Apple Magic Trackpad 2 (Wireless, Rechargable) - Space Gray

After almost 20 years of career programming my hands are showing wear. I have tendonitis and several of my knuckles are showing early signs of RA. I have used roller balls, touch screens, eye tracking, in addition to every style of ergo mouse on the planet, and am almost always looking for a better more ergonomic solution for controlling a computer's cursor and controls, without sacrificing speed and accuracy. I should mention I am running a Mac, but I have it dual booted with Windows, and I have several Windows and Linux VMs on it... just to qualify the next thing I'm about to say as not coming from an "Apple Fanboy". This is the best input device the world has ever seen. Period. Bar none. End of discussion. It is also likely to be the best input device to come out over the next several years. When combined with a utility like Better Touch Tool, one can pre-program various gestures for up to 5 fingers that can control almost all aspects of computing needs. From switching open windows, to gestures for window management, to gestures for controlling individual apps... you (almost) don't need a keyboard anymore. And for anybody with aging hands that still must stay fast and busy, this is an absolute lifesaver. While some Apple products in the past have been very ergonomically poor, looking at you Magic Mouse 2, this is the opposite. In my experience gestures will translate well into Windows environments and respond well when used in Windows and Linux Virtual Machines or Remote instances as well, or when paired directly to native Windows or Linux instances. A traditional mouse is still better for FPS style gaming, but for many other kinds of games this touch pad works surprisingly well. Gestures for everything. Works very well "out of the box" on any OS I've ever thrown at it and usually has some 3rd party utils for advanced gesturing on those systems. Glass surface is the best, most accurate touch surface I've ever used and rivals that on modern phones. Life changing for the work environment.

I'm a trackpad kind of person (as opposed to a mouse kind of person), so I've tried quite a few different trackpads over the years. Most recently, I had settled on Apple's Magic Trackpad (first generation), and I am quite pleased with it; it's a quality product. But I decided to roll the dice and try the Magic Trackpad 2. Both products are great, but the first generation probably deserves 4 stars, while the second generation gets the full five. The first thing I liked about it was the increased size. It's bigger, especially left-to-right. That's very helpful when dragging things -- you have more real-estate to work with before you have to lift your fingers. But when I really started liking this device is when I realized the sensitivity could be adjusted. The Magic Trackpad 2 doesn't use actual "clicks," but instead gives haptic feedback in the form of vibration that feels exactly like a click. Since it's not mechanical, it's configurable. How hard to you want to push for a click to register? You can make it very sensitive or make it so you have to press quite hard. I also wanted to make ordinary touches more sensitive; I prefer to touch the trackpad lightly rather than feeling like I'm trying to drive a hole through it. I often use tap with drag-lock to drag, which allows me to lift my finger from the trackpad as much as I need when dragging, and tap again to end the drag process (like when all the text is selected, or I'm ready to drop an item somewhere). Of course, with a device like this where clicks are simply configurable levels of force, you get not one but two kinds of click: the regular click and the force-click. You can configure how sensitive you want a force-click to be. It feels like another click after the first one, requiring a harder push. This is a very cool concept, but there aren't a lot of apps that use this feature yet. Having said that, once you get into the wonderful world of gestures, you can get a utility like BetterTouchTool and do amazing things with clicks, swipes, and yes, force-clicks. For example, maybe you want a force-click in the upper right of your trackpad to trigger Mission Control, while the upper left would trigger application exposé (I personally use three-finger swipes up and down for that, but you get the idea). You could make the same gesture mean different things in different apps. I have gestures to zoom in the screen so my poor old eyes can see some of this small text better. You can do a lot of things -- this review barely scratches the surface. Overall, the Magic Trackpad 2 is a significant advance over the Magic Trackpad, which was previously the best trackpad available. Since our pointing device is so central to everything we do, in my opinion, for most people, this purchase would be well worth the investment.

Amazon delivered this Trackpad next day. It came sealed and the unit is brand new. I was surprised that the unit was almost fully charged. Connecting it to my MPB indicated that it had an 89% charge. So, this unit should not be old stock. I took the easy way to connect and set up by using the USB/Lighting cable. The Trackpad paired to my MPB via Bluetooth without me doing anything. I did this because I wanted to charge the Trackpad anyway. There is one thing that Apple did not do well. The Trackpad connects via a Lightning connection and the other end is an USB-A. I had to get an adapter to connect to my MBP. Apple should have just furnished the Tracked with an USB-C to Lightning wire. There are so many discussions comparing the Magic Trackpad and the Magic Mouse. Some prefer one over the other. I like them both. Both of them could be connected to the MPB at the same time. This Magic Trackpad 2 works well with my MBP. There is no learning curve. There is no reason not to considered this if you have MPB a little away from you and you have a hard time of reaching it (e.g. connecting to an external display). I would get both the mouse and this trackpad. Authenticity Issue After writing this review, I noticed that a review that claimed that his Magic Trackpad 2 that was sent was not authentic. I was quite happy with the purchase as it was working very well. However, when I checked the box, I discovered that “Energy Veryfied” is printed at the back of the box. Veryfied is not a word. So, I thought it is misspelled. Maybe I receive a non-authentic Apple product. So, I starting the returning process sending this back to Amazon. Before I sent it back, I dropped by an Apple Store. I wanted to purchase another Magic Trackpad directly from Apple. I showed My Trackpad to the Apple Associate and he told me that my Magic Trackpad is fine. It is indeed an Apple Product. I showed him the misspelled words and he laughed. He said the word Veryfied is all over some of Apple’s products. Varyfied is probably the name of the company that made the product for Apple. He showed me the back of a Magic Trackpad 2 box from the store. Sure enough, it read “Energy Veryfied”. He checked my Magic Trackpad again, handed back to me and told me that I do not need to buy another Magic Trackpad. So, I am keeping mine and I am not sending it back to Amazon. The 2 images I uploaded were back of the boxes. One is my Magic Trackpad from Amazon and the other is from Apple Store. They both have the words “Energy Veryfied" Updated and revised 7/25/2011 I was so concerned with the Authenticity of this Magic Trackpad that I did not really talked much about it except that it works just like the Trackpad on an Apple Laptop. After a few more days using it, I need to revise my statement. This Magic Trackpad works much better than the one on the MBP. The reason is that the location of the Trackpad on a laptop is at the center of laptop at the bottom of the keyboard. Some keyboards are split and have a space in the middle. This enables the hands opening up and not crowded in the middle. Locating the trackpad in the middle forces the hand reaching to the center. Not a comfortable position. Locating laptop trackpad at the bottom right would be better for right handed people as there would be no need to reach the right hand towards the center. The wrist could be in a straight position instead of cocked. However, locating it to the right would create a problem for left handed people. This Magic Trackpad could be placed anywhere. For right handed people, this would be to the right and away from the keyboard. When using this Magic Trackpad, the right hand and wrist would be in a more comfortable position. While this Magic Trackpad is not cheap but I think it is worth the money. I have better control with my wrist straight. Get it if you work with an apple laptop. Highly recommended. Authenticity Issue additional information 7/26/2021 One thing I forgot to mention about the Authenticity Issue verification. There are web sites that supposed to check the serial numbers. I can tell you that this does not apply to Magic Trackpad 2. Apple does not track the serial numbers on peripherals. I uploaded a third picture of the Magic Trackpad 2 box with the serial numbers. This picture is the one with the price tag and was taken on the back of the box of a Magic Trackpad 2 at the Apple Store. This serial numbers on this cannot be verified. Go ahead and search and check this serial numbers. It appears that some reviewers might have been sending back authentic Magic Trackpad 2's unnecessary.

I’m one of those users that likes working with the Trackpad on my MacBook Pro. I prefer it to Apple’s Magic Mouse (I have one of those at the office and I’m not a fan). While researching this product, I came across some users mentioning that they preferred the first Apple Magic Trackpad, despite the fact that you had to buy batteries for it. This made me a little hesitant to get the Magic Trackpad 2 but I took a chance on it. I’m happy to report that for the last two months it has exceeded my expectations as far as a trackpad can. It’s very responsive when it’s 2 feet (60 cm) away from my computer. I’ve tested it as far back as 6 feet (182 cm)and it works well. The size of the trackpad is large, and despite this, I haven’t experienced many accidental dragging or clicks. I also haven’t experienced any pain while using this device, I use it for around 3-4 hours most evenings. If you are prone to wrist pain I would recommend doing a bit more research before purchasing. Most of my work revolves around creating things on Adobe InDesign, Excel spreadsheets, programming and everyday YouTube, Netflix, Amazon use. Within the last two months I’ve only recharged it twice, and one of those wasn’t necessary because the battery wasn’t depleted, I just felt like charging it. When comparing the battery life to my Apple Magic Keyboard, this device normally drains around 10-15% faster than my Keyboard. For example, if my Keyboard is at 88% battery, my Track Pad is at around 73% battery. I heard some users experienced finger cuts while using the Magic Mouse because of its sharp edges. There are none of those issues here as far as I’ve experienced. All in all, this is a great product and I would definitely purchase it again. The only thing I’m curious about is how long the battery life will be. I’m hoping to get a solid 4 years out of this device and I’ll be revisiting my review at around the 2-year mark to let you know how it is! Cheers!

It mostly works. It's very different from the trackpad on my MacBook Pro. Switching between them is confusing as it doesn't recognize a double tap the way the MBP does and there are some other differences. On the plus side, there is a very slight click (they call it haptic feedback) when the pad is touched with slight pressure. This helps to know what to expect. I also have the Trackpad 1 which does not give feedback, but does have replaceable batteries. I think the price is outrageous, but maybe there is some good reason. There are no user replaceable batteries like the older version- when the batteries die, I guess you have to throw it away. UPDATE After two years I'm happier with it. Will give it 5 stars instead of 3 for two reasons. One: the price has come down to almost reasonable. Two: I'm used to it and I don't use the MacBook so much which behaved a bit differently. I just got a notice that the battery was low, so it's charging now. I touch the trackpad to wake my Mac from sleep in the morning, and the tiny haptic click is a pleasure to feel. When the computer is fully off, there is no click and the trackpad feels no different from a dinner plate. When you are skilled with it you will be amazed at what it can do. But you may be irritated at times too. I've had to smack mine a few times to remind it who's boss. It's sturdy. The most annoying thing about mine is that the slightest touch will make things happen, even when you don't intend it. I've had to move the pad away from the keyboard a bit to avoid those accidental touches, but that means I have to reach farther to use it. You can change the settings but when you are a true master of the device, you will appreciate the sensitivity and the magical things you can do with it. Finally- as it sits on your desk you will sometimes notice that it looks much sexier than any mouse. It's a plain white slab with rounded corners, no wires, no buttons no decorations or advertising. It's surprisingly heavy and feels substantial and important. Typical Apple class.

I recently did some serious upgrades to my home office and the Magic Trackpad (version 2) was the sweet cherry on top, pulling it all together. This trackpad is virtually flawless, and as such it's difficult for me to come up with anything negative to say about it. Many will say that it's priced too high for what it is, but I humbly disagree -- well, okay the space gray version goes a bit overboard price-wise just for being a different color, but I digress. This thing genuinely does give me $100+ worth of QOL (quality of life) improvements. I'm using a 2014 MacBook Pro, it's hard to believe this thing is five years old as I type this! Anyway, about every five years I get an itch to go all out on a new computer. Now that I use an iPad on the go most of the time and primary use my MBP as my home office computer I kept eying a new iMac, but every time I priced out my desired specs it would run a little over $3K! I also priced out a new MacBook Pro and when playing with one at the store I fell in love with the updated trackpad (which this is a stand-alone version of), but since most of my more serious computing is done at home I couldn't justify it. Besides, this 2014 is still a little beast, it handles everything I throw at it for my personal usage and handles it with grace (mainly mixing music in Logic, compiling code, and some basic office-y tasks). At this point you might be saying to yourself "blah-blah-blah! What does this have to do with the trackpad!?" well... not much honestly. I'm just way too gabby and verbose when I'm excited and talking about new toys, sorry about that. So, instead of doing a computer upgrade I did a full home office upgrade, which ended up costing me about 1/2 the price of a new iMac. My cruddy rickety tiny desk was replaced with a spacious 63 inch desk, my beater office chair was replaced with a super comfy full sized chair, my tiny 10 year old external monitor was replaced with dual 32-inch 1440p monitors (unfortunately this MBP doesn't handle 4K external monitors... that would come out in 2015), I got an Apple Magic Keyboard, a Logitech MX Master 2 for precise pointing, and most recently I got the pièce de résistance for tracking devices - this Magic Trackpad, and as far as input devices go it's my favorite thing! (okay, okay I can hear you now -- "dood, this is a Trackpad review not a blog post!" - I'm sorry! I'll get into the Trackpad now) The Magic Trackpad ties my new office setup together with a beautiful bow. Apple really nailed trackpads years ago and even a decade later competitors are *still* trying to catch up, but Apple has the advantage of tight integration between software and hardware. I honestly didn't think they could really improve on it further until they came up with this. I have hated trackpads on virtually every non-Mac laptop but somehow Apple came up with a solution that I prefer to a mouse! (in most situations). Having a full desktop version is awesome! The "taptic engine" virtual click is 100% convincing. It feels *exactly* like a regular click, and it even does a super realistic click sound (which can be turned off). What's great is that the pressure to require clicks is even across the entire trackpad. On my MBP some areas are more difficult to click than others (namely corners). I also really dig the "force touch" feature, which allows me to preview links in Safari, automatically view addresses in Apple Maps, look up tracking numbers for shipping, quickly annotate PDF attachments in email, and much more. The integrated battery is great, it keeps the device nice and slim and recharging is just a matter of plugging it in via Lightning cable, allowing me to use the trackpad while it's charging (unlike the Magic Mouse). Furthermore, this thing is massive! Now when I go back to my regular MBP trackpad it feels cramped. What I once thought was the best trackpad humanly possible suddenly feels outdated when compared to the new trackpad. Navigating through macOS using all these crazy gestures still feels amazingly futuristic, when I use my computer at work (regular old HP laptop) it feels like I stepped back 15 years. In the end, this is an easy 5-stars for me. It's fun to use, it's lag-free, and it really does have that "magic". I'll be the first to say that Apple's Magic Keyboard is really just a basic keyboard that feels good to type on, the Magic Mouse doesn't work for me at all (I prefer big beefy mice, personally), but this Magic Trackpad, well, it has the right stuff. There's no way Apple can improve on this even further... right? Well, I thought that once before yet here we are. If you're on the fence then buy it!

This is by far the best trackpad I've ever used, comparing it to several logitech and laptop touchpads. Accuracy is amazing, battery life is unreal, size is crazy small yet surface is crazy big, bluetooth no dongle is a plus, super smooth surface. Perfect for people who don't like/use the mouse or just don't like your laptops junky touchpad. If you've got a bit of extra space on an airplane traytable it'll increase your productivity by quite a bit. There is just one huge issue: Windows 10 support. I tried several different drivers and all of them were either garbage or didn't work. WIn10 initially detects it as some kind of USB mouse but you have no right click or scroll..... so yeah, unusable out of the box. I even tried the method where you trick Apple in letting you download their bootcamp drivers --installed every single one and none worked. If I were a mac user that expected this to "just work" in bootcamp I'd probably be more upset... but I'm not. I also tried the github driver that only works through USB -- it crashes every time I wake from sleep but does decently otherwise. This is detected as either a USB device if you plug it in or a bluetooth device if you do not. This can be annoying for a lot of drivers and some will not even work as bluetooth. The only remotely good driver for this product on windows 10 is called MAGIC UTILITIES. It is however "expensive" at $14/year (is this a subscription? not sure, that's what it says). I'm using the trial version and have been for the last month. The driver crashes about once every 8 hours of use but just restarting the mouse seems to work. It does bluetooth as well as USB which is to say: When it's working, it works great. I suspect it actually has more options for customization than OS X. It does work pretty darn well for the most part though, I would say this driver is a MUST HAVE at least presently if you are going to use this device with windows 10, so budget this driver into your purchase decision. Over all I'd say this is an amazing piece of hardware. I would be surprised if there's any trackpad on the market that works this well. I'm knocking off a star because honestly with bootcamp Apple is pretending they support win10 on "their" hardware and this definitely does not.

I upgraded from a Magic Mouse (1st Gen) to the Magic Trackpad 2. OMG, it has sped up my workflow exponentially. This thing is amazingly simple to use and works right out of the box. Just plug it in, turn it on and you're done. It automatically connects via Bluetooth when unplugged and can stay charged up to a month, although I leave mine plugged in as it stays on my desk. If you're not used to Apple's trackpad gestures, take 5 minutes and watch the videos in your System Preferences. It will seriously take your productivity to a whole new level. Magic Mouse vs. Magic Trackpad The Magic Mouse was wonderful, but it had a fatal flaw with pets in the office. One stray hair would drive the thing batty. It was also sometimes wonky depending on the table surface and ate batteries like candy (even rechargeables). Magic Trackpad 2 is rechargeable and has no optical eye, so I don't have to whip out the compressed air every time my cat walks across the desk. She does click stuff by stepping on it, though. Ornery cat! Using the trackpad is also easier on your wrist and hands for hours of long computing. I'm a web developer, so I can literally be on the computer 12 hours a day. The trackpad allows for more natural hand movements without having to grip a small object. About My Setup I use a Macbook Air connected to a 23" monitor along with an external wireless keyboard (Logitech K-750 Solar-Powered) and the trackpad. The accessories are connected to USB ports in the monitor, so I can quickly grab the Macbook and go. My days are spent in PhotoShop, Illustrator, Audition, various coding apps, Wordpress and Google G-Suite apps. Every one of these apps is way easier to use with the trackpad. Compared to other mouse-like accessories, the Magic Trackpad 2 seems a bit pricy. But, this device is totally different. The boosts to your comfort and productivity make it worth every penny.