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The verdict
The Magic Trackpad wins. It does everything the Magic Mouse does and a lot more, it works while it's charging, and it moves from one hand to the other without changing a setting. The mouse only still makes sense if you can't give up the feel of a mouse under your palm.
I used the Magic Mouse for years. It's in a drawer now. Here's why.
Six gestures against fifteen
Apple lists six gestures for the Magic Mouse and fifteen for the trackpad[1]. The mouse scrolls, swipes between pages, opens Mission Control. The trackpad does all that, then pinches to zoom, rotates photos, reveals the desktop, opens Notification Center and drags with three fingers.
| Magic Mouse | Magic Trackpad | |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Touch gestures | 6 | 15 |
| Pinch to zoom | no | yes |
| Force Touch | no | yes |
| Usable while charging | no | yes |
| Left or right hand | yes | yes |
It isn't a numbers game. On the trackpad gestures have room: two, three, four fingers on a surface the size of a palm, instead of one finger on a hump.
Three gestures to try right now
- Four fingers up: Mission Control opens, every window in view.
- Thumb and three fingers spreading apart: everything slides away and you see the desktop.
- Three fingers tapping a word: its definition pops up, no app needed.
Try them now, with your less-used hand. The first attempt will be clumsy. That small discomfort is your brain learning something new.
Hand and wrist
The Magic Mouse is flat. To hold it your hand curls into a claw, and after a full day you feel it.
The trackpad sits in the middle of the desk, in front of the keyboard. A Harvard study compared four pointing devices: the centrally placed touchpad gave more neutral shoulders and lower forearm extensor activity than a conventional mouse[2].
The real weakness is different: one finger does all the work. My fix is simple. When my index finger gets tired, I switch to the middle one. It sounds trivial. It splits the load in two.
Precision and dragging
Here the mouse still wins. In the same study, people found the touchpad among the hardest devices to use[2], and dragging a window while holding the glass down is awkward.
Two settings change everything. Turn on tap to click, so you're not pressing all day. And turn on three-finger drag in Accessibility → Pointer Control → Trackpad Options: rest three fingers, drag, lift.
The wrong port
The Magic Mouse charges from underneath. While it's plugged in, you can't use it, and Apple says so itself. The trackpad has its port on the back edge and keeps working while it charges[3].
A detail. Until it runs flat at nine in the morning, two minutes before a call.
Two weeks later
I've been using it for two weeks. Honestly, it never felt strange. Only in the first days my hand went looking for the mouse on its own… and found the trackpad.
Wait, where's the mouse?
The gesture that won me over is zoom. With the Magic Mouse I had the double tap: zoomed in or not. On the trackpad, in Chrome, I spread and pinch two fingers and decide exactly how deep to go. Full control.
I don't miss anything from the Magic Mouse. Nothing at all.
Two hands, no side
The trackpad has no right side. I've used it with my right hand and my left, switching fingers too, and it's fantastic: you move it and that's it, no setting to touch.
If you want to train your non-dominant hand, that's a gift. I've gathered the research on what happens when you switch hands, plus the other devices that work in either hand, in my ambidextrous mouse picks. Not sure which side you're on yet? Start with the ambidextrous test.
Who should pick what
Get the trackpad if you want every gesture, one device for either hand, and no more forced breaks to charge.
Stay with the Magic Mouse if a mouse under your palm is non-negotiable. In that case, at least add stick-on side grips: they widen your hold and make it less flat.
Skip both if you game: neither is built for it. A symmetrical gaming mouse with side buttons on both sides is another story, and it's in the ranked list.
👉 Magic Trackpad on Amazon · Magic Mouse on Amazon · MagicGrips on Amazon
One sheet of glass. Two hands. No drawer to reopen.
Mouse or trackpad, what's on your desk? Tell me in the comments, and if this helped, send it to a friend about to buy a Mac accessory!
