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Does anybody make a wired trackpad for Macs? Specifically it would need to work in OSX 10.9.5. I know there's the Apple wireless one but I've had some serious problems with it due to interference in the air here (I have rf hell here). Made my Apple wireless keyboard a real crapshoot whether it would work right or not.

Yes, I'd like one too. It's a pretty common request, usually from people who want one that doesn't use batteries. A USB power source for a trackpad can be had, but it doesn't look like anyone has produced any sort of wired trackpad. The usual recommendation you see is to get a Wacom pad -- not really what you want, but probably as close as you can get.

I hear of Windows keyboards with built in trackpads that are supposed to work but cannot find any reviewed on a Mac.

Adesso makes many models, a few wired. OWC shows one Adesso but it's a bluetooth. Still, they say it works on Mac so it's possible that one of their wired models will, too.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Adesso/WKB4000BM/

If you have a large electronics store like a Fry's, Best Buy or similar, you could see if they have something that works. Otherwise, buy from an outfit that has return privileges.

My problem was the bad Bluetooth antenna in my MacPro and terrible performance from the Magic Trackpad.

Searched for a wired trackpad for a long time then gave up on the whole thing. Finally got a Logitech Bluetooth dongle that I attach to a powered hub right near my workstation and the Magic Trackpad performance is nearly flawless.

Only occasional issue- on boot, the Mac sometimes sees the BT dongle as a drive or something and tries to boot from it. Solution is simple enough - when it happens, just unplug the USB into the hub and reattach when the boot-apple appears on screen.


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mikehalloran wrote:I hear of Windows keyboards with built in trackpads that are supposed to work but cannot find any reviewed on a Mac.

Adesso makes many models, a few wired. OWC shows one Adesso but it's a bluetooth. Still, they say it works on Mac so it's possible that one of their wired models will, too.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Adesso/WKB4000BM/

If you have a large electronics store like a Fry's, Best Buy or similar, you could see if they have something that works. Otherwise, buy from an outfit that has return privileges.

Using that style keyboard would be like using a laptop and I have no urge to go that way, thank you. I have the long Apple keyboard with the numeric pad and don't want to give that up. Also in my setup I don't have the physical space at the bottom of the keyboard to comfortably rest my right hand. Was hoping for an Apple-like one that sits off to the side.

bayswater wrote:Yes, I'd like one too. It's a pretty common request, usually from people who want one that doesn't use batteries. A USB power source for a trackpad can be had, but it doesn't look like anyone has produced any sort of wired trackpad. The usual recommendation you see is to get a Wacom pad -- not really what you want, but probably as close as you can get.

I use a fairly good-sized Wacom pen tablet on my Photoshop machine and it's heaven for that. Bummer that it's not multi-touch. But you just put me on to something when I browsed the Wacom site (I hadn't been on it in years). They have a product called Bamboo Pad that uses a stylus AND can use multi-touch hand gestures. And it's wired (USB) as well. See this page: http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/nav ... oo-pad-usb
Currently $39.95 US on their site. Says driver available for OSX 10.7 and above.

musicman691 wrote:

bayswater wrote:Yes, I'd like one too. It's a pretty common request, usually from people who want one that doesn't use batteries. A USB power source for a trackpad can be had, but it doesn't look like anyone has produced any sort of wired trackpad. The usual recommendation you see is to get a Wacom pad -- not really what you want, but probably as close as you can get.

I use a fairly good-sized Wacom pen tablet on my Photoshop machine and it's heaven for that. Bummer that it's not multi-touch. But you just put me on to something when I browsed the Wacom site (I hadn't been on it in years). They have a product called Bamboo Pad that uses a stylus AND can use multi-touch hand gestures. And it's wired (USB) as well. See this page: http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/nav ... oo-pad-usb
Currently $39.95 US on their site. Says driver available for OSX 10.7 and above.

RIght, that's the one that comes up in the discussions I've read. There were various objections about it not doing the same things as the apple pad. But for $39, its worth a shot.

If that Wacom doesn't work for you, time to update to Yosemite. 10.10.3 has a Handoff feature that allows you to disable the internal Bluetooth in favor of a USB BT 4.0 solution that is more robust ($10 - $15).

Your 2011 iMac is more susceptible to outside interference than most other Macs. I know engineers who worked on that. My wife has one and those issues caused interference problems with her wired mouse. My 2010 never had those problems. I spent hours on the phone with AppleCare making it work properly in OS 10.7 till we got a workaround. OS 10.8.2 fixed most of the issues; 10.10.3 fixed the rest.

The Apple trackpad is your best solution.

You don't even need to go to Yosemite. That's how the Bluetooth dongle is working here and I'm still back on 10.8. I'm guessing the new feature fixes the occasional boot issue I mentioned earlier.


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I'm guessing the new feature fixes the occasional boot issue I mentioned earlier.

Yes. It fixes many other issues as well.

mikehalloran wrote:If that Wacom doesn't work for you, time to update to Yosemite. 10.10.3 has a Handoff feature that allows you to disable the internal Bluetooth in favor of a USB BT 4.0 solution that is more robust ($10 - $15).

Your 2011 iMac is more susceptible to outside interference than most other Macs. I know engineers who worked on that. My wife has one and those issues caused interference problems with her wired mouse. My 2010 never had those problems. I spent hours on the phone with AppleCare making it work properly in OS 10.7 till we got a workaround. OS 10.8.2 fixed most of the issues; 10.10.3 fixed the rest.

The Apple trackpad is your best solution.

I've tried Yosemite and had nothing but stability issues. Between that and the butt-ugly gui I have to say I'll pass on it. I'll stay with ML and Mavericks which work perfectly.

I've tried Yosemite and had nothing but stability issues.

Most users are not having that problem.

I'll stay with ML and Mavericks which work perfectly.

If you are having trackpad issues, apparently not.

"Most users are not having problems" You can probably say that about every release of every OS.

What bothers me is that experiences are different for different people. It might be because of different hardware, but doesn't seem to be. Last night I was looking at friend's MBP, identical to mine, that was plagues with beach balls, while mine is working very well -- I'm really happy with 10.10. Maybe it's software, but all she has I don't is Office.

Just about everyone thinks 10.6.8 was good. Since then, it's not that consistent. Very different experiences were reported here with Lion and Mavericks, although maybe not so much Mountain Lion. Yosemite seems to be a mixed bag like Lion. We can go through acrobatics to figure it out, but why are we still having to do this?

mikehalloran wrote:

I've tried Yosemite and had nothing but stability issues.

Most users are not having that problem.

I'll stay with ML and Mavericks which work perfectly.

If you are having trackpad issues, apparently not.

Maybe most users in your experience aren't having issues with Yosemite but I've seen otherwise. Just because it's Apple's 'latest-greatest' doesn't mean it's working fine for everyone.

As to your latter statement the operating system in my case has nothing to do with wireless issues with Apple peripherals. Like I said I live in rf hell and I know what I'm talking about with that because that was my day job for decades as an engineer developing rf hardware and control systems for satellites. I'm also a ham radio operator so I know my rf and then some. There are several sources that are putting out rf crud and the worst is a public utility pole power transformer right outside my property. They refuse to come out and fix it even when presented with the evidence. Short of putting my studio in a huge Faraday cage I end up living with it.

I prefer to fix it at the source because it not only affects me but others in the area. There's only so much I can do with ferrite cores but they only help with wired equipment.

bayswater wrote:"Most users are not having problems" You can probably say that about every release of every OS.

What bothers me is that experiences are different for different people. It might be because of different hardware, but doesn't seem to be. Last night I was looking at friend's MBP, identical to mine, that was plagues with beach balls, while mine is working very well -- I'm really happy with 10.10. Maybe it's software, but all she has I don't is Office.

Just about everyone thinks 10.6.8 was good. Since then, it's not that consistent. Very different experiences were reported here with Lion and Mavericks, although maybe not so much Mountain Lion. Yosemite seems to be a mixed bag like Lion. We can go through acrobatics to figure it out, but why are we still having to do this?

I have 10.6.8 on my internet/Photoshop machine and it's been all good. 10.8.5 on my daw iMac has been good and the only reason I'm using 10.9.5 is I need that or higher for the Apogee Ensemble I'm looking at.

FWIW MS Office is a crapshoot in OSX - sometimes it runs fine and other times not so much on a similar spec machine. Remember that MS is first and foremost a Windoze developer.