I believed the rumors posted a few months back about the Magic Trackpad that Apple released last week. It looked real to me and it made sense.  It made sense because Apple knows me, loves me, and Apple cares.  And since Apple knows, loves, and cares, they knew that I needed this thing two years ago. My main machine these days (aside from my iPad) is an iMac.  I also have an aging MacBook which is great, but it came out just before Apple started doing fancy stuff with trackpads (pinching, swiping and all that).  The "fancy stuff" is what I wanted.  With the two magically-challenged machines, I have had trackpad envy for what feels like forever.

So, with just weeks before I return to work from my sabbatical, I grabbed the shiny, new, work-inspiring accessory for my iMac.  Here are my first impressions. 

It's big, very small, and very pretty.

It is way bigger than what you would get on a MacBook Pro (80% larger), but what struck me in the store was how small it looked.  No visible buttons. No wires. No visible logos or writing on top. Clean, plain, and pretty. The physical click (which isn't really needed since a tap will do the same thing), comes from the small rubber feet on bottom. Cool.    

Feels and looks very clean on my desk.

My old mouse and mousepad never really fit next to my wireless keyboard (which is as small as they come!). It didn't fit in two ways:  first, physically, the mousepad was always getting smushed and rumpled. (I have a very small slide-out keyboard holder thingy.) Second, I was always having to do that lift and slide, lift and slide motion to get the curser from one end of the screen to another.  Exhausting.

My set up with the Magic Trackpad is as smooth as I could imagine outside of controlling it with my thoughts.  No wires, no mousepad, no clutter. Smooth like a fanboy likes it.  So until I get a glowing, apple-shaped, orb of light that reads brainwaves as it floats above my left shoulder, this is as clean a set up as I could envision. 

Using it. 

 Compared to a mouse, this feels like much less of an interruption to use. I'm a LaunchBar person, so I don't really like to use a mouse to do much anyway.  As one person (I don’t remember who) pointed out, there are several less (unconscious) steps involved in using it.  No reaching, then gripping, then moving the mouse.  Just slide hand to the right and move the curser.  

Swiping back and forth through pictures and webpages (3 fingers from side to side) feels awesome. 4 finger exposé is useful (more than the hot corners I have set up for it). My favorites, 2 finger scrolling and 2 finger tap for "right click", are there of course. (Whenever I help set up a new MacBook this is the first thing I teach a person.)          

14 days to decide. 

There are a few things that I'm not into or confused about. I'm worried that it will hurt. That suspend-your-hand-in-the-air position that is required to use the iPad can make my hands hurtsometimes.  Even in the store it felt like an awkward position, but that was while standing at the demo table. At home sitting at a desk, it feels comfortable so far.  I have noticed that I am accidentally selecting things (text, files, pictures) and dragging them places.  I combined two iPhoto events entirely by accident, for example.  I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing to make it happen, but it is annoying.  

Rotating images using two fingers is hard for me.  It usually takes me a few tries.  It feels clunky.  

Even with these things, I doubt I’ll get tired of it considering all the love we have developed for each other.  (Its smiling at me right now.)  So I would bet that it will stay past the 14 day return period.

The judgment. 

So, can you live without it? Will your life have meaning if you don’t buy it immediately?  Will your family still love you if you keep your lame mouse? Will your friends still respect you if you don’t get one? 

No.  The answer to all of these is, no.  I’ll update if I change my mind.