It's been a while since we've seen any real innovation from input peripherals. Apple's been banging out its multi-touch trackpads for a while now, but they've been exclusive to the Macbook and Macbook Pro line-up.
Multi-touch technology, as pioneered by Apple, has been a huge selling point on its devices. Aside from the Macbooks, with their multi-touch trackpads, the technology has also been available on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
It's intuitive and simple to use, with natural gestures being used to navigate menus and specific functions. Regular Mac users are quite familiar with the simple two-finger swipe, to scroll up and down Web pages. Similarly, the pinch and stretch gestures are great for manipulating photos. It's a computing experience that no mouse or conventional pointing device can emulate.
Apple's Magic Trackpad aims to bring the multi-touch experience to desktop users of its Mac computers - its site lists no compatibility for PCs with the new device.
Some 80% larger than the trackpad on the current Macbook, the glass-topped Magic Trackpad shares design cues with Apple's current Bluetooth keyboard. The same aluminium design is used, with the battery compartment acting as an elevator to angle the device towards the user. Connection is achieved via Bluetooth, with power coming from two AA batteries.
Apple's local distributor, Core Group, is unable to confirm when the Magic Trackpad will be available in SA, or how much it'll cost, but if we had to throw our educated guess into the bag, we'd bank on paying R900 for one of these, around mid-September.
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