The Greatest Invention of My Lifetime

Ok, I have been known to exaggerate a little bit when I get excited about something, but this time I really mean it. I bought a Macbook Air earlier this week and I have fallen in love with the multi-touch trackpad.

It is large… probably more than double the size of any other trackpad I have used. But once you start getting used to the gestures, the trackpad suddenly becomes easier to use than the five-button mouse with wheel that I have become so accustom to.

The oversized pad means that you don’t have to lift up your finger and drag some more just to get across the screen. Drop a second finger on the pad and click to do a secondary click (i.e. right click). Drop a third finger and swipe for to go forward and back (two buttons I use a lot on my mouse). Hold down control while using the pad and you can zoom in to any point on the screen. This ability gives you the precision of a mouse when trying to select fine detail in desktop graphics programs.

I am waiting until they make a similar trackpad that I can use on my desktop. It really is that good.