anyone use Apple Magic Mouse with 11.6" MacBook Air?

In my personal opinion, I think the magic mouse is an iffy thing for the Macbook Air.

Firstly, in my opinion, a mouse is absolutely necessary for any laptop. As nice as the trackpad is, I can't stand using it for an overly long period of time.

If you agree, it's really the pros/cons of the Magic Mouse against those of the average mouse that decide.

Firstly, the Magic Mouse has something that usually is reserved for expensive-ish mice (in my experience) - a 100% wireless connection without a dongle. Why is this so important? The macbook air has so few ports that people who make use of them need to reserve them for the most important things.

As well, the Magic Mouse is an advanced mouse that's intuitive to use and so on.

The major cons would be the price (I got my mouse for far less than that of the magic mouse, and I'm quite happy with it) and the lack of buttons - there are no divided buttons, it's really just up to clicking on the right - or should I say correct - side. This has always bugged me, but might not be as much of a bother for you...

Had it been free, I would say a whole-hearted go ahead. But for that price, you can get a decent mouse with a dongle and still have cash left over to go towards a hub.

 

I hate the Magic mouse. Apple hasn't been able to make a mouse since the 680x0 days.

I'd get the Magic Trackpad, or a Logitech or Microsoft mouse.

 

the magic mouse has good potential but the apple drivers don't realise this full potential

if you get an app to customise the mouse it's fantastic, i have about 20 different gestures i use on mine instead of having a 20-button mouse

if you are unwilling to change from a traditional mouse you will have trouble but if you are happy to try it for a week or so you will get the hang of it and see how useful it is

 

The shape of it is terrible. The fact that the whole top half of it is a button also is terrible. The trackpad works so much better for gestures.

 

I use my MBA when on trips or am away from home. My home machine is a Mac Pro and I use a Microsoft Laser Mouse 8000 with that. The Mac Pro came with a Magic Mouse.

I use the TrackPad when at airports or on the go, but when in a hotel room or in a stationary place I use the Magic Mouse. It's an OK mouse, but would I have paid for it if it didn't come with my Mac Pro, No!

Lou

 

I might be the odd man out but it is the best mouse I've ever used. I love the size and shape. I recently tried a bunch of mice from other manufacturers and didn't like any of them. Top shelf and mid grade stuff too. Maybe it's just what I am used to now. For the price, I have no problem with it, I expect several thousand hours of use before it wears out.

 

i don't want to carry around a mouse with me and i love the trackpad... so, for when i'm tethered to my monitor, i bought the magic trackpad and i love it.

 

You lost me at the second firstly.

 

Interesting to see that I'm not alone with my dislike of the Magic Mouse.

I've got a Logitech M555b bluetooth mouse which I use with my MBA/MBP and it works well.

 

Love my Magic Mouse. It's pricey and it's a battery hog. Those are my only two complaints.

 

Not alone is an understatement.

Did you not get your invitation to our last meeting?

 

Consider it like the Apple computers. You have a first iMac, and also a first MBA... you can say firstly twice

And honestly that reply made me crack up.

 

Mice=Dinosaur

Ever since I became and Apple user, I stopped using a mouse for good!

The trackpad is much more powerful and versatile than a mouse. Multi gesture features are pretty much useless with a mouse (even the Magic Mouse). I use the built in trackpad on my MacBook all the time and when I'm at my desk, I use the Magic Trackpad exclusively.

I use the Magic Trackpad for video editing, photo editing, text editing, in fact pretty much for everything. I fully adapted to using the trackpad and I love it. When I have to use a mouse at public places or on other computers that I'm forced to use a mouse, I feel like I'm crippled and using an ancient technology.

I mainly use the trackpad for multi finger gestures such as swiping back and forth between the web pages and scrolling, as well as pinch, zoom and rotating using two fingers, or three finger swipes to switch between the full screen applications. I'm so used to one finger tap to "left click", and two fingers tap to "right click" that I sometimes find myself doing a two finger tap when I use a trackpad on a Windows computer. Pretty funny really.

However , in my experience, no trackpad on any Windows machine that I used so far comes close to the fluid implementation of an Apple trackpad fully utilising the multi gesture features of the OS X. A quick look at the properties of the Trackpad under the Systems Preferences will give anyone a pretty good idea of what a capable device a trackpad is.

 

it's so funny that i used to laugh at mac people for only having 1 mouse button back in the 90s....then they went to no friggin buttons and won the war soundly

my work-pc mouse has more buttons than my keyboard and it still can't scroll worth a damn.

 

I have never been able to get used to the Magic Mouse. It just feels too low and heavy. I actually get wrist cramps after using it for a while. I just use any cheap logitech wired mouse when I need to, but otherwise, I get by with the trackpad just fine.

 

I'm glad to see that I'm not an anomaly.

I experienced the same thing when I first got myself acquainted with a Mac. I asked myself, a mouse with no left and right buttons? How do you right click? How do you scroll?

In these days, from time to time, I use the mechanical click of the trackpad just to be sure that I'm entering a password correctly on a login screen for instance, but other than that, I can say that I'm totally button free and mouse free

 

Left and right clicks work fine, as does scrolling and I particularly like the two finger swipe across the top to switch between full screen apps.

Been using a magic mouse for 3 years and would not swap it.

 

Another vote for the magic mouse
I also have the magic trackpad too and like it very much also

Still the mm is my favorite of the two
But I use the built in track pad the most....

 

I do, mostly because it doesn't chew up a valuable USB port like most third-party wireless mice.

The Magic Mouse itself is rather mediocre, but it's not much more mediocre than your random USB mouse. It is rather slender (a bonus), and also has an power off switch (also a bonus).

 

All third party mice (mouses???) that I know of are bluetooth and don't need the bluetooth dongle that comes with them. Any wireless mouse will recognize Apple's bluetooth. As I said above, I use a Microsoft wireless mouse with my Mac Pro and it's recognized the the machine without the Microsoft bluetooth dongle.

Lou

 

Simply awesome.

 

I use one on my Macbook Air 13"

Couple issues, it is an awkward feeling mouse versus other mice out there. So make sure you dont mind the feel of it.

It also seems to get connection issues when using them around many other bluetooth devices (this is only a problem at work where everyone has a magic mouse, still annoying none the less).

Other then that works smooth, nice to not use a USB port but if you have a mouse with a micro usb adapter or another bluetooth mouse kind of a moot point.

Go with it if you want, it is pretty nice having trackpad like functionality right on the mouse. Keeps you used to track pad if you are switching between mouse and trackpad a lot.

 

I have a magic mouse but hardly use it because I don't like it. Trackpad is great, though.

 

I bought a MM a couple of years ago I think. I've used a MacBook since 2006 and, aside from game playing, never felt a need to use the mouse.

It's awesome, don't get me wrong. But I'm so used to the trackpad and gestures I just never felt the desire to use it. So it sat in a drawer until I decided to finally sell it.

It's up to you to use it. If you use your MBA as a desktop I'd keep it. But if you use it mostly as a portable put it up in the marketplace and use the $ to buy yourself something nice.