New iMacs and Magic Trackpad out

[James Steele]

It's kind of humerous how the MacPro topic morphed into an iMac topic, and vice-versa...

Not from my standpoint. I'm going to have to weed those posts out and make a new topic.

[mhschmieder]

Well, I'm as guilty of anyone for the topic drift.

[BKK-OZ]

It's all my fault.
James, pls ban me.

[mhschmieder]

You just did that to have an excuse to use one of the new emoticons.

[James Steele]

Kevorkian... I accidentally deleted your post about eSATA! Please repost.

[KEVORKIAN]

(no problem, James)

OWC is now installing e-sata ports on Imacs!

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/iMac_2010_27

[mhschmieder]

I visited the Apple Store today with a friend, for the first time in a half year or so, and played with the Magic TrackPad for awhile.

They didn't have any audio or video editing apps to play with, but even with the internet browser, I found the TrackPad a huge boon even if only used for zooming and scrolling.

My hand gets so tired trying to coax smooth scrolling out of a mouse, and zooming isn't exactly a continuous operation either.

I imagine it would be worth it for this alone, but I'd probably shut off clicking as it's too easy to accidentally trigger a click and have something "expensive" happen on the computer during critical work.

At the very least, I can see using the TrackPad for quickly scrolling in DP. I don't think DP has any zoom-related features, but the gestures could surely be applied to other useful and intuitive functions.

I'm almost dead set against an iMac at this point though, after reacquainting myself with their extreme glare in the store. Such a contrast to the 30" matte screen adjacent to the 27" iMac. I found the 30" so much easier on my eyes, but now that has been canceled (not that I'd pay the premium for an Apple standalone monitor anyway).

[Shooshie]

You're quite right about the clicking: it's very easy to click accidentally. I have been so determined not to go back to my trackball that I've trained very carefully with the Trackpad so that I am learning its surface keenly. It's handy to have been a musician for so long, as I've always trusted that what appears very difficult will become controllable, and then completely natural after some learning time. Keeping my fingers from brushing the pad accidentally has been a goal of mine since I got it, and now it's gotten to be pretty natural to avoid accidents. Part of it has been learning to identify an accident about to happen, and to adjust the follow-through when it does. A tap that remains in contact with the keyboard is not a tap, so when I feel that touch, I hold it there. That's one method. Other methods include having learned new ways to rest my hand around the pad (or on it), and a tapping method that is based on positions relative to the pad, so that fingers go out to appointed locations on the pad and then retract to a resting position.

Using Better Touch Tool, my Trackpad is divided up into active dragging areas and virtual "button" tapping areas. I've been trying to learn the locations of those virtual buttons so that my fingers reach for them with precision, as in playing 5ths, 6ths, or octaves on a piano, or in hitting the number keys and symbol keys on a qwerty keyboard. It's working; I can hit the "Close" button (which I assigned to the top-left of the trackpad) 95% of attempts, and the "double click button" (top right) about 75% of attempts, with "right click" getting close to 100%. I chose to avoid assigning anything to certain parts of the trackpad (and many of the gestures) so that the trackpad isn't too complicated. Already I've got a couple dozen gestures and clicks down. It really grows on you.

Shooshie

[mhschmieder]

Cool; great advice, Shooshie!

I may order one of these on-line this week, in advance of my next Mac (it isn't compatible with PPC's), because I just found out you can keep "stale" frequent flyer programs active by ordering from the Apple Store.

[Shooshie]

A good-sized, tightly packed bean-bag pillow for the wrist can be very helpful with the Trackpad. I think that to avoid stress it's necessary to rest the wrist on something so that you aren't holding your arm up all day. For me, the height of my wrist needs to be about 3 inches off the table. The highest point of my knuckles reaches about 4.5 inches (top, not the underside). From that height, I can reach the entire trackpad and do the gestures with reasonable accuracy. Any lower and my wrist starts to tilt backward -- the first step toward carpal tunnel syndrome. So, elevating the wrist is important to me. YMMV.

Meanwhile, I'm learning that when I feel tired or if my mind is drifting in a state of day-dreaming or "thinking elsewhere," I am more prone to let a finger drag, which can turn one kind of gesture into another. I'm revising some of those commands to make them less prone to damage from such moments.

Just food for thought.

Shooshie