Apple Magic Mouse
by Apple Computer
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Category: CE
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: Apple ComputerModel: MB829LL/A
Color: White
Product features:
- Laser technology delivers 20 times the performance of standard optical tracking
- Miniature sensors detect even the slightest movement
- Top-shell design matches other Apple products
- Bluetooth technology and Touch-sensitive technology
- Apple Battery Charger
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple Magic Mouse
Customer Review: For Those with System 10.5
Summary: 5 Stars
Initial Review: Day 1
Just got the mouse and had to set up my computer to make it work. I had system 10.5.5, and had to upgrade to 10.5.8 first (which I had been putting off because when I upgraded to 10.5.5 Corel Painter stopped working and I was nervous that something else might stop working if I upgraded. So far haven't checked all my programs).
After upgrading to .8, I also had to install Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0 for Leopard, from the Apple website. This lets System 10.5 know what to do with your new Magic Mouse, and gives you the fancy Systems Preference screen with the little movie showing you the clicks. After that everything works, although I did not yet install the hack that allows 10.5 to use the "momentum scrolling" thing. You can find the hack on Mac OS Hints, the article titled "Enable momentum scrolling for Magic Mouse in 10.5".
After reading complaints about how standard Apple preferences don't give enough button options to the mouse, I also installed MagicPrefs (free), which frankly gives me too many options. All I want is a middle click and maybe a click to save or copy and paste.
I tried activating a few of the Magic Prefs goodies (like using a pinch motion to zoom in on the screen) but I couldn't seem to get the pinch to work right. It wouldn't recognize my pinch motion, and then when I was swiping to turn pages it would suddenly zoom in. I guess it's a matter of having just the right touch. So I turned that off and may not ever use the main MagicPrefs pane except for the Middle Click button (I used 3-D graphic programs that require a middle click to navigate).
For zooming in and out, holding down command while scrolling works really good anyway. I'll just do that.
Instead of using MagicPrefs, I found a new preference pane installed next door to Magic Prefs which is really cool called "Magic Menu". This comes along bundled with MagicPrefs and I find it much niftier and easier to use than the main program. (Check out magicprefs website, slash magicmenu).
When enabled, this cute little program brings up an itty bitty black square when you tap the apple logo on your Magic Mouse. There are four 'buttons' you can program; up, down, left, right. When the black square appears, you don't move the mouse, but you swipe up, down, left or right with one finger to choose the button that will be activated. I set mine to 'save', 'copy,' 'paste' and 'cut', but there are options for 'Close,' 'Open,' 'New,' 'Tweet,' 'Read Tweets', 'Google Reader', 'Switch Space Down,' 'Hide All Other Applications,' 'Unhide All Other Applications,' and then a menu for 'Custom Actions' including keystrokes and application functions. This is nifty and really easy to use, and makes copying and pasting from the mouse fast enough for me!
As far as using the mouse itself: feels kind of neat. I got the Magic Mouse because I was absolutely sick and tired of the Mighty Mouse's infamous sticky roller-ball, which would get stuck every few days and had to be 'cleaned' (although no true cleaning can ever take place because I cannot open the mouse to actually pull the gunk out). Mostly I wanted this mouse so I can smoothly scroll around without angst.
I am used to using the hefty old wireless Mighty Mouse (it was mighty, but not in a good way, more like 'hefty mouse') so there was not much of a learning curve to using this one. The people who give this mouse low stars for discomfort and handcramps usually are coming from using a Logitech mouse, or some other brand which is shaped like a big dome and made for you to rest your hand on it. Lazy mousers with lazy hands! (I myself am primarily a writer and my hands are extremely strong from typing 8 to 12 hours a day, every day. I have a grip that could throttle a bear, and I'm a woman.)
This mouse is NOT for lazy-hand mousers. It is meant to be used the way the old Mighty Mouse was used: you grab one side with your thumb, the other side with your ring and pinkie finger, and you move it that way leaving both index and middle fingers free to click. Advantages: more maneuverability with fingers, able to do fancy swipes and ballerina-like movements on mouse top. Disadvantages: have to build up hand strength, have to click with fingertip instead of slothfully clicking with whole finger.
No hand resting! This is a mouse designed to be 'pinched' between three fingers and slid that way. However, I have learned to use a mouse that way because it was the easiest way to use the Mighty Mouse. When I first started using the old wireless Hefty Mouse, it took several days or a week for me to get used to 'pinch-holding' a mouse because I had to build up muscles in my ring and pinkie fingers, which were not used to 'grabbing' anything. What made it worse was that I had to at times 'lift' the Hefty Mouse (to move it back from the edge of the mousepad or to 'flick' the cursor to the side without moving the mouse very far) and it was a bit weighty for my fingers. So after 'pinch-holding' the Hefty Mouse, my hand felt a little sore, but not so much I'd notice until the end of the day. Once the muscles in my hand adjusted I was fine with the Hefty Mouse and had been using it for 2 years (almost to the day) every day. So you do get used to it.
So far, lifting and moving the Magic Mouse with three fingers is easier and feels lighter than with the Hefty Mouse. I will five a more detailed report on hand fatigue later when I have used the Magic Mouse for at least a few days solid.
It is very, very low and feels lighter than wireless old Hefty on the pad, although the two wireless mice are almost the same weight (Magic might be a tad lighter). I think Magic slides a little more smoothly on the pad, and the shape of the body (curving underneath) makes it feel more dainty. I am a woman and I like small mice, especially the mini travel kind, so I like the fact that it feels smaller between my fingers.
As with all new products, there is something you always have to adjust to. For me this might be scrolling. The scrolling works nicely but it's slightly abrupt. Not too bad but just enough to notice. It starts suddenly and stops suddenly because it is digital instead of analog. Slightly more of a robotic feel and a little less of that organic feel. Not a big deal, but will take adjustment. Still, it's a world better than that evil old sticky rollball which wouldn't scroll 'down' half the time.
Also, I like how it scrolls really slowly when you move your finger really slowly. But then when I move my finger even just a little TINY bit faster, it jumps suddenly to 'fast scroll' and I lose my place. I do have the scrolling set high because it took four or six swipes to get anywhere set on normal scroll speed and I don't feel like stroking my mouse all day to do anything. Other people like to scroll slowly. Basically, the scrolling curve from slow to fast is abrupt and could really use some smoothing out, but that's software and hopefully will improve.
Nice thing about the scrolling: you don't have to move your index finger to the middle. You can be a little lazier and scroll from the side (in the area you usually left-click or whatever) which is less hand-strain right there.
In all, very NICE mouse, very COOL trackpad top, feels sleek and light, fun to use kind of like a Porsche is fun to drive. (Note: it ALSO takes some adjustment to drive a Porsche because they handle and drive differently than your average Toyota.)
I noticed no really terrible 'drag' on the clear plastic or anything it seems smooth enough to me. Run your finger over the lenses of sunglasses and you know what it feels like. If that's too much drag for you, and you prefer an absolutely frictionless teflon surface, you might find it draggy. I do not like frictionless, personally, I want to feel as if something is there under my finger. I think the complaints of 'drag' have more to do with the extremely steep acceleration curve between slow-scroll and fast-scroll than the actual material used on the surface. (You have to move your finger the tiniest fraction of a millimeter to get somewhere in-between; this kind of super-anal precision control would require lubrication.)
Underneath it's aluminum which feels cool to the fingers and reminds you that finally not everything in the computer world is plastic. (Since computers are some of the most vital and expensive things we buy, why are they all plastic like disposable products anyway? I have always wondered that. Where are the wood and metal computer products? At least Apple has that right.)
Worth seventy bucks? Maybe, I'll decide that in a few weeks. Worth fifty? More like it, it's got a nice expensive look and feel to it and feels solid and durable, so it is a top-end mouse for sure. I'd say fifty is about right.
Day 7
The more I use this mouse, the more I like it! I installed the Momentum Scrolling hack mentioned on Mac OS hints, and it really is pretty cool. Now it's so fun to scroll I find myself scrolling up and down just to play with it. If you don't know what momentum scrolling is, if you've ever played with an iPod Touch and you scroll down by flicking your finger, and the page scrolls all the way to the bottom by itself, that's momentum scrolling. So for me, the 'sudden' scrolling issue is fixed by the momentum scrolling hack, no more issues there at all.
I haven't noticed any hand strain yet; in fact this mouse feels lighter and easier to move than the old heavy Mighty Mouse that I used to use. Works fine with my system, no complaints at all.
Four Months Later:
Have found no real problems with the mouse at all, seems to work fine with System 10.5, I enjoy the smooth scrolling now that I don't have the problematic trackball to worry about! Love being completely wireless.
Description of Apple Magic Mouse
It began with iPhone. Then came iPod touch. Then MacBook Pro. Intuitive, smart, dynamic. Multi-Touch technology introduced a remarkably better way to interact with your portable devices - all using gestures. Now we've reached another milestone by bringing gestures to the desktop with a mouse that's unlike anything ever before. It's called Magic Mouse. It's the world's first Multi-Touch mouse. And while it comes standard with every new iMac, you can also add it to any Bluetooth-enabled Mac for a Multi-Touch makeover.Digital Cameras & Photo Categories
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