MagicBridge Extended
Bring order to control surface chaos
£49 FROM Twelve South, twelvesouth.com
FEATURES Works with Apple Magic TrackPad 2 and Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad; 58.4x1.4x11.9cm; 240g
When it comes to desk space, many of us are neat freaks who like things ‘just so’. In which case having your Magic Trackpad and Keyboard sit all higgledypiggledy while jostling for room among iPads, hard drives and docks could be enough to bring you out in hives – especially if you also love to eat lunch ‘al desko’.
Aiming to bring some order to the chaos is the Twelve South MagicBridge Extended, a black slice of polycarbonate (it’s also available in white) into which you can snap both an Apple extended keyboard and its accompanying trackpad. The trackpad can be positioned to the left or to the right of the keyboard, with cutouts on the back of the MagicBridge giving you easy access to both devices’ power switches and Lightning ports. The only additional accessory is a grey plastic rectangle, which serves as a riser for the keyboard.
Weirdly, the trackpad doesn’t get the same treatment, so it sits slightly lower, although that doesn’t make any difference to usability. Instead having the two devices conjoined in this way soon becomes second nature, not only enabling you to move and pick up both the trackpad and keyboard as one, but also to bestow another benefit – you can now use your Magic combo on your lap, perfect for sofa surfing while using a Mac mini connected to a TV, or for keeping a suitably socially distanced gap between you and your MacBook’s dreaded Touch Bar. Rob Mead-Green