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Re: come again

Originally posted by Tom800
have i missed something here? What is the point of having a wireless keyboard or mouse??


then the downsides - powering hassles, expensive, maybe in fact MORE confusing for the beginner... etc.

somebody please enlighten me.

Well, have you never had hassles with the cables? Can you not think of a better way to use that valuable desk space?

Also, if you're a musician, being able to walk over to a keyboard (musical) and press start when you're ready makes life a lot easier than pressing start and running over to try and get there is time to play.

When I'm reading a document or web page, I no longer have to have my elbow tethered to the table I can kick back and relax.

For home use, connecting an imac or similar to a TV and still being able to use it without having to sit next to it or have wires trailing all over the room is handy too.

Less hassle if you're using a laptop on site too. No messy wires to try and plug in.

I was sceptical to start with too I have to admit. But since I got my MX700 it's been a breath of fresh air.

e.
 
Originally posted by ewinemiller
I understand that this is a new product targeted at the desktop, but if Apple finally drags itself out of the mouse dark ages on the desktop, it's probably not long until we see Apple laptops with two mouse buttons.

Absolutely. You can use 3rd party mice on a desk, but you can't replace the trackpad on the road. Using 1 button on a laptop sucks. At least they should have a BTO option for the laptops, between 1 or 2 buttons. And who knows...what with all the "2-button" comments from Jobs, maybe he'll finally relent and put two buttons in the laptops as well.
 
Re: come again

Originally posted by Tom800
have i missed something here? What is the point of having a wireless keyboard or mouse??

My desk is a spaghetti desk. Wires running all over the place. The less wires the better for me.

Now if only Tesla would have completed his research on how to transmit electricity wirelessly. That would have been awesome. A full bluetooth and TeslaPowered computer and periphicals would be delightfull. ;-p
 
Originally posted by elmimmo
Maybe it is just that you have discovered context menues since that time? They were there even if you did not know about them. Apple did now about them to, and still thought ctrl+click was better.

Personally I think it is far more convenient to right click than to hunt for a control key each time I want to pull up a menu. This is something the darkside did right, imo.
 
Same as the current mouse?

This MacNN thread (scroll to the bottom) has some images found within Panther. The poster says one is a Bluetooth mouse icon--and it looks just like our current 1-button mouse:

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1544967#post1544967

btmouse.png


Does anyone know if Panther uses that icon when attaching a USB mouse? If so, the image is likely generic, used for any USB or BT mouse. If not--I think it's got to be what the new Bluetooth mouse will be.

Presumably then, the new keyboard will also look identical to the eMac one, just wireless.

I hope at LEAST they offer silver versions for pro users! But having only one button again would be a real shame.
 
Mouse icon

About that mouse icon we keep saying in this thread. Anybody else noticed that it is off center?

Could the space under the mouse be used to display signal strenght? (if there is such a thing with bluetooth.

Just a tought.
 
Oops. Sorry for the extra post. This thread grew fast! Anyway, yes--that icon is above center just like the volume icon is, so I bet you're right--some kind of bar gauge could well go below it. Signal strength maybe, or battery charge. Handy to see the charge every time you connect.
 
Originally posted by elmimmo
By the very same reasoning it was not very innovative 10 years ago. Windows used it all over the place, still Apple preferred to simplify instead of causing possible confussion. You still had (have) ctrl+click to access those. Has word processing, image editing, 3d modelling or even navigating the OS UI changed so much in all those years. I do not think so, they still use the same base and the same context menues that they used by that time. What has changed so much according to you.

Maybe it is just that you have discovered context menues since that time? They were there even if you did not know about them. Apple did now about them to, and still thought ctrl+click was better.

Hmmm... I started on windows... and right clicking and contextual windows are old hat and for that matter so are two button mice with scroll wheels. I've used them for years. When I switched to Mac in 2001 I thought was weird that Apple didn't have two button mouse with a scroll wheel. It's less productive to not have a scroll wheel and a second button. At least it is for me....scrolling down long .php, html documents in BBedit would get annoying if I didn't have a scroll wheel.

It's not that I don't know about other 3rd party mice that I can buy... it's just you should have an option to at least get one with your system that you buy...even if Apple doesn't make it...
 
Originally posted by soggywulf
Personally I think it is far more convenient to right click

Oh gosh... For the second time, my post was not about conveniency! But about what are Apple's argument about introducing something they openly considered less apt for desktop computers not so long ago!

I understand why some of you might prefer 2 button mice. What I am saying is that nothing has changed so notably as to let Apple abandon its argument about the inadequacy of 2-button mice without appearing as straight down idiots.

PS: And I explicitely stated I was only discussing about the number of buttons, since scroll wheels have not been around for so much time.
 
Originally posted by elmimmo
Oh gosh... For the second time, my post was not about conveniency! But about what are Apple's argument about introducing something they openly considered less apt for desktop computers not so long ago!

I understand why some of you might prefer 2 button mice. What I am saying is that nothing has changed so notably as to let Apple abandon its argument about the inadequacy of 2-button mice without appearing as straight down idiots.

PS: And I explicitely stated I was only discussing about the number of buttons, since scroll wheels have not been around for so much time.

well, the OS itself has never been more integrated with right-clicking mice... OS 9 supported it, as did previous OS X, but now it's getting really heavy duty.

i know where you're coming from, i can't stand the idea of Apple releasing a two button mouse either... After all, it's one of their trademarks! love it or hate it, a one-button approach is part of what sets Apple apart.

However, probably 90% of Mac users, and 100% of switchers that Apple is targeting, are comfortable using a two button mouse. I think things are shifting very quickly to Apple adopting it, rape of principal or no.

pnw
 
Originally posted by elmimmo
What I am saying is that nothing has changed so notably as to let Apple abandon its argument about the inadequacy of 2-button mice without appearing as straight down idiots.

True.

Originally posted by paulwhannel
i know where you're coming from, i can't stand the idea of Apple releasing a two button mouse either... After all, it's one of their trademarks! love it or hate it, a one-button approach is part of what sets Apple apart.

Thinking different just for difference's sake is IMO not a good thing.
 
Why wireless?

I would much rather not have to plug the USB cable into my laptop when I use it at my desk. I don't really care if there is a power cord coming off the mouse or keyboard (well maybe the mouse, i like my logitech wireless one) as long as I don't have to constantly be pluggin and unplugging stuff from my computer. Heck that's most of the reason I bought an Airport, just so I didn't have to worry about plugging something in and out all the time that gives me a higher risk of breaking something that's directly connected to my mobo.

I can see why desktop users would not be as excited but this is the year of the laptop...
 
Following on my last post, the only exit door I find Apple has unless they do not mind whatever people might think of their decisions in mice design in the past, is give the choice of either a 1 button or a 2 button mouse. That does not make it valid to stick with current 1 button mouse design and introduce a new wireless 2-button mouse, since they are obviously considering the 2 button one is the most preferable if we do not consider price. Whenever Apple introduces a 2 button mice, it must introduce a new 1 button mouse of the same generation unless the previous one has the exact technical characteristics besides the number of buttons.

And honestly, I do not see Apple doing that.
 
My previous experiences with wireless mice have been they're a bit difficult to control for fine pixel tuning in photoshop. There always seems to be a lag and it's difficult to move things as you'd like. I really hope Apple fixed this since most designers are dependent on these.

Also, the preference panel didn't show any configuration options. I really like my MS Explorer, one because it's a five button mouse, and two because I can have different configurations for each application. Apple definitely needs to allow for that.
 
Originally posted by elmimmo
I understand why some of you might prefer 2 button mice. What I am saying is that nothing has changed so notably as to let Apple abandon its argument about the inadequacy of 2-button mice without appearing as straight down idiots.


I don't know, rather than giving a lot of users what they need rather than admitting you were wrong seems kinda lame. Being stubborn and continuing with a 1-button mouse makes them seem like idiots as well.
 
Originally posted by whawho
I don't know, rather than giving a lot of users what they need rather than admitting you were wrong seems kinda lame. Being stubborn and continuing with a 1-button mouse makes them seem like idiots as well.

Well said.
 
usb ports?

What about the usb ports on the side (and now back) of the keyboards that have been with apple forever!? There is no way that enough power could be supplied to the ports (over bluetooth), right? That would be a big pain, since my iMac only has 3 USB ports... maybe with the new computers they will include more usb ports??? hopefully...
 
Ancient Chinese proverb:

"The wise man could always use, only one button, on a two button mouse if he wishes so. But he can wish all he want, he'll never be able to use two buttons on a one button mouse."
 
Originally posted by paulwhannel
i know where you're coming from, i can't stand the idea of Apple releasing a two button mouse either... After all, it's one of their trademarks!

My personal preference has nothing to do with sentimentalism. I have always been exclusively a Windows user and still am, except that at work I use Mac OS X, and am pretty much the guy solving other collegue's problems (disknowledge) with Mac OS 9 and X (even when most of them have always been -lazy- Mac users).

I am confortable with 2 mouse and as I said I do think I take even more profit from it than the average Joe (just how many people do you know customizing Window's Explorer contextual menues for certain file types? -I know none). But over the years I have also get used to 1 button mice in Macs because the UI and apps have been designed (mostly until some quirks recently) to be able to do everything with 1 button while letting owners of 2 button mouse take advantage of it (like "open in new tab" when clicking with the scroll wheel in Safari). Windows would be unusable to me with just 1 button.

Having been a Windows user for about 12 years, one of the reasons (and I said one, not The reason) I'd like to have a Mac is because I am pretty sure my mother would enjoy using computers a lot more if she did not walked continually into walls of frustration when using the 2-button mouse I have in my desktop Windows PC.

PS: That is not to say that some of the things in certain pro apps simply cannot be done with 1 button. If anyone has used Rhinoceros NURBS modeler for Windows, s/he'll know nothing can beat its keyboard-free pan/zoom/rotate controls with the mouse. Maya also requires a 2 button mouse, doesn't it.
 
argh I can't believe this has gone into the age old one button/two button debate again. Shouldn't we just have a thread dedicated to that?!

Anyhoo, for the poster who asked if that mouse image was applicable to USB mice aswell, if I remember correctly when I submitted the preliminary images ages ago, they were called along the lines of "KDBconnected" and "KBDdisconnected", same for mouse (note the picture posted above is a different file, the keyboard and mouse images still exist with the text on them), so quite possibly yes, as the Airport pictures are called "AirportOutOfRange" and "AirportInRange".

Who knows, we'll have to wait until a later build or GM. Or I'll have to read up this thread and see it's probably already been answered.

AppleMatt
 
Originally posted by whawho
Being stubborn and continuing with a 1-button mouse makes them seem like idiots as well.

Exactly the same argument that hundreds of PC users used against Apple 10 years ago. Still, since most Apple users but that time were also quite stubborn as not to see how that MacOS-rippoff, a.k.a Windows included, so many enhancements to the UI it had ripped off, no one really cared about it. Maybe that is what have changed in 10 years...
 
Originally posted by sparks9
AA batts = NOT KEWL

But throwing away a perfectly good piece of kit because the non standard built in battery is completely shot is?

AA NiMH rechargeables combine the best of both worlds IMHO, especially if, like the MX700, you can recharge them wthout having to remove them.

e.
 
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