As title says, I use both. I like the trackpad for like 99% of things, but the other 1% the magic mouse is pretty useful for. Does anyone else do this? Or should I perhaps bring this up with my therapist as a crazy thing I do? 
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Not since I retired. But prior to that I frequently used a trackpad with one hand and a mouse with the other.
And the trackpad and the mouse were constantly changing sides to prevent RSI problems.
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I definitely have if you count using a laptop with a mouse. It’s nice to be able to do gestures and some dragging tasks with fingers. I’ve tried a trackpad on my desktop where I use my laptop clamshell, but never found the right place. I suppose the Stream Deck occupies where a trackpad might go, and I use the Stream Deck daily.
Absolutely I do! Ever since the first standalone silver trackpad came out.
I’m mostly ambidextrous, but write (if I have to) and throw left handed. I have the trackpad on the left and mouse on the right.
I realised long ago what the distinction is:
- Trackpad = gross pointer movements and gestures
- Mouse = precision pointer movements
If I’m just scrolling a web page and clicking links, it’s usually all trackpad. If I’m editing photos it’s usually the mouse, except for scrolling through the images and pinch to zoom.
Some of the basic stuff I will switch back and forth depending on mood and whether I’m starting to feel overuse pain coming on.
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Same here. I use the Trackpad solely for Expose and scrolling left and right (Excel) because I use a Logitech Mouse (even though I have a Magic Mouse*) that does not let me scroll left/right.
*Magic Mouse is nice and all but I still dislike how flat it is as compared to a good old Logitech mouse.
Same layout here — Magic Trackpad on the left of the keyboard, mouse on the right. Splitting the workload between both hands is also one of the best things you can do to prevent right-wrist RSI.
My split is almost identical to @zkarj and @Topre:
- Left hand (Magic Trackpad): pinch-to-zoom in Figma/PDFs, horizontal timeline/spreadsheet scrolling, and Space/Mission Control swipes.
- Right hand (Mouse): precise text selection, drag-and-drop across monitors, and long sessions where hovering fingers over glass gets tiring.
The one macOS quirk when dual-wielding a trackpad and a standard scroll-wheel mouse is that macOS ties scroll direction (“Natural scrolling”) and scroll acceleration together globally. Running a tiny menu bar utility like BetterPad (or LinearMouse if you just need per-device scroll inversion) makes the combo seamless so the trackpad keeps natural inertia gestures on the left while the mouse wheel and extra buttons behave predictably on the right.
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I’ve not noticed that because I’m fine with natural scrolling on both devices. However, I was trying to get an HP laptop running Windows 11 to not do that and was unable. My brain automatically context-switches depending on whether I’m looking at macOS or Windows. It is weirdly interesting and also annoying!
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