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OS X Best Gaming Mouse for the Mac
- Thread starter RMD68
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I recommend any of the razer naga series, which are 100% compatible with the Mac
Link: http://www.getimba.com/
Link: http://www.getimba.com/
Im using a Razer Naga as i also play WoW, I love it best mouse i have ever owned.
Although probably a bit of an over kill for Diablo if thats all you plan on playing, having 17 mouse buttons is great for WoW and the like though.
I would say anything Razer would be good, great gear!
Although probably a bit of an over kill for Diablo if thats all you plan on playing, having 17 mouse buttons is great for WoW and the like though.
I would say anything Razer would be good, great gear!
Q: My Orochi keeps going into sleep mode very quickly when used in wireless mode, can this be adjusted?
A: This is done in order to extend the battery life of the Orochi and cannot be adjusted."
"Q: How do I get rid of the slight delay when the Orochi comes out of the sleep/standby mode?
A: During sleep mode, the Razer Orochi enters a low power mode where the consumption of battery life is reduced to a minimum. The delay you are seeing is the mouse reestablishing its Bluetooth connection with the computer. The wireless response time of the Orochi has been optimized to be very quick, 8 milliseconds. However, you may notice a slight delay as the Bluetooth connection is reestablished. For the supreme gaming experience and competitive gaming we recommend using the Orochi in wired mode."
is i possible to map the arrow keys as up, down, left, and right? Not sure want mouse because I play on the couch and getting tired of using the track pad for directionaliting
I use a Steelseries for SC2 and it works well. It depends what kind of mouse you want. I like the more traditional style of Steelseries. The Naga just feels weird in my hand, but a friend of mine who uses it likes it a lot.
Currently I'm using the Razer Deathadder Mac-edtion and I'm loving it. Nothing really special about the Mac-edtion besides this cool white mouseweel light
I've been looking for something as well.
Need one where I can use all the buttons in either Win or Mac, and not have to go through hoops to configure it.
The Razer has just removed its drivers and replaced them with a 'Cloud Based App' you have to use to configure it... (seriously... talk about an insanely bad idea)
The Logitech ones are all PC only, I guess mild hoops would be ok if there's a way to be able to keep using one and configure it, from within Mac.
Need one where I can use all the buttons in either Win or Mac, and not have to go through hoops to configure it.
The Razer has just removed its drivers and replaced them with a 'Cloud Based App' you have to use to configure it... (seriously... talk about an insanely bad idea)
The Logitech ones are all PC only, I guess mild hoops would be ok if there's a way to be able to keep using one and configure it, from within Mac.
We have found almost all of the Logitech mice are recognised by Logitech Mac drivers. We have quite a collection going here now for testing in games
USB Overdrive is pretty good at supporting the odd logitech mouse that is not supported.
Edwin
Get the Naga 2012 mouse. Its Mac and PC use. The cord is like 7ft long you won't need a wireless and it feels good for normal mouse use too.
The point is that you can plug your mouse into any machine, log into Synapse and you donʼt have to configure your mouse. You set it up once and itʼs the same on any computer you use, without any configuration.
And you donʼt have to use Synapse, all the previous drivers are still available for download on Razerʼs site:
All Razer Mice, DeathAdder Mac Edition
You donʼt even need to install the drivers for a DeathAdder anyway, they default to:
- 1800 CPI
- 500Hz USB Polling Rate
- Zero Mouse Acceleration
I have a DeathAdder 3500 Black and I like it a lot. I have had zero issues with it since I've bought it. It took a bit to get used to the larger size over the cheap, little Logitech M505 I bought when I purchased my Macbook Pro. But now that I have, kind of wonder what I did before.
Is this what youʼre looking for? http://www.razersupport.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=596
I think syncing your config with the cloud via Synapse makes a lot more sense for something like the Naga with 17 buttons.
How the hack did you find that? Yes your right about the whole cloud thing annoying as it is i do need the setup for the mouse.
I read the entire topic. I just want to make a point. What I quoted. If you are not Korean or up with the worlds best in your game, this won't make a noticeable difference at all. Lag spikes and other things will effect the gaming experiencing much more.
Maybe some, but i'm just pointing out it's faults for good. I love the interface and it is cool but also slow with the Blackwidow backlit keys, volume and there is no way to skip a track in iTunes. (FF only) The drivers seem to talk to Synapse much better on the Naga as opposed to the BW drivers.
I do need to update it. Hopefully that sorts this out some.
I am far from a pro gamer but the quality difference between a high and low DPI mouse when playing a FPS (like Borderlands for example) is noticeable to almost anyone. When you get a more accurate mouse you suddenly notice that you are more accurate don't make as me nay mistakes etc and it's down to your mouse tracking correctly.
You are completely correct if comparing a good mouse and high end gaming mouse the difference is not that noticeable but if you compare the Magic Mouse and a high end gaming mouse like a Razor or a Logitech Performance device you will notice it.
Edwin
This is true to a point. Once you get to 1600/1800 CPI (depends on the sensor used) it is actually detrimental to increase it any further.
At 1800 CPI with a sensitivity of 1.0, you have a 360° turn radius of 9″ (23.1cm)
If you were to increase this to 3500 CPI (generally mouse counts double, or almost double as you go up) your turn radius shrinks to 4¾″ (11.9cm)
You will find that this is not enough movement range to allow for precise control/aiming. Virtually all “professional” players have at least a 9″ turn radius.
If you have a lower CPI mouse, say 400 CPI, that increases the turn radius to 41″ (104cm) which is pretty unmanageable. You're very precise, but it takes too long to turn.
What you can do is turn up the in-game sensitivity to 2.0 rather than 1.0 to cut that in half, but it essentially does this by skipping over areas.
To simplify this, imagine that a sensitivity of 1.0 means that 1 mouse count moves 1 pixel, whereas a sensitivity of 2.0 means the mouse moves 2 pixels. So the turn radius is reduced, but so is your precision. This is why you are best to have a sensitivity of 1.0 in a game, and increase the sensitivity by using a higher CPI setting on your mouse.
This is why you're really only going to need 800–1800 CPI with any mouse you buy for gaming. We now have mice that go up to 8200 CPI with the Razer Ouroboros, and the result is that you have a sensor that is ridiculously sensitive (8200 CPI = 2″ turn radius, or 5cm) but also tracks worse because it is using a dual sensor system. (laser plus optical)
What matters more than mouse sensitivity (CPI/DPI) is how well that mouse tracks on a surface, and whether or not there is acceleration. All laser sensors suffer from jitter on mouse surfaces to some degree (poor tracking) and have some degree of acceleration.
Optical sensors are more limited with what they will track on, but if you put them on a proper mousing surface, they will track perfectly without jitter. My DeathAdder won't even move the cursor on my black desk, but if I put it on a mouse pad, it's perfect.
Now why is acceleration bad, you might be asking. Well you might have noticed that I have been saying that x CPI = x° turn radius.
This is because, when you have no acceleration, your mouse is a repeatably accurate pointing device. If you move the mouse 2″ no matter how fast or slowly, it will always turn the view a specific amount. When you've been playing games for a while, it quickly becomes muscle memory that you flick the mouse this much and your view will turn a specific amount. It becomes an extension of your body.
If you use acceleration (and all laser mice have some amount of acceleration at the sensor level) what happens is that moving the mouse slowly makes smaller movements, and moving it quickly makes larger ones. A lot of beginners seem to prefer this, because it will make controlling a high CPI mouse much easier. You can easily use 3500 CPI or higher with acceleration on, because you just move the mouse slowly and your view will turn slowly.
The problem is that you canʼt account for it. You have to be paying attention to what your hand is doing with acceleration enabled, you canʼt just react, because if you react quickly, then you overshoot your target. Or undershoot it, and then try to correct your aim. It adds a level of imprecision that you are always having to fight against, whether you're aware of it or not.
Now the one thing I will say, is that high CPI mice (and possibly even acceleration) can make sense for people with multiple monitors, especially if theyʼre very high resolution, simply because it makes it a lot easier to mouse around all that workspace. This has no impact on gaming, but some people do like them for desktop use.
And latency is important as well. Standard USB polls the mouse at 125Hz, which adds 8ms to every movement you make with the mouse. You might not think 8ms sounds like a lot, but when you add up the total latency in a game, it makes a noticeable difference. Increase that to 500Hz, and you have reduced that to 2ms which is imperceptible. There are mice which will poll at 1000Hz, further reducing that to 1ms, but I do not recommend it.
At 1000Hz, most computers have unstable polling rates. If you actually measure the rate, it will constantly be jumping between 500Hz and 1000Hz as you move the mouse.
If you use a poll rate of 500Hz, on most systems, it will poll at a constant 500Hz with very little variation.
If you use a wireless mouse, unless itʼs a “gaming grade” wireless, you are adding further latency on top of that (sometimes considerably more) and if it is a gaming-grade wireless mouse, I hope you like charging batteries all the time…
At 1800 CPI with a sensitivity of 1.0, you have a 360° turn radius of 9″ (23.1cm)
If you were to increase this to 3500 CPI (generally mouse counts double, or almost double as you go up) your turn radius shrinks to 4¾″ (11.9cm)
You will find that this is not enough movement range to allow for precise control/aiming. Virtually all “professional” players have at least a 9″ turn radius.
If you have a lower CPI mouse, say 400 CPI, that increases the turn radius to 41″ (104cm) which is pretty unmanageable. You're very precise, but it takes too long to turn.
What you can do is turn up the in-game sensitivity to 2.0 rather than 1.0 to cut that in half, but it essentially does this by skipping over areas.
To simplify this, imagine that a sensitivity of 1.0 means that 1 mouse count moves 1 pixel, whereas a sensitivity of 2.0 means the mouse moves 2 pixels. So the turn radius is reduced, but so is your precision. This is why you are best to have a sensitivity of 1.0 in a game, and increase the sensitivity by using a higher CPI setting on your mouse.
This is why you're really only going to need 800–1800 CPI with any mouse you buy for gaming. We now have mice that go up to 8200 CPI with the Razer Ouroboros, and the result is that you have a sensor that is ridiculously sensitive (8200 CPI = 2″ turn radius, or 5cm) but also tracks worse because it is using a dual sensor system. (laser plus optical)
What matters more than mouse sensitivity (CPI/DPI) is how well that mouse tracks on a surface, and whether or not there is acceleration. All laser sensors suffer from jitter on mouse surfaces to some degree (poor tracking) and have some degree of acceleration.
Optical sensors are more limited with what they will track on, but if you put them on a proper mousing surface, they will track perfectly without jitter. My DeathAdder won't even move the cursor on my black desk, but if I put it on a mouse pad, it's perfect.
Now why is acceleration bad, you might be asking. Well you might have noticed that I have been saying that x CPI = x° turn radius.
This is because, when you have no acceleration, your mouse is a repeatably accurate pointing device. If you move the mouse 2″ no matter how fast or slowly, it will always turn the view a specific amount. When you've been playing games for a while, it quickly becomes muscle memory that you flick the mouse this much and your view will turn a specific amount. It becomes an extension of your body.
If you use acceleration (and all laser mice have some amount of acceleration at the sensor level) what happens is that moving the mouse slowly makes smaller movements, and moving it quickly makes larger ones. A lot of beginners seem to prefer this, because it will make controlling a high CPI mouse much easier. You can easily use 3500 CPI or higher with acceleration on, because you just move the mouse slowly and your view will turn slowly.
The problem is that you canʼt account for it. You have to be paying attention to what your hand is doing with acceleration enabled, you canʼt just react, because if you react quickly, then you overshoot your target. Or undershoot it, and then try to correct your aim. It adds a level of imprecision that you are always having to fight against, whether you're aware of it or not.
Now the one thing I will say, is that high CPI mice (and possibly even acceleration) can make sense for people with multiple monitors, especially if theyʼre very high resolution, simply because it makes it a lot easier to mouse around all that workspace. This has no impact on gaming, but some people do like them for desktop use.
And latency is important as well. Standard USB polls the mouse at 125Hz, which adds 8ms to every movement you make with the mouse. You might not think 8ms sounds like a lot, but when you add up the total latency in a game, it makes a noticeable difference. Increase that to 500Hz, and you have reduced that to 2ms which is imperceptible. There are mice which will poll at 1000Hz, further reducing that to 1ms, but I do not recommend it.
At 1000Hz, most computers have unstable polling rates. If you actually measure the rate, it will constantly be jumping between 500Hz and 1000Hz as you move the mouse.
If you use a poll rate of 500Hz, on most systems, it will poll at a constant 500Hz with very little variation.
If you use a wireless mouse, unless itʼs a “gaming grade” wireless, you are adding further latency on top of that (sometimes considerably more) and if it is a gaming-grade wireless mouse, I hope you like charging batteries all the time…
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