“Whoa, Alex! Two blog posts in one day! That’s crazy!”

I know, it just so happens that I have a little time on my hands and multiple things to blog about.

Anyways, enough with the fake conversation in my head and on to the meat and potatoes. Apple released their Magic Trackpad yesterday, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around why anyone would want to purchase such a device.

I know that it does multitouch, and that touch interaction has come a long way. Due to the emergence of the iPhone, iPad, and other touchscreen devices, many people are much more familiar with touch input. Furthermore, laptops are used much more often than they used to be, and many people use laptops more than desktops. Therefore, people are used to using a laptop trackpad, as well as the sometimes handy multitouch gesture support it offers.

That being said, why would anyone willingly buy a standalone touchpad for their desktop computer? A touchpad doesn’t offer anything near the precision or ergonomic comfort of a mouse. Since being done with school and moving back home, I haven’t had a dedicated computer space to dock my laptop and use my wireless keyboard and mouse; I’ve missed having a mouse dearly. Granted, I will concede that Apple’s MacBook line features bigger and more comfortable touchpads than that of my Dell. Even so, I would much rather use a mouse any day of the week.

Multitouch is nice and would add some value to the desktop experience. However, I think that the tradeoff of comfort and precision isn’t worth it. Furthermore, Apple’s Magic Mouse already supports some multitouch gestures combined with the advantages of a mouse; what value does the Magic Trackpad really add?

I’m curious to hear some comments on this issue. Would you ever consider spending $69 for a Magic Trackpad to either use instead of or alongside a mouse?