Good-looking Greatness!
Written: Oct 06 '00 (Updated Oct 06 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Sleek, Smooth, Accurate, Does Not Clog, Easy to Use, Adjustable Click Pressure
Cons: Can Skip if Moved too Fast, Can Skip On Shiny Surfaces
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| DJC750's Full Review: Apple Pro (M8690G/A) Mouse |
One of the major gripes that people had when the "new" apple computers started to come out, was the rather lacking mouse. This "hockey puck", was not only small, inconvenient, and made so it was hard to tell where the button was, but it just didn't go with the whole "new Mac" idea of style and technology. Steve Jobs remedied this at the 2000 New York Mac Expo, with the release of the Apple Pro Mouse. This mouse was designed around the new technology of digital optical tracking, thereby eliminating the old mouse ball of yesteryear. This mouse, since it’s release and subsequent shipping with all new Macs, has received mixed press. Now, in my most unbiased opinion that I can muster, I would like to say that this mouse ROCKS! Now that I have that out of my system, I would like to further explain my opinion.
"Trackball"
With the replacement of the trackball with a new technology could have been considered a risky idea however, it should be noted that Microsoft had already tested this idea with their optical mouse. This technology, which takes a picture of the area under your mouse, and then compares it with the previous picture, calculating exactly how much you moved, and in what direction by comparing features of the two pictures to each other.
Since the trackball was replaced by a clear shiny surface, the bottom of the mouse has no gaps, and as such, collects no dust or "mouse gunk". This means that your mouse never clogs, and you never have to turn your mouse over and clean it out. As someone from a house with large quantities of dust and other substances floating around, this means a lot of saved time and stress.
The optical mouse is also very accurate, thus the "Pro" in front of the name. The digital optical tracking has an accuracy of 400 dpi, or 400 dots per inch. This means that for every inch, this mouse is able to break it up into 400 different dots, or places that it can go. This is as accurate as most of the professional mice out there.
Now while this new system has its many advantages, it does have several disadvantages. One of the most annoying is the fact that sometimes this mouse has trouble telling the difference between two pictures on either white or black shiny surfaces. Now while this doesn’t usually affect most people while they are working, professionals might want to consider laying a mouse pad beneath this new mouse. Another one is the occasional loss of movement if you move the mouse too fast, after all, if there are no common features between two pictures, it’s rather difficult to tell where you moved. Apple does advertise however that the Apple Pro Mouse allows you to go 15% faster than any other optical mouse, but even so, you occasionally will be moving madly with your cursor, to all of a sudden see the cursor stop. This will not affect most people, or most operations, but it can occasionally become the annoying bug for those of you out there that do everything at hyper speed, over 14inches per second, according to the specs.
The Senses
Seeing as sight and touch have become the main staple of the Macs advertising campaign, I should include something about this subject. As for what it looks like, take a look at the picture above. The seamless, smooth, clear, black and white color scheme gives it a striking, but not overly so, appearance. In short, it looks pretty nice when it’s unplugged. When it’s plugged in however, a red light comes from the bottom (courtesy of the optical camera) which dims when you don’t use the mouse, and brightens when you do. Personally, I think it makes the mouse look even more striking, especially when you are working late, and the lights are dimmed.
As for touch, the elliptical shape, and nice size fit comfortably into most people’s hands. The fact that it’s smooth, with no cracks, creates a rather soothing feeling for your fingers, allowing them to relax comfortably, even while using this new device. As for clicking, the lack of a button may be confusing for those who look too closely at this mouse, but those who just start using it, rarely even notice. To keep the smooth, seamless look, Apple made the entire mouse a lever. Now while some people have claimed that this causes you to click when you move the mouse, this is a total falsehood. The lever action only works when you press on or near the tip of the mouse. You can also, for those of you so inclined, adjust the click tension, making it easier or harder to press down, creating "soft" or "hard" clicks.
Overall
Well, this mouse is truly a pleasure to use and to look at, as is the new goal of the current Mac marketing plan. It is also very accurate, never clogs, and is totally adjustable to your personal clicking needs. While it does have several small downfalls, such as skipping if you move more than 14 inches a second, and sometimes having trouble on shiny surfaces, it is more than made up for in the ease and pleasure of use. This mouse is now available from the Mac store online at www.apple.com, and can be plugged into any Mac with a USB port. I am very fond of this mouse, and would personally buy one for my house, if I didn’t have an old Mac without USB ports. It should be noted however, that the cord on this mouse is extremely short, as it was originally designed to be plugged into the new Apple keyboard. This means that if you are not using a USB keyboard, you will be very hard pressed to get the cord to go into a USB slot, as the cord just isn't long enough. Some problems have been reported with using this mouse with the really old computers with USB cards, but these problems are few, far between, and have (according to Apple at least) all been fixed. For those of you with an old iMac, B&W G3, or G4, I would definitely suggest upgrading to this mouse, especially if you are sick and tired of the little round "puck" that was originally included with your computer.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
DJC750
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Member: Daniel
Location: New York, New York
Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 4 members
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