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Apple Bluetooth Mouse

M

Mr Jobs

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 7, 2002
188
0
London, England
i just brought the logitech MX700 mouse its just the best, 5 buttons plus scroll wheel, wireless, optical u name it.

the only downside to it is, it's not apple and even though it has a really good design it doesn’t go as well with my powermac like the pro mouse does. any idea any as to a scroll wheel Bluetooth mouse by apple with the next powermc os MacWorld.
 
what I remember reading about a while ago is that apple did look at wireless mice (bluetooth or otherwise), but they decided that it wasn't worth it because you still needed to plug the thing in to charge it.

Whether that was true or not, I have no idea, but it does raise one of the main problems with wireless mice.

I'd love to see apple come out with a scroll wheel on the mouse, but i have a feeling that they won't. There certainly hasn't been any real rumors i've heard recently about apple doing a new mouse.
 
Bluetooth Mouse

I picked up the new Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse/Keyboard package they just released. Set up was pretty easy... but the mouse tracking was really bad. There was lag time and inconsistent tracking of mouse movements. Just to be sure, I plugged my Intellimouse Optical in (both operated simultaneous control over the mouse cursor) and I verified the problem. I have a feeling that Bluetooth mice aren't as cool as everyone thinks they are, unless this particular adapter was flawed. :(

By the way... the Microsoft mouse uses AA batteries so charging isn't an issue.
 
MS Bluetooth on Mac or XP

Are you using the MS bluetooth desktop on a Mac, or on Windows XP. No-one else has got this working on a Mac!
 
Wireless is great...

I love the idea of wireless... but some of the USB connections are massive in physical size (nearly the size of the mouse itself).

:cool:
 
Originally posted by daPhil
I want the Pro Mouse but with the 6000dpi sensor that is in Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 instead of the crappy 1500dpi sensor it uses now.
Click to expand...

Are you saying the promouse doesn't work good enough?
 
Originally posted by daPhil


Move it _fast_ across the mousepad, see the arrow go all over the screen, that does not happen with the new sensors.
Click to expand...

I'm using the white ProMouse...it doesn't do what you are describing....or maybe I just don't know any better. My Studio Mouse seems to be a bit better though. I'll have to see a microsoft mouse, then maybe I'll be enlightened.
 
MX500

I bought the Logitech Mx500 recently. WOW! Great mouse. Can't reccomend it enough. I was hoping to get the wireless one, but I couldn't justify the price difference in my head.

Anyways, I like the idea that my mouse won't run out of batteries. The mouse cord is one cable that I don't mind having around, plus it's kept the mouse from falling off my desk several times!:D
 
My biggest problem with wireless mice is batteries. Aren't we putting enough of those in landfills already?

Here is your new Mac with wireless mouse, batteries not included.

:rolleyes:
 
How about a mouse with built in batteries and recharger? At least that wouldn't be in the landfill for 2-3 years or so...ok, sorry.
 
An Imac would sure look cool with wireless (bluetooth possibly) wheel mouse, keyboard, printer (with an imac design styling) and speakers. I've thought about a problem for the rechargeable batteried problem. What about doing away with batteries altogether. May sound stupid but what if Apple used the same kinetic technology found in some watches. It shouldn't increase the size as watches have to be small themselves. A battery could also be included (AA maybe) as backup, maybe being recharged by the same kenetic mechanism. They keyboard could also use the same thing? Comments anyone?
 
Originally posted by shadowfax0
...man that mouse makes my MouseMan Dual Optical look like a piece of crap! :p
Click to expand...

i hope your talking about my mx700, 'cos i know, this is the best mouse in the world unless your a lefty (but i'm not). i'm never going back to an apple mouse unless they cume out with one similar
 
I wouldn't get my hopes up for Apple ever releasing a 2+ button mouse. The reason for this is, even though all of us techies here want a two button mouse and we know OSX supports it... Apple has a reputation for making really simple products that can be operated by anyone yadda yadda... The fact is, to someone new to computers a one button mouse is just simpler, easier to use, and more desirable than a 5 button scroll wheel mouse.
 
I see the bluetooth mice pointless at this time, I mean sure it would be nice to get rid of those cords, but the reliability of the mouse comes into question with batterys, recharging, other devises that are requesting at the same bandwidth not just including other bluetooth devises (I would hate to think if I was next to a microwave); all for a devise that should, "Just Work", until this reliability is solved, and the usefulness of being wireless is solved being that I'm not often going to move my keyboard or mouse that often across a room and it usually just sits there right next to comp. I had might as well just use a cord.

Now Apple needs to offer a scroll wheel on their mice, it is one flaw that needs to be fixed. Personally, (you can throw fish if you like to) I think a jogger, like on an iPod, would be great to add to a Apple branded mouse. You know how easy it is to move threw thousands of songs on the iPod wouldn't be great to move like that on your computer? Plus it would have .added functionality to iMovie and FCP.
I see it like like this: teardrop design for leftys and rightys, a jogger w/ button in middle like on iPod and two buttons to the left and right of the mouse. The center button would keep up the ideal of "One Button Rules All" pinceable by Apple and easier to understand by newbs, and the two buttons could be user defined for control-clicking or other things.
What do you think?
 
Originally posted by Chaszmyr
I wouldn't get my hopes up for Apple ever releasing a 2+ button mouse. The reason for this is, even though all of us techies here want a two button mouse and we know OSX supports it... Apple has a reputation for making really simple products that can be operated by anyone yadda yadda... The fact is, to someone new to computers a one button mouse is just simpler, easier to use, and more desirable than a 5 button scroll wheel mouse.
Click to expand...

Give us options. Why can't Apple produce more than 1 mouse (at the same time). They could even use it to produce another fake distinction between the pro and consumer lines by bundling the 1-button mouse with the consumer Macs and the Bluetooth multibutton scroll mouse with the pro line.

[Edit to fix spelling]
 
Originally posted by Mr Jobs


i hope your talking about my mx700, 'cos i know, this is the best mouse in the world unless your a lefty (but i'm not).
Click to expand...

guess thats not the mouse for me then as I'm a lefty. I guess thats a small market but then again the whole apple market is a small one that thinks different, hopefully unlike most other big companies that just ignores us lefties, such is microsoft mice being ergonomic, prividing you use your right paw. A mouse that moulded to your hand, now that would be novel, if not impossible to make and ugly.
 
Originally posted by dstorey
An Imac would sure look cool with wireless (bluetooth possibly) wheel mouse, keyboard, printer (with an imac design styling) and speakers. I've thought about a problem for the rechargeable batteried problem. What about doing away with batteries altogether. May sound stupid but what if Apple used the same kinetic technology found in some watches. It shouldn't increase the size as watches have to be small themselves. A battery could also be included (AA maybe) as backup, maybe being recharged by the same kenetic mechanism. They keyboard could also use the same thing? Comments anyone?
Click to expand...

That's a cool idea for a mouse, and it seems like it would work if the mouse is moved enough. One thing to remember is that I believe the watches with kinetic mechanisms, power the watch mechanically. It seems like it could be done fairly easily with a mouse ball, but nobody likes those anymore. I don't know if enough power could be generated without a ball.

A kinetic keyboard seems harder to make. I take it that the keys would somehow produce power. This seems like it could get expensive very quickly. I guess it not all of the keys could be wired to make electricity, just the commonly used when, the vowels, and space bar, maybe.

I don't see anyway to use this technology for printers and speakers, though. I take it you only meant for mice and keyboards.

It seems to me that the best use of bluetooth is being missed. It seems best for portable items, cameras, PDAs, etc. You walk into the room with your PDA in your pocket, and it's automatically synched. Or you come home after shooting a day's worth of photos, and they're automatically downloaded. This seems the coolest because, ideally you don't have to log in or anything. You also don't have to wait because, chances are you won't want to look at the photos as soon as you come in.
 
If they could make wireless mice that used kinetic energy that would be really cool. It wouldnt even have to power the mouse entirely, but if it increased battery life by a lot it would be worth it. I still think there should be a recharge port, on the side of the imac or something. Im sure Apple could make it work. Even without kinetic, rechargable mouse and KB with docking ports on the computer would be very nice. The printer could be wireless to the computer and still use an AC port, that wouldnt bother me. Same goes for a scanner. Gee, this reminds me of that rumor of the sphere mac. Wasnt the monitor wireless on that thing?
 
i agree with a lot of this stuff, make a consumer mouse/keyboard and a pro mouse/keyboard.

Apple like to promote themselves as company that sells affordable editing suites and desktop publishing solutions and so on and still only provide a single button mouse with the high end machines, dont get me wrong, i love my apple pro mouse but a little bit of that apple ingenuity wouldnt go astray.
 
Originally posted by benjaminpg


That's a cool idea for a mouse, and it seems like it would work if the mouse is moved enough. One thing to remember is that I believe the watches with kinetic mechanisms, power the watch mechanically. It seems like it could be done fairly easily with a mouse ball, but nobody likes those anymore. I don't know if enough power could be generated without a ball.

A kinetic keyboard seems harder to make. I take it that the keys would somehow produce power. This seems like it could get expensive very quickly. I guess it not all of the keys could be wired to make electricity, just the commonly used when, the vowels, and space bar, maybe.

Click to expand...

I'm not totally sure how kinetic watches work to be honist. I got the impression that it worked by your arm moving as you wore it and not the mecanics, after all arn't they digital watches? I could be wrong however. If that is the case the idea could work....if only apple engineers read this page. I could think of an intresting shaken not stured dancing mouse ad for it too along with the imac shaking its head in time, one for pixar to make.

The keys is more of a problem. The idea of the vowels/space bar is a good one, unless some way could be found to transfer the power produced to one kinetic unit.
 
I don't see why a cordless mouse should need batteries.

It really needs only a very tiny amount of power. A little solar battery could charge a double-layer capacitor of a farad or two, which would power a transponder circuit. It might not be bluetooth, but why should it be? The data rate is very low. Somewhere in the 200-500kHz band would be more effective.
 
Re: I don't see why a cordless mouse should need batteries.

Originally posted by cubist
It really needs only a very tiny amount of power. A little solar battery could charge a double-layer capacitor of a farad or two, which would power a transponder circuit. It might not be bluetooth, but why should it be? The data rate is very low. Somewhere in the 200-500kHz band would be more effective.
Click to expand...

not the mx700 though i have to charge it evey night. logitech sy it should last about 10 undernormal use on a full charge, i guess i not a normal user in logitech's view. it the only downside to this mouse
 
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