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I am getting a laptop stand for my MacBook Pro to help with ergonomics when at my desk. Getting an external keyboard isn't a concern, but I have become accustomed to using the trackpad and gestures instead of a mouse. Is there a quality external trackpad that will work with a Mac with all the same gestures?

Google turned up a few, but they don't appear to support multitouch.

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  • I;d be interested to see if you can find anything of interest with this... I was just thinking the other day that Apple are missing out on some serious revenue by selling an external trackpad with all the bells and whistles of those in the new Macbooks.
    – Jasarien
    Commented Jul 18, 2009 at 23:40
  • @Jasarien, I think Apple is just waiting for the general public to understand the potential. They wouldn't bring advanced touchpads to market as long as the market doesn't understand or want the gadgets. This is very sad, because Apple bought and closed the excellent manufacturer FingerWorks in order to use the technology for the iPhones and later their Macbooks. They should have just kept on selling the FingerWorks products to those of us who understand and want the technology!
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Commented Oct 9, 2009 at 12:13
  • I don't know of an external trackpad which supports gestures, but the internal trackpad is USB-based. It should be possible to find a damaged top case and build a trackpad :). You may also be able to find a Synaptics trackpad on it's own, though the Mac OS may not pick up on its multitouch capabilities if it's not Apple-branded.
    – s4y
    Commented Oct 20, 2009 at 3:35

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I hate to answer my own question, but I think it is clear that when I asked this question last year there was no clear answer. However with the recent introduction of the Magic Trackpad, I think that is now the clear winner (assuming the Mac has Snow Leopard).

http://www.apple.com/magictrackpad/

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http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-127238.html

Here is an older forum topic about external trackpads and some mice. From what I have seen you are going to be lucky to even find a few options of external trackpads made for os x. Finding one that supported multitouch would be even more rare, might not even be produced yet. There might be a few options linked on that forum. Good luck! Good question.

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I think you'd find a FingerWorks iGesture very handy.

Multitouch trackpads existed before Apple made them common. Apple didn't invent them but rather bought FingerWorks which made large trackpads and even multitouch keyboards! Apple bought and closed this manufacturer, but you can still find the trackpads on Ebay, though they are rare. There's a keyboard for sale right now -- eBay link here.

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  • Eek! $600 for a keyboard?
    – g .
    Commented Oct 12, 2009 at 9:53
  • Supply and demand. These are rare devices, and those who know how awesome they are, accept the price. Why oh why did Apple close this manufacturer? The devices used to cost only 150-350 USD.
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Commented Oct 12, 2009 at 10:49
  • Hmm, Apple has finally shut down the Fingerworks website. Here's the fan community: fingerfans.dreamhosters.com
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Commented Oct 19, 2010 at 18:25
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If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch you could use that as a trackpad. There are quite a lot of apps that you can use to control your Mac or PC via WiFi. One example is Touchpad, but you can probably find more.

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