Ask Different is a question and answer site for power users of Apple hardware and software. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I've never really been a huge fan of trackpads but after playing with the official Apple Magic Trackpad using Lion, I have to admit, I loved the full screen swiping and using two fingers to swipe Chrome web pages.
I'm a programmer by trade and do VERY minimal art work using Pixelmator.
What are your impressions of using Apple's multitouch trackpads?
I have both the Magic Trackpad and the Magic Mouse, and IMO the trackpad works really well for browsing, navigating in the general system, and is a very natural way to interact with the computer.
That being said, it is not precise enough to be used when you need to do photo/video editing, and in those rare occasions I use the mouse.
I also do programming, but barely use the mouse/trackpad when I'm coding.
Pros:
Cons:
As a web developer as well I use the Magic Mouse and get almost all the functionality (gestures) in Lion with the benefits of precision when I need it. I used the Magic Trackpad for a while (borrowed from a friend) and it didn't work as well for me compared to the Magic Mouse.
As a counterpoint to many of the answers already posted, I find Apple's multitouch trackpads essential to my use of a computer. I've never particularly liked using mice, but I could never tell why until I used a trackpad for the first time on my iBook G4. Since then (and especially with the increase in gesture support over the years), I've gone all-trackpad all the time.
I find trackpads to be, in general and in my usage, to be much more precise than mice: I find delicate operations in Photoshop much easier to perform and I find hitting small buttons in interfaces to be much easier. (This is probably because I have better fine motor control in my fingers than in my wrist and arm. I generally operate a mouse using the muscles in my upper arm such that my elbow moves along with the mouse.)
I use the multitouch gestures all the time, particularly two-finger scroll and right click, three-finger-drag, the various four-finger swipes, and the five-finger pinches. I don't use tap-to-click or back/forward gestures because I frequently accidentally trigger them.
I've got one recently. So far the only thing I am happy about is that my employer paid for it. If I put it right next to my wireless keyboard, it is constantly picking up accidental brushes of my fingers when I am fumbling for the arrow, return, or delete keys.
Probably this will change as I learn not to be careless around it. It is nice to have access to all the gestures supported in Lion, but I don't think I will be giving up my mouse even if I get used to the Magic Trackpad. One big reason is that the force required to register a click is far more than on most mice and specifically on my Logitech MX1000.