Sweet new accessory puts a different spin on Mac

By

Orbital 2
It's like a knob for your Mac. Wait, that came out wrong!
Photo: Orbital 2

The Microsoft Dial, one of the innovative features of the company’s Surface Studio, is coming to Mac. Well, kind of.

Taking the form of a hockey puck-style knob, the Dial offers another way to interface with your computer. That means things like turning up and down volume, rotating images, or adjusting brightness.

While Microsoft isn’t actually bringing the device to Mac, a very similar product — called the Orbital 2 — is coming to Mac next year. And, by all accounts, it’s pretty darn brilliant.

The Orbital 2 originally raised funding through Kickstarter. While the device won’t start shipping until early next year, TechCrunch recently got to try it out at the TC Tokyo event in Japan. Their verdict?

“It’s a nice addition to the MacOS ecosystem, particularly given Apple’s recent re-focus on creative pros. The peripheral is targeted at videographers, illustrators and other artists, with a design that more closely resembles a gaming joystick than the Dial. Control is based on three primary actions: dial, toggle and button, allowing for a wide range of different controls.”

In other words, it’s not exactly like the Microsoft Dial, although that is perhaps the closest parallel. Unlike the Dial, the Orbital 2 isn’t wireless, and iMacs also don’t come with touchscreens, so you won’t be able to take advantage of that aspect of the Surface Studio.

Still, it supposedly works well with creative applications such as Adobe Creative Suite, Avid, Clip Studio Paint and MediBang Paint. It also has a nice build quality, with some handy haptic feedback technology to confirm your inputs.

Personally, I’m really impressed by the Microsoft Surface Studio, which Microsoft just debuted the sequel to. If you’d like to transport some of that magic across to your fancy iMac, this may be one of your best options. You can check out a video preview here.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.