don't know why they don't fix it.

Indeed. Third-party mice for Mac used to come with their own drives that had their own different mouse acceleration.
I don't know how it is now.

[BrewCaps]

Magical price increase

[Altis]

If the folks on WalletHack think it's too expensive, it's too expensive.

That much we can conclude for certain.

[tararais]

$130 trackpad.. you could buy a grand mouse and have room for an aluminum mousepad and some artisans. Apple fanboys though.. 

[Bromono]

pffft, that track pad with a hhkb = sex

[Belfong]

I read that you can plug in the Magic Trackpad to the usb/lightning cable and switch off bluetooth and it still works! No more wireless lag! That's what I have been waiting for! But $129 is just too crazy!

[jerue]

The keyboard is awful, and the magic mouse is worth buying all of them so you can make sure no one gets their hands on it awful. You can't even use it while it's charging!



I will give praise to the trackpad though. If it's anything like the original it will be worth it. Not for me at $130; and if you've ever used Force Touch on the new Macs, it really is quite a cool feature. Clever engineering to say the least.

[jonathanyu]

erase that apple logo, and people would say it's ****ty keyboard, mouse, trackpad...
i like the trackpad, but it is just overpriced

[SamirD]

I'm surprised at all the love for the trackpad.  I used it once in the Apple store for about 30 minutes doing some work while my wife was doing something and my wrist hurt so bad I had to stop.  And my wrist continued hurting for the next 12hrs after that.  The force required to depress the whole thing to click was killing the top of my hand.

The only 'magic' in this is how advertising move masses to use uncomfortable stuff that the only beneficiary is a company that keeps its customers captive inside its own product's ecosystem.

Yes, and this is every company's dream--to find this many lemmings with money.

Remember what happened to cell phone prices before the iphone?  A phone was $50 tops!  Now an unlocked phone can be just south of a grand?  I don't know, but isn't gold cheaper by weight in comparison?

[Belfong]

I don't physically press on the trackpad to left click it. I configured it such that a tap is left click, two finger tap is right click. No pain at all.

[tararais]

I don't physically press on the trackpad to left click it. I configured it such that a tap is left click, two finger tap is right click. No pain at all.

 
As it should be. Trackpads conserve space very efficiently and are easy to operate ambidextrously, but are severely lacking in the speed of movement or reaction speed of a mouse.

[JiveMasterT]

I can't for the life of me figure out how anyone can use the Magic Mouse. It's so unergonomic, doesn't slide well, is quite heavy, and the mouse acceleration in OS X is absolutely atrocious. I don't know why they don't fix it.

 
To be honest, I'm not really sure why people don't use 'gaming mice' more often. Sure they have a larger footprint, but why on earth would you rather use a crap HP mouse when you could buy a decent mouse for $20 that actually feels good in the hand?

Seriously. I love the older Logitech G500 mice.  I wish they didn't discontinue them.  I should have bought reserves.

[SamirD]

I don't physically press on the trackpad to left click it. I configured it such that a tap is left click, two finger tap is right click. No pain at all.

I've never been good with such interfaces, regularly not holding something there for the right amount of time.  And after seeing my dad in his old age, I'm going to get worse with this as time goes on.

[tararais]

I can't for the life of me figure out how anyone can use the Magic Mouse. It's so unergonomic, doesn't slide well, is quite heavy, and the mouse acceleration in OS X is absolutely atrocious. I don't know why they don't fix it.

 
To be honest, I'm not really sure why people don't use 'gaming mice' more often. Sure they have a larger footprint, but why on earth would you rather use a crap HP mouse when you could buy a decent mouse for $20 that actually feels good in the hand?

Seriously. I love the older Logitech G500 mice.  I wish they didn't discontinue them.  I should have bought reserves.

 
I haven't used the G500 myself, but I have a G502, which I personally love, and Linus says is a worthy successor to the 500. Recommend you give it a whirl, excellent construction/right-handed shape. Button placement is quality also.

[Belfong]

I don't physically press on the trackpad to left click it. I configured it such that a tap is left click, two finger tap is right click. No pain at all.

I've never been good with such interfaces, regularly not holding something there for the right amount of time.  And after seeing my dad in his old age, I'm going to get worse with this as time goes on.

granted, if you are talking about drag and drop, i.e. clicking and holding while moving, I agree, it's not going to get easy as time goes on.

But if it is just point and click, I don't see any issues with the trackpad - just swipe and tap; swipe and tap.

[SamirD]

I don't physically press on the trackpad to left click it. I configured it such that a tap is left click, two finger tap is right click. No pain at all.

I've never been good with such interfaces, regularly not holding something there for the right amount of time.  And after seeing my dad in his old age, I'm going to get worse with this as time goes on.

granted, if you are talking about drag and drop, i.e. clicking and holding while moving, I agree, it's not going to get easy as time goes on.

But if it is just point and click, I don't see any issues with the trackpad - just swipe and tap; swipe and tap.

So what happens with my dad is that he can't control the amount of time he double clicks or clicks (even on a trackball).  So he has trouble double-clicking or accidentally does it.  Since the trackpad's 'virtual click' is timing based, there will be even more potential for missed clicks for me, especially as I age.  I'm not looking forward to it.

[Leslieann]

That keyboard has no tilt and no ability to, I kind of liked the looks of the old one, but this, there is no way I could use the new one with such a shallow angle. Apple's obsession with looks is fine and well on things you don't actually have to touch, but sometimes looks need to take a back seat to ergonomics and function.

I agree with others, more people should be using (actual) gaming mice, especially on higher res monitors/dual screens. It makes a world of difference.