Apple’s Magic Trackpad isn’t the first of its kind — in fact, Wacom has been playing this game for awhile — but it’s the first of its kind from the cats in Cupertino, so obviously people take notice. The premise of such a device is stupidly simple: it’s a laptop trackpad that lives on your desktop. Over the past few years, there have been rumors that Steve Jobs has his sights set on eliminating buttons from Apple products altogether, and this certainly feels like the next step in the plan. But does it make sense? Is this an improvement over standard input devices like a mouse or trackball? More importantly, in the age of iPads and netbooks, does anyone even need an external input device like this? We’re going to try and answer those questions (and more), so read on for our full review!

Continue reading Magic Trackpad review

Magic Trackpad review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So it’s real, and… it’s a trackpad. What seemed like it might have been pure rumor and some good Photoshopping just a short while ago has magically (ha ha!) transformed into reality. If you’re wondering what the Magic Trackpad is like to use — get ready for a shock. It feels just like using a slightly larger version of a MacBook or MacBook Pro pad. And we mean exactly, right down to the multitouch gestures and whole-pad click. Yes, it clicks. There’s also a new gesture, if you’re keeping track — a three-finger move that lets you drag windows around (very helpful), though you give up the functionality of being to navigate stuff like iPhoto galleries with a swipe (it’s an option you can toggle in preferences — you have a choice). We’re going to be doing some serious testing with the new peripheral, but for now, feast your eyes on the pics below.

Apple Magic Trackpad first hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a long couple of years since we last heard from Swiftpoint, but the company is back with a (tiny) bang and introducing its eponymous ultraportable mouse. Touting a pen-like grip, tilt-scrolling, and a 30 to 40 percent better efficiency than your touchpad, this little thumb accessory wants to be seen as the solver of an eternal problem — namely, getting all the utility of a desktop rodent without having to deal with its full size. Whether it lives up to that lofty goal will require some fingers-on time to determine, but the Swiftpoint does a very credible job on the battery front: it can turn a 30-second charge into an hour’s use and can last 3 to 4 weeks on a fully juiced cell. It all sounds quite appealing, but be prepared for some sticker shock as the pre-order price is

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We’re starting to think Toshiba’s got more Satellites than NASA, but for those that can’t squeeze together the cash for a new A or M Series laptop, Tosh has its L600 or C600 machines standing close by. The 13-inch L635, 14-inch L645, 15.6-inch L655, and 17.3-inch L675 have all been remodeled with that new Fusion X2 finish, which looks glossy from afar but is actually fingerprint resistant. They don’t get the new chiclet keyboards, but the flush keys are smooth and there are dedicated right / left mouse buttons under the touchpad. Internally there’s your pick of Intel Core i3, Core i5 CPUs and AMD Athlon II, Turion II dual-core, Phenom II Triple Core and Quad Core processors. While the entry level $515 model won’t be equipped with the discrete ATI Radeon 5145 GPU, it’ll be a configuration option. Lower down on the spectrum you’ve got the 14-inch C645 and 15.6-inch C655, which are your typical set of bargain basement laptops. Both are available with Intel Celeron and Pentium processors as well as AMD’s Athlon V120 chip. Not the most attractive pair of laptops we’ve seen, but it’s hard to complain when they start at $449. Check them out for yourself in the gallery below, and then hit the break for more details in the full press release.

Continue reading Toshiba Satellite L600 and C600 series laptops think of the struggling students

Toshiba Satellite L600 and C600 series laptops think of the struggling students originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Of all the surprises we expected to hear about in the WWDC keynote, a multitouch trackpad peripheral didn’t exactly pop into our brains. But — whoomp — here it is. What we appear to be looking at is a brand new input device that Apple has dreamed up which connects to desktops (and laptops, if you like) via Bluetooth, much like the Apple Keyboard. If you take what you see in the photos at face value, it would seem that the folks in Cupertino are making a play for finger-based input in a big way — taking the work they’ve done on Mac laptops and the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and translating it to the desktop realm. This weirdly lines up perfectly with rumors from earlier in the year, emanating from both John Gruber (of Daring Fireball fame), and MacRumors — the former reporting that Apple was set to release a “Mentioned-Nowhere-Else-But-in-This-Very-Headline Multi-Touch Trackpad Gadget for Desktop Macs,” and the latter taking notice of an Apple trademark application for the “Magic Trackpad.” It certainly all makes sense given that the company has made not-so-subtle moves away from standard input devices to finger-friendly options in many, many of its recent products. Whatever the case may be, we’re potentially just hours away from the truth, so feast your eyes on the photos, and get ready for the big reveal.

Apple’s Magic Trackpad revealed? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Synaptics has been a serious roll of late, first introducing those luscious multitouch gestures to older trackpads, and last month extending its Gesture Suite to Linux and Chrome OS. Here at Computex, the company is expanding its TouchPad family of solutions, with the multi-finger PC TouchPad-IS range seeing the first update. Aside from being able to recognize four-finger gestures, the new platform prevents accidental activation of the cursor when a user’s palm unintentionally contacts the TouchPad, and it also brings the aforementioned multi-finger capabilities of a touchscreen right onto a PC’s trackpad. Next up is the new ClickEQ, which is hailed as the “industry’s first hinge-less uniform force, uniform click depth ClickPad mechanical design.” As you’d expect, this feels an awful lot like the glass trackpad that Apple’s freshest MacBooks have, but you won’t find us kvetching about getting a similar technology onto run-of-the-mill laptops and netbooks.

Moving on, the company is also introducing new OEM customization capabilities for Synaptics gesture workflow technology, Scrybe, which will allow users to store specific trackpad settings and references so the whole family can control the laptop their own way. Sadly, there’s no published ship date for any of these whiz-bang contraptions, but we’re cautiously hoping to see it implemented in at least prototype form as we scour the show floor.

Continue reading Synaptics intros ClickEQ, multi-finger TouchPad-IS trackpad solutions

Synaptics intros ClickEQ, multi-finger TouchPad-IS trackpad solutions originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer moves entertainment controls keys inside the touchpad in new Aspire Ethos laptops.

Read more here:
Acer Replaces Touchpad With Touch Screen in New Laptop

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Synaptics driver enables multitouch gestures on older trackpads originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready to graduate from DJ Hero? Got a house payment handy? Then Pioneer would like to show you the way to the pros. Say hello to the DJM-2000, a four-channel digital mixer built around a 5.8-inch multitouch screen and sporting enough knobs, buttons and sliders for a NASA launch sequence. Designed to play nice with the matching CDJ-2000 players Pioneer released last year, the unit features an integrated audio effects suite with six dedicated processors and several intriguing modes for multitouch music control. While the mixer has the traditional crossfade slider that allows DJs to assign a certain percentage of the output to channels on the left and right, the DJM-2000 debuts with “frequency mix,” a mode that lets DJs assign within seven narrow frequency bands as well by manipulating virtual sliders on the touchscreen, and a “sidechain remix” mode that uses the screen to apply custom effects in real time. Yeah, it’s not as wild as some other touchscreen DJ rigs we’ve seen, but at least this one’s for sale: Pioneer says the mixer will retail for $3000 this June. Droolworthy video demonstrations after the break.

Continue reading Pioneer DJM-2000 digital mixer sports multitouch screen, per-frequency mixing delight

Pioneer DJM-2000 digital mixer sports multitouch screen, per-frequency mixing delight originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Has it really been almost a year ( to the day! ) since we last gave some first-hand thoughts on ASUS’ audacious Eee Keyboard PC ?

Link:
ASUS EeeKeyboard PC hands-on (slight return)

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