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Apple Wireless Mouse: Buy?

G

gamestriker

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 18, 2004
174
0
I'm looking for a new wireless mouse. The one I have right now is absolute crap and I need a good one. I'm looking for something very portable (that I can just throw in a bag if i need it), good accuracy (great for traditional stuff [surfing, wordprocessing, photoshop], and good for some occasional gaming[StarCraft, a little Halo, a little UT]), and good battery life. I don't care much for having lots of buttons (I can live with a one-button mouse) and I have the trackpad for scrolling. I also really don't like having to mess with extra hardware i.e. a dock.

I've been taking a second look at the Apple Wireless Mouse. It seems to fit my needs at first glance, but I don't know about its accuracy or battery life. Can anyone fill me in on those?

And of course, the important question: is the Apple Wireless Mouse a good Buy or not?

I appreciate the help.

EDIT: And if you frown upon the Apple Wireless Mouse, please suggest a better alternative. Thanks :)
 
The Apple mouse is a decent bluetooth mouse. However, I have used several Logitech Bluetooth mice and those things are great. Having a two button with a scroll wheel makes a world of a difference. Especially if you do any gaming at all as you stated you do sometimes.
 
Capt Underpants said:
Well if you want to play any sort of accuracy sensitive game (like FPS's), then the Apple BT mouse is not for you. Go for a logitech.
Click to expand...

I couldn't disagree more; I use an Apple BT mouse for RTS gaming (which does require a decent mouse, no?)... the single button problem could be an issue, but lots of MR users have reported BT compatibility problems with Logitech BT mice (just search the archives).

-RS
 
I like mine (Apple BT mouse) a lot, but I found it...hmmm...had a "learning curve" when compared to a wired mouse. Until I had used it for some time, I found it quite awkward to use. But after some time, I now really think highly of it. It might be the acceleration scheme in part, but I think it also has something to do with this mouse's sensitivity to correct orientation. I think when I had it early on, I held it slightly skewed in my hand and this caused me a lot of trouble using it. Once I started holding it properly, perhaps, this issue evaporated.

I am kind of surprised that you don't care about multiple buttons for games, though....
 
I'm happy with mine but I only used it for websurfing and normal computer task (aka no gaming). I got it on ebay for super cheap too. Oh and may I add that the battery last a super long time.
 
Nice Mouse - but not very accurate

I have the Apple Bluetooth mouse (and keyboard) and I find them both to be quite nice. Can't comment on battery problems because they are both fairly new.

But I can comment on accuracy: the bluetooth mouse is not accurate enough for my work (editing HTML and Photoshop) and I've found I have to use a Logitech USB mouse with scroll wheel and buttons for work, with the bluetooth mouse for general use.

Also I find the bluetooth mouse sometimes needs to wake up if I haven't touched it for a few minutes - this doesn't seem related to energy saver as that's set for 30 minutes.

My favourite all time mouse came from MacMice - you might want to check out their current offerings ;-)
 
I also have a fairly new Apple Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I bought them with a 15" PowerBook after switching from a Dell with a three button, scroll wheel Logitech wireless mouse. I was worried I wouldn't adjust well to the Apple mouse, since I use the computer heavily and had gotten used to the scroll wheel and the third button, but the Apple mouse was no problem and most of the time I don't even really notice it's there.

It's very easy to use and I think the single rocking button design is much more ergonomic, my fingers aren't tired after using this mouse. The battery life seems decent, and it's very portable.

Hope that helps...
 
quidire said:
I couldn't disagree more; I use an Apple BT mouse for RTS gaming (which does require a decent mouse, no?)... the single button problem could be an issue, but lots of MR users have reported BT compatibility problems with Logitech BT mice (just search the archives).

-RS
Click to expand...

Download Wolfenstein Enemy Territory and play it with your bluetooth mouse. You'll see what I'm talkin about.
 
I use the Apple BT mouse and it has been great. I throw it in my backpack with my Powerbook when I go to school and stands up to the abuse fine. If I put good name brand batteries in it I get about 5-6 weeks of use out of it. As for needing a second button, control click is the same as right click for the odd time I use it. The one downfall is accuracy. If it is used on a light colored mouse pad I find it is as good as the wired version. It becomes less accurate on some surfaces, like my wood grain tabletop it is easily fooled by the dark grains in the wood and jumps all over the place.
 
I have tried the wired Apple mouse at the Apple store and a CompUSA store and i found it at the slow side in terms of tracking. Also, no scroll wheel bugs me to no end as it should come with any mouse as standard equipment. Since I bought Logitech MX1000, any mouse I review is compared against it and I have yet to see a BT mouse which shows no lag. MX900 BT has some lag compared to MX1000. Even though I did not try an Apple BT, if its wired version is a slow side on tracking, I think its BT version will be worse.
 
The reason I don't care for more than one button is because I'm very good about taking advantage of the keyboard shortcuts; my hands generally just seem to "flow" over a keyboard 90% of the time, except in mouse-centric games like an FPS. :) I got use to using the Command key as alternate fire in the UT2004 demo. :p

What are some alternatives to the Apple Wireless Mouse then? The Mouse BT from MacMice seems pretty nice...
 
gamestriker said:
What are some alternatives to the Apple Wireless Mouse then? The Mouse BT from MacMice seems pretty nice...
Click to expand...


I was considering the Mouse BT but then I googled some reviews on it. From what I read the mouse seemed rather cheaply made and the buttons were way to oversensitive. I really suggest you just google the phrase "The Mouse BT reviews" and it should help you decide if you want it.
 
The Apple bluetooth mouse is built very well and is comfortable to use, at least in my limited experience.

but...

No scroll wheel! So I recommend a Logitech MX1000. Not as portable as a bluetooth mouse since you need to plug the receiver in, but the range and accuracy are great. Also has almost no wake up time at all. Highly recommended. I havn't played games with it though, so I don't know if it works well for that.
 
I checked out the MX1000 and its gotten great reviews but also some bad reviews (severe jumpyness or lag, unconfortable in some people's hands) and its quite expensive. I'm not sure I want to pay that much for a mouse where I may have 50/50 chance that I will have to replace it. And still have to have some type of cord (receiver plugging in to USB).

Does anyone have any other suggestions?
 
Jay42 said:
Tried one of these?

seems to fit your description
Click to expand...

I've been looking at that one recently and it seems solid. Can anyone else who has used it tell me if its worth it or not?
 
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