Magic Trackpad 2

20+ things you can do with a Force Touch trackpad on Mac

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Apple just released its Force Touch-enabled Magic Trackpad 2, which joins the Force Touch trackpads already built into many of its MacBooks. The significance of the Magic Trackpad 2 sporting Force Touch, is that it essentially brings the feature to everyone without needing to go all out and purchase a brand new machine.

Force Touch is an interesting concept that's been a part of our vernacular for over a year with the unveiling of the Apple Watch. Since then, the pressure sensitive technology has made its way, in some way, shape, or form, to both MacBooks and the iPhone.

I've come to the conclusion that Force Touch is best implemented on the iPhone (as 3D Touch), but it's an interesting feature on the MacBook as well. Now that pretty much anyone can add the ability to Force Touch via a $129 Magic Trackpad 2 purchase, I figured it was time to showcase some of the things that you can do with the nifty pressure sensitive input method.

Magic Trackpad 2 review: Force Touch-enabled and rechargeable, but should you upgrade?

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated June 12, 2018

Of all of the new "Magic" devices in Apple's lineup, perhaps no device is more deserving of the moniker than the Magic Trackpad 2. It's the only device, out of the three new peripherals that Apple recently launched, that truly brings new functionality to the table.

While the Magic Mouse 2 and the Magic Keyboard are legitimate upgrades over the products they replace, the Magic Trackpad 2 is the most justifiable upgrade from a pure features standpoint, and Apple's pricing for it says as much.

At $129.00, this isn't exactly a knee-jerk purchase to be made on a whim. And if you already own the old Magic Trackpad, an impulse buy is lessened even more.

I've been testing out the new Magic Trackpad 2 for several days now, and it's taken me a while to put my thoughts down in writing. This device takes significantly more time to get to know than either the Magic Mouse 2 or the Magic Keyboard. That's because the Magic Trackpad offers the most diverse functionality of the trio.

With all of that said, is the Magic Trackpad 2 worth upgrading to if you already own the previous Magic Trackpad? Watch our video review, and read my full analysis for the details.

Teardown analysis of Magic accessories finds chips from other Apple products and more tidbits

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 23, 2015

Repair experts over at iFixit have performed an interesting triple teardown of Apple's latest Magic accessories—the Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard—and found that all three devices are outfitted with many of the same chips also found in other Apple products.

On the downside, Apple's unified approach to engineering the new Magic devices has resulted in just 3 out of 10 in iFixit's Repairability ratings due to high level of integration and excessive amount of adhesive.

10 things I dislike about Apple’s new Magic gadgets

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 13, 2015

I'm a huge fan of Apple's wireless keyboard, mouse and trackpad. My daily driver is a 2014 MacBook Air model and I also own a 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt Display which gets hooked up to the Air when I'm tied to my desk.

And of course, I also own a Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad and Apple's Wireless Keyboard. These accessories soup up my desktop computing with precision input, wireless design and small footprint.

That being said, I'm currently on the fence of upgrading to Apple's new Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard. I'm sure I'll eventually purchase them just because I'm sick and tired of buying new alkaline batteries every few weeks.

But right not, I'm having second thoughts because not everything about the new Magic devices is as rosy as Apple paints it.

Designing the new iMacs and Magic accessories…

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 13, 2015

As you know, the Apple news of the day is the official release of a much-improved 21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display, refreshed 27-inch iMacs and the new Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard wireless accessories.

Speaking with Apple's engineering leaders Kate Bergeron and John Terns, technology writer Steven Levy shared in a Medium article some rather interesting tidbits pertaining to creating the new iMacs and how members of Apple's Input Design Lab tackled the design issues encountered while engineering the new Magic accessories.

Apple’s refreshed Magic accessories have introduced a new Bluetooth pairing process

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 13, 2015

Apple's just announced Magic accessories—the $99 Magic Keyboard, $79 Magic Mouse 2 and $129 Magic Trackpad 2—don't just feature a refreshed design with an integrated litium-ion battery, Bluetooth 4.0 and a built-Lightning port for recharging, but a new way to pair them with your computer.

The previous-generation mouse, keyboard and trackpad had to be paired to your Mac using the standard wireless pairing process for Bluetooth-compatible peripherals: you would go through the Bluetooth pane of OS X's System Preferences to scan for Bluetooth device and pair one to your computer.

With the Magic Trackpad 2, Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Keyboard, the pairing process has been vastly simplified, however.

Meet Apple’s new Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 13, 2015

In addition to refreshing its iMac lineup with enhanced screen technology and faster chips across all models, giving the 21.5-inch iMac a brand new Retina 4K display and removing non-5K Retina models from the 27-inch lineup, Apple has also introduced a trio of new accessories today.

As rumored before, the second-generation Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad have been announced, as well as an all-new aluminum keyboard marketed under the Magic Keyboard moniker.

References to Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2 discovered in OS X code

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 8, 2015

References to unreleased Apple-branded mouse, keyboard and trackpad accessories have been discovered in OS X code by French blog Consomac. Code strings discovered in the latest OS X 10.11.1 beta 3 point to the Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2, which are likely next-generation versions of Apple-branded mouse and trackpad. In addition, the strings hint at a brand new keyboard, dubbed the Magic Keyboard.