At the beginning of the month, I picked up a Magic Mouse 2 for my 2014 MacBook Pro. I’ve been looking for a desktop mouse for when I’m working on my Mac and saw an open-box for 10% so decided to try it. It worked well under light usage, but when I was working hard with a bunch of devices connected, the mouse stopped working. If you have nothing plugged into your computer, it’s a fantastic mouse But performance degrades drastically as your plugin more USB 3.0 devices. I didn’t even know this was a thing, but low-and-behold, USB 3.0 and Bluetooth share the same unlicensed 2.4 Ghz spectrum. I've only seen this issue discussed specifically on a few select forums. And it is quite speculative so I'm here to say that there is clear interference between USB hubs 3.0.
With no USB device is connected to my MacBook, the mouse perform just as you would expect it would. No problems whatsoever. But everytime you plugin a device, the mouse becomes laggier and less responsive. How much worse, you ask? It depends on the device (flash drives barely had an effect, but the hard drive & hub had a huge effect.) I first started noticing issues when I plugged in external hard drive into one of my USB ports to run a Time Machine backup. Mouse became laggy, but the trackpad was fine.
So you might be thinking "well how does he know it's intereference?" Ah, I'm glad you asked. Here's how I troubleshooted this:
-I tried physically moving the mouse. The worst performance was when it had a direct line of sight to my USB ports (like when it's to the right of me it has a LOS to the right USB port). Performance improved when I positioned the mouse below my trackpad, then got worse again as I moved it to the left
-I tried transferring files. When I was transferring files to or from my USB devices, performance dropped significantly. It then picked back up when the transfer completed. In fact, I could often tell when the transfer completed (sound was off) by how my mouse became more responsive. When one or more connected devices are currently operating at capacity, your mouse becomes unusable. It would “freeze”, then all of a sudden spazz out.
-I tried different combinations of devices. Individual flash drives had a negligible effect on the mouse. But the hard drive (connected via the Satanic USB Micro-B connector) or USB hub really hurt performance by just being connected. I had to put a book in front of the USB hub so it didn't have a line-of-sight to my mouse.
I know you’re probably thinking “why should I believe you?” You shouldn’t. Try it for yourself. Try using a Magic Mouse 2 when you have several USB 3.0 devices plugged in. I thought about making a video, but I discovered all this at 3AM last night and was too cranky and tired to make one. I returned the mouse today because my 14 day window was almost up.
Now all of this would be a slight annoyance if it weren't for the fact that because if it's idiotic design, it's impossible to use the mouse while it is plugged in. Unlike the magic keyboard. the magic mouse to is priced at $70. There are great mice that are more than sufficient for the average user and half the price. Sure most of them are wired, but really wired mice are arguably just as convenient/inconvenient as wireless mice.Also it flies in the face to Apple's push to have 1 port with a dongle or two. You might have your devices connected, but your mouse is then useless. Ultimately, this was a big reason why I returned it. Also because the MacBook Pro trackpad is pretty darn good by itself. So if you're thinking of getting a magic mouse, don't, at least until they make a version that's possible to use while plugged in. If you have a MacBook, your trackpad is good enough. Trust me I've been using them since they became the best 10 years ago. If your trackpad won't click anymore due to dust/grim buildup, lookup guides to clean it or enable tap to click.
This is the hard drive I use.
This is the hub I use.
With no USB device is connected to my MacBook, the mouse perform just as you would expect it would. No problems whatsoever. But everytime you plugin a device, the mouse becomes laggier and less responsive. How much worse, you ask? It depends on the device (flash drives barely had an effect, but the hard drive & hub had a huge effect.) I first started noticing issues when I plugged in external hard drive into one of my USB ports to run a Time Machine backup. Mouse became laggy, but the trackpad was fine.
So you might be thinking "well how does he know it's intereference?" Ah, I'm glad you asked. Here's how I troubleshooted this:
-I tried physically moving the mouse. The worst performance was when it had a direct line of sight to my USB ports (like when it's to the right of me it has a LOS to the right USB port). Performance improved when I positioned the mouse below my trackpad, then got worse again as I moved it to the left
-I tried transferring files. When I was transferring files to or from my USB devices, performance dropped significantly. It then picked back up when the transfer completed. In fact, I could often tell when the transfer completed (sound was off) by how my mouse became more responsive. When one or more connected devices are currently operating at capacity, your mouse becomes unusable. It would “freeze”, then all of a sudden spazz out.
-I tried different combinations of devices. Individual flash drives had a negligible effect on the mouse. But the hard drive (connected via the Satanic USB Micro-B connector) or USB hub really hurt performance by just being connected. I had to put a book in front of the USB hub so it didn't have a line-of-sight to my mouse.
I know you’re probably thinking “why should I believe you?” You shouldn’t. Try it for yourself. Try using a Magic Mouse 2 when you have several USB 3.0 devices plugged in. I thought about making a video, but I discovered all this at 3AM last night and was too cranky and tired to make one. I returned the mouse today because my 14 day window was almost up.
Now all of this would be a slight annoyance if it weren't for the fact that because if it's idiotic design, it's impossible to use the mouse while it is plugged in. Unlike the magic keyboard. the magic mouse to is priced at $70. There are great mice that are more than sufficient for the average user and half the price. Sure most of them are wired, but really wired mice are arguably just as convenient/inconvenient as wireless mice.Also it flies in the face to Apple's push to have 1 port with a dongle or two. You might have your devices connected, but your mouse is then useless. Ultimately, this was a big reason why I returned it. Also because the MacBook Pro trackpad is pretty darn good by itself. So if you're thinking of getting a magic mouse, don't, at least until they make a version that's possible to use while plugged in. If you have a MacBook, your trackpad is good enough. Trust me I've been using them since they became the best 10 years ago. If your trackpad won't click anymore due to dust/grim buildup, lookup guides to clean it or enable tap to click.
This is the hard drive I use.
This is the hub I use.
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