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Ah, The Power Of Cheese! (or How To Choose A Mouse)Jul 07 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Keyboards and Mice
The Bottom Line For a beginner, the standard rubber-ball-mouse is fine; however, those looking for something better should turn to trackballs or optical mice.
These days, there are so many mice out there, it's hard to choose one. There are trackballs, fifty-button mice, standard mice (which, by the way, are becoming less and less standard these days), optical mice, wireless mice.... the list goes on and on. So who do you turn to when you have to choose? Me, of course! (No pun intended). Will You Have Mayo With That? (or Choosing A Mouse Type) It used to be there were only two main types of mice - standard mice, those with one or two buttons, and maybe a scroll wheel, that have a rubber ball on the button, connected to some sort of gear/electronic mechanism that tracks which way the ball moves when you move the mouse; and trackballs, those where the ball is on top, and you move it airplane style (rolling the ball upwards corresponds to the cursor moving down along the screen, whereas moving it downwards moves the cursor up the screen). Now there are many more - the main contender being optical mice. If you don't already know this, optical mice have a tiny camera on the bottom that is constantly taking pictures of the ground underneath it to track movement. It has no rubber ball, therefore, no mousepad is neccesary. This offers a great many advantages; however, these aren't cheap. I see them going for as much as $50-$80, compared to mice with balls (no pun intended) that go for as little as 5 or 10 bucks. Apple now packages optical mice standard with all of their new desktops, and other companies are selling them for the PC as add-ons (you can also buy the "Apple Pro Mouse" for about $60). Let me say this right now - you're going to want a standard mouse, a trackball, or an optical mouse if you want a wide range of choices. Most computers come with a standard mouse; however, if yours didn't, you can buy one now as a starter mouse and come back later for a higher-end choice. If you want to upgrade, or start nice, go for a trackball or optical mouse - but expect to pay at least $30 for the trackball and $50 for the optical mouse. Both offer elegance and precision, but they each have one thing special to offer. Basically, if you like buttons, go for the trackball. They have lots. Or, if space and general coolness outweigh buttons, definitely go for the optical mouse. The trackball is cool, but the better word is "elegant". Either way, you're getting a nice, precise top-of-the-line mouse your friends will marvel at. Ketchup or Mustard? (or Choosing A Brand) Right now, as far as brands go, you have a zillion choices for the standard mouse - think of a computer hardware or peripheral company, and they probably make one. However, the choices are more narrow for trackballs - let me recommend Kensington's Turbo Mouse Pro to Mac users. PC users, look to the people who you prefer -- most likely, the people who made your mouse also make a trackball. Again, there are enough choices that all I can say is, make your choice based on price and buttons, buttons, buttons. Looks are also a determining factor for most people. Now we get to the optical mouse -- choices for this are very slim. A few companies, like Logitech, make these third-party, but mostly, I'll have to recommend one company that's first-party, and one that's well... Microsoft. (What the hell are they, anyways? They made the OS and not the computer, so....) Apple is the first party company - go for their mouse if you want one button. Also, although the mouse may not be top quality, as previously mentioned, Microsoft makes optical mice and they should work extremely well with Windows. The End We have come to an end, my friends... time is up. The obvious choice for a beginner is a standard mouse, but those looking for something better (and pricier) should turn to trackballs and optical mice. Wireless is a nice feature - this a feature, not a type of mouse, however. Most wireless mice fit into the standard category, though there are optical wireless mice, I think.  |
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