Apart from newly updated iMacs, Apple today announced new accessories for Macs as well. The new Magic Mouse 2 is now joined by the Magic Keyboard and even the Magic Trackpad 2 has been released, bringing altogether more magic to your Mac. Who doesn’t like magic?
As with most things Apple, the new accessories bring with them improved features and are certainly more than just a mouse and keyboard. If you are thinking about buying one or both of Apple’s new input devices, though, there are a few things you should probably know before you hit that Buy button. Ten of them, in fact.
- They all require OS X El Capitan to work – it’s probably no huge surprise, and if you’re buying one of the new iMacs, it won’t matter, but if a Magic Mouse 2, Magic Keyboard or Magic Trackpad 2 is on your wishlist, it’s worth remembering you’ll need to have a Mac running El Capitan in order to use them.
- Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Keyboard are Bluetooth 4.0, but backward compatible – while both the Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Keyboard are compatible with Bluetooth 4, they are also compatible with older Bluetooth standards. You’ll still need El Capitan, but any Mac with Bluetooth should be good to go.
- Magic Trackpad 2 is Bluetooth 4.0 only – unfortunately, the Magic Trackpad is now only compatible with Bluetooth 4, meaning you’ll need a relatively new Mac to take advantage of it.
- Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard can be used with any Mac wired via Lightning cable – one way around the Bluetooth problem is to use the Magic Trackpad plugged in via Lightning cable. The same works for the Magic Keyboard, too.
- Magic Mouse 2 will only work via Bluetooth – no Lightning cable option here because the port is located on the bottom of the mouse.
- They all have fast charging – 2 minute charge on these devices gives all-day battery life while 2 hours allows a full month of usage. That’s correct, you read that right. Now give me that technology in an iPhone, Apple.
- Automatic pairing – all three accessories have a new automatic pairing process with Mac using a Lightning to USB cable. If you’ve ever held a button in while trying to get a Bluetooth device to pair properly, then this will rock your world.
- Magic Keyboard’s keys have less travel, improve keys stability by 33%, just like on the 12-inch MacBook – whether that’s a good thing or not, we’ll leave it up to you to decide. We’re not huge fans of the MacBook’s keyboard, but we don’t hate it either.
- Magic Trackpad 2 has vibration feedback, which kind of gives similar feel to when using the trackpad on the newer Retina MacBook Pro or 12-inch MacBook.
- The Magic Mouse 2 sounds awesome when it’s being used – Apple really sweats the details, and its engineers worked for longer than they probably should have just trying to make the new mouse sound awesome during usage. Apple altered the Magic Mouse’s feet in order to change the sound it makes as it glides across the desk. Really.
Everything sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Time to get that credit card out again.
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