Macs get internal upgrades every year or so, and redesigns are common every three to four years. But it has been way longer than that since Apple last revisited the input devices it ships with its desktop Macs—the most recent, the Magic Trackpad, dates back to mid-2010. 2009's wireless multitouch Magic Mouse is a few months older than that, and the Apple Wireless Keyboard has been exactly the same (give or take some function keys) since 2007. It's past time for a change, if only because constantly swapping out AA batteries in 2015 feels like an anachronism.

Enter the new Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2, and Magic Trackpad 2, the trio of input accessories that ship with Apple's refreshed 21.5- and 27-inch iMacs. All three pull Apple's input devices into the modern era: their internal li-ion batteries are rechargeable, and they've all been tweaked and upgraded to bring them more in line with other changes Apple has made since the turn of the decade. All three are fairly straightforward, but we'll give our impressions here separate from the main 4K iMac review for the benefit of anyone who is thinking about upgrading.

Compatibility, pairing, availability, and pricing

If you order one of the new iMacs, you'll get two of these peripherals in the box—the Magic Keyboard and your choice of either the Magic Mouse 2 or Magic Trackpad 2. The Magic Mouse is part of the base price, and switching to the trackpad will run you an extra $50. For all other Macs, including the Mac Mini and Mac Pro, they'll be available separately. The keyboard costs $99, the mouse costs $79, and the trackpad costs $129. The previous versions of all three accessories cost $69, so in some cases you're looking at a rather substantial price hike, presumably because of the rechargeable batteries and upgraded components. All of the accessories ship with a Lightning cable.

If you want to add the accessories to an older Mac, the only thing you need for the Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse 2 is a Mac with El Capitan and any kind of Bluetooth adapter. The Magic Trackpad 2 requires El Capitan and Bluetooth 4.0, limiting it mostly to Macs introduced after 2012 (though it's possible that it could work on older Macs with an aftermarket Bluetooth 4.0 card or dongle installed). One nice addition is that pairing the devices to any Mac no longer requires you to hold down the power button to enter pairing mode. Just connect them to your Mac with a Lightning cable and you'll get a notification telling you that pairing was successful.

Those Lightning cables are used to recharge the accessories, but they'll also carry data when connected to your Mac. This obviates the need for separate wired and wireless versions, since any wireless accessory effectively becomes a wired accessory when you plug it in (that said, the placement of the Lightning port on the bottom of the Magic Mouse 2 makes this impractical).

If you're getting these as a pack-in with a brand-new iMac, they're great updates to the originals that you don't have to pay anything extra for. If you're adding any of them to an older Mac, the steep pricing is a bit of a deterrent. There's really no third-party substitute for the Magic Trackpad 2, but, if you're OK with spending $100 on a keyboard, it's hard not to recommend something like Logitech's backlit, rechargeable, switchable K811 for the same price.

The Magic Mouse 2

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

The new Magic Mouse deviates the least from its predecessor, and, if you look at them both from the top or the sides, it's impossible to tell them apart. They each weigh around 100g, giving them a similar feel. Flip them over, and you'll find differences: the aluminum battery door and blinking status LED have been removed, replaced by a subtle Lightning port. The rechargeable battery is the biggest change here, and Apple promises that two minutes of charging a dead mouse will provide enough power for about nine hours of use.

The other difference you'll notice in daily use is that the new mouse glides more smoothly over various surfaces than the old one did, something Apple pointed out to us during our demo session. This is true whether you use your mouse directly on the hard, flat surface of a desk or table, or if you use a softer surface like a mousepad or a tablecloth.

Like the previous Magic Mouse, the new one has one large multi-touch surface rather than standard wheels or buttons. Gestures and taps are used for most navigation; scroll up and down or side to side by gliding one finger across the mouse's surface, swipe from side to side with two fingers to change between Spaces, or tap twice with two fingers to open Mission Control. And if you've never been fans of Apple's obsession with one-button mice, enable "secondary click" in the settings to enable right-clicking.

Magic Keyboard

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

The Magic Keyboard is a clear relative to the old Apple Wireless Keyboard. The new one retains the aluminum frame, the plastic underside, and the gray-text-on-white-plastic keys.

That's where the similarities end, though. Shedding the tube needed for the AA batteries has allowed Apple to make the keyboard smaller and thinner, and it rests on your desk at a shallower angle more reminiscent of the keyboards you might find in a MacBook Air or Pro. Apple says the rechargeable battery in the keyboard will last for a month or so between charges. The Lightning port is mounted on the back of the keyboard in the center, and there's a plastic cutout for the Bluetooth signal set off to the side. The typeface on the keycaps has been switched to San Francisco, something Apple has already done in other hardware (the new MacBook) and software (El Capitan, iOS 9, and WatchOS).

Most significantly, the layout, spacing, and general feel of the keyboard have been tweaked to be more in line with the new MacBook, excepting the new full-height function keys. The keys are just a shade larger and a lot flatter, and the left and right arrow keys have been stretched vertically to take up space that was empty on the older keyboard. Key travel is somewhere in between the old wireless keyboard and the extremely shallow travel in the MacBook, but the feel is more MacBook-y than Apple Wireless Keyboard-y. If you've already gotten used to the travel in the MacBook, you'll have no problem adjusting to this one. If you're used to the travel in the Apple Wireless Keyboard or in the MacBook Pro or Air, you may hate the way the new one feels.

I normally use the aforementioned K811 with my iMac, which isn't identical to the Apple Wireless Keyboard but feels pretty close. I was up to my normal typing speed on the Magic Keyboard in no time, and, as with most well-built keyboards, people will generally be able to adjust to the new feel without much trouble. And if you know you need a full-on desktop keyboard with Cherry MX switches, neither of Apple's keyboard designs were going to work for you anyway.

When you're buying it standalone, the Magic Keyboard makes the least sense of all three accessories; the Magic Mouse 2 and Trackpad 2 add something unique to OS X via their gestures, but for $100 you can buy all but the most expensive of keyboards. This includes things like the K811, which is in roughly the same category as the Magic Keyboard but can easily pair to multiple devices and includes backlit keys. It also encompasses high-end keyboards for hardcore typists, ergonomic models, and more.

Magic Trackpad 2

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

We've saved the most drastic redesign for last.

The Magic Trackpad 2 looks completely different from the original both in aesthetic and size. Because Apple has been able to ditch the AA battery tube, the tracking surface (now white instead of silver, though the frame is still aluminum) extends from edge to edge and the trackpad is thinner and flatter. The top of the trackpad is roughly flush with the keycaps of the Magic Keyboard, and both accessories are the same height and thickness, so like the Apple Wireless Keyboard and original Magic Trackpad you can sit them next to each other and see that they were clearly designed together.

Actually using the new trackpad is almost the same as using the old one. Dragging your finger across its surface feels similar, and it supports all of the same trackpad gestures. The biggest addition is Force Touch support—as in the Retina MacBook and the newest Retina MacBook Pros, the Magic Trackpad doesn't physically move much when you press it down. Rather, it creates haptic feedback that simulates the feeling and sound of a click. Go into the settings and turn the feedback to "firm" and, as in the MacBooks, the new trackpad feels just about the same as the old one (albeit still not quite as clicky).

One benefit of this simulated clicking is that it's just as easy to click at the bottom of the trackpad as it is to click at the top, which may result in less finger movement. You could click the old Magic Trackpad at the top, too, but being so close to the trackpad's hinge made it more difficult to do.

Force Touch also enables pressure sensitivity. There are a couple of spots throughout the OS where you can click down to change the operating system's reaction based on how much force you use. If you're looking at a QuickTime video, for instance, holding down harder or less hard on the fast-forward and rewind buttons will speed up or slow down the rate at which you're scrubbing through the video.

And finally, there's the Force Click, enabled by clicking once and then holding your finger down until you've heard a second click. Force Clicking is usually a way to access data quickly, though you could often already access this data in some other way. Force Click an item in Safari to open a context-sensitive window to give you more information (a three-fingered click on older trackpads). Force Click something in the Finder to activate Quick Look. I haven't found it to be incredibly useful, but app developers still might do some interesting things with it.

Listing image by Andrew Cunningham