Apple launches Magic Trackpad; Bluetooth, multi-touch, desktop touchpad

Posted by | 07/27/2010 | 4 Comments

Took them a while, but Apple has finally released their long-rumored and longer-anticipated Magic Trackpad, a Bluetooth-enabled multi-touch input device that’s basically a Macbook touchpad for Mac desktops.

It’s either little or big depending on your perspective. The same depth as a wireless Mac keyboard with a square footprint, so the touch area is about 4″ x 4″, give or take. Bigger than a notebook touchpad but smaller than a Bamboo Touch. Aside from it being a separate device, it works just like a Macbook touchpad with click-anywhere functionality and swipe, scroll, and rotate gestures. Finally, you Mac folks can get the same multi-touch experience on your iMacs as you get on your Macbooks instead of the mix-and-match experience with the Magic Mouse.

No indication that it works with Windows, but I’m sure some enterprising modder will have a solution for that soon enough. Price is $69, which is actually not bad. By comparison, the multi-touch Bamboo Touch is $49 and includes four programmable buttons but isn’t wireless and has a broad border around the actual touch area. I will be keeping an eye on this since it comes closer to matching the wireless touch control I want for my Windows media center. If an all-new version of Apple TV is launched this year, I would expect the Magic Trackpad to be a big part of that.

Side note: Apple, why, oh why, are you wasting resources on your own AA battery charger and what appear to be your own branded batteries? Seriously, you couldn’t go third-party with that? Not everything needs to be done in-house.

Via Gear Diary

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Category: Accessories

About the Author (Author Profile)

My name is Mark Sumimoto; I am Sumocat. I dabble in all areas of mobile computing, but my focus is Windows-based Tablet PCs and pen input. They’ve been part of my arsenal since 2004, and I’m proud to have pioneered the field of ink blogging, earning a spot as a Microsoft MVP for Touch and Tablets in the process. My current tools include a Fujitsu Lifebook T900, TEGA v2, and iPhone 4. Email me: sumocat [at] notebooks.com
  • http://www.mobile-geeks.com a_usamn

    What should I say? Awesome and excellent

  • Sam

    Probably this will work for Windows users:

    Apple Magic Trackpad Update 1.0 for Windows.

    IIRC, Apple issued something similar for the Magic Mouse, ostensibly for Macs running Windows via BootCamp, which also worked for standard Windows PCs.

    • http://sumocat.blogspot.com Sumocat

      Thanks for the update. Looks like it doesn’t support pinch-zoom or rotate, and Windows 7 pen flicks aren’t mentioned. Depending on that, it could be more useful for Windows than for Mac.

  • MoreWireless

    Want to know even more about advances in Bluetooth technology? Check out this video series from MoreWireless to learn about new Bluetooth devices and how to use them. Just go to http://www.youtube.com/morewireless0 to learn more!

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