While I agree that Mac trackpads are fantastic, there's still a need for variety. For some reason, I don't feel at home using a trackpad in certain programs, such as Photoshop. The Magic Mouse feels better in that scenario, like I have a little more control.

For general computer use and coding, I prefer the trackpad.

Ah, YMMV. I don't do any graphics/precise movement - mostly coding/shell/typing) and in this case trackpad is simply excellent - movement is precise and it's perfectly handy/accessible.

Sometimes I'm using it as a laptop, the touchpad is absolutely great, I wouldn't do it any other way.

Other times, I have it plugged into a monitor and a desktop keyboard. In those cases, I want a real mouse plugged in.

Because mouse has more buttons and can use better gestures and rocking clicks to go back and forth

I did use a lot of gestures (especially in browsers, Opera from 10-15 years ago?) but with trackpad you have virtually the same? Single tap=left click, two-fingers tap = right click, cmd+tap = middle click. Two fingers swipe left/right = navigate forward/backward?

What about 2-4 side mouse buttons? What about wheel left/ right motion? What about optional infinite scroll?

I never used those? I usually preferred keyboard shortcuts so laptop (MPB) with hands on the keyboard + occasional use of touchpad for "movement" was more than enough?

> I never used those?

Sure, but presumably your original question wasn't addressed to yourself? With a better external keyboard you don't have a trackpad, and even with the internal one sometimes it's more convenient to use the more capable tool

I generally prefer the trackpad for productive tasks, but I never got the hang of using it for my weird Minesweeper obsession. A mouse has a lot of non-input leverage and physical control that’s very hard to replicate (for me, others swear by trackpads even for high pace, high accuracy pointer input like this).