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Mac & PC Mouse Motion
- Thread starter j3tang
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+1 it took me a little bit to get used to it at first but I really like the precision of the mouse on OSX. It helps a lot because I do a lot of really fine selecting in programs like Maya and Photoshop.
If you have a Logitech mouse download the setpoint software from their site, you can get almost identical to windows as far as acceleration goes but you will still have the accuracy when moving really slow.
"I just changed to Mac from PC and the mouse problem was the first thing I noticed"
I was always a Mac user -- never touched PC's.
The VERY FIRST THING I noticed when trying to use Windows was that the mouse "jerked all around" -- no "control."
I still get that same impression using Windows.
For lack of a better expression, there is something fundamentally different about how the Mac OS and Windows handle the movement of the mouse (or other pointing device). You either get used to it, or you don't.
I prefer the "Mac way". YMMV.
I was always a Mac user -- never touched PC's.
The VERY FIRST THING I noticed when trying to use Windows was that the mouse "jerked all around" -- no "control."
I still get that same impression using Windows.
For lack of a better expression, there is something fundamentally different about how the Mac OS and Windows handle the movement of the mouse (or other pointing device). You either get used to it, or you don't.
I prefer the "Mac way". YMMV.
I have to agree Windows has no control, the cursor is too big and I don't like the acceleration. I use a PC at work and am constantly bitching at it. My friends all use Windows and their mouse is so fast I can't even see it sometimes.
1. Get a Microsoft Mouse
2. Install Intellipoint drivers.
3. Set the Pointer Speed on "Intellipoint" in the control panel.
4. Enjoy your usable acceleration curve!
2. Install Intellipoint drivers.
3. Set the Pointer Speed on "Intellipoint" in the control panel.
4. Enjoy your usable acceleration curve!
Not sure if there is any relevance in me making a post after all this time and after many fixes have been suggested. But id figure i would pitch in hehe (Mostly because its annoying )
I had always been a PC user. Four years ago I got my first macbook pro. While using the trackpad the 'acceleration' feature is rather useful but when plugging ANY mouse for me it becomes a rather unpleasant experience. For me and i know for many other people as well i prefer to have full control of how fast the mouse moves with my own hand rather than having a multiplier that takes over when I move my hand slightly quicker. Apple should take this into consideration and have the acceleration as an option not as a rule.
I had always been a PC user. Four years ago I got my first macbook pro. While using the trackpad the 'acceleration' feature is rather useful but when plugging ANY mouse for me it becomes a rather unpleasant experience. For me and i know for many other people as well i prefer to have full control of how fast the mouse moves with my own hand rather than having a multiplier that takes over when I move my hand slightly quicker. Apple should take this into consideration and have the acceleration as an option not as a rule.
The Mac mouse system is broken by design.
It's a bit like iPhone 4s being suitable for right-handers but being utterly useless for left-handers. (I say this as an iPhone 4 owner myself.) Whomever designed the acceleration curve - and then made it a design decision to omit preferences about disabling or modifying the acceleration curve, represents the epitome of Apple's "it's our way or the highway" approach to human-computer interaction. If you happen to fit into that 5% or so who like it that way, good. If you don't, well, that's just tough.
It's not like adding a checkbox to enable/disable mouse acceleration is particularly hard, or "confusing" for the user. Hell, Windows isn't the most user-friendly of operating systems, and even that has had it for years. I'm an IT guy and I have to spend my billable hours in front of Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Linux and Windows boxen. But I'm personally really glad the Mac hasn't caught on in the IT world, because the Mac's mouse movement is, for want of a better word, crap. Even IBM's OS/2 was better, and that's saying something. Even Mac owners I know who play games have actually been paying for Windows licences to install on their Macs via Boot Camp, because they're always getting fragged by the competition who play using mice under Windows. (Well, that and the fact that quite a few games run faster under Windows than Mac OS on the same hardware.)
The mouse is an analogue device, and I expect to be able to use it as such. The last time I had cause to use mouse acceleration was back in the day when I was using the Advanced Art Studio on a Commodore 64. (The mouse I was using back then was *not* analogue, and effectively behaved like a joystick.) If I want a large movement on the screen, then I will make a large movement on my desktop. Not exactly a difficult concept to grasp, yet this has eluded Apple's best and brightest for many years - judging by the number of Google hits I found for this defective piece of UI engineering. People have been complaining for years - you guys are NOT the first - and nothing has happened as a result.
I've no issue with people who use trackpads, for whom mouse acceleration may be more helpful. I've no issue with people who choose to use tablets, or joysticks or Voodoo charms to control their cursors. But there is such a thing out there in userland called "choice", and it's about time we had some with regard to mouse acceleration on the Mac. I think it says a lot when I find my Mac far more usable via a PC console using VNC (or preferably, where possible, using SSH), than actually sitting at the console and using the Mac directly. Fortunately, I only use my Mac mini for iPhone development (using a PC keyboard, naturally - Apple keyboards are an exercise in masochism) - I refuse to touch it for anything else, until Apple manage to match Microsoft in terms of "user experience". Yeah, I'm talking to you, Steve Jobs.
I leave you with one thought: You see Apple Mac machines on sale everywhere, these days - we have several in the local Galeria Kaufhof (big shopping chains common in Germany), as well as some other chains and more specialist Mac places like Gravis and JCS - and they're always set up so you can have a little play on them. You know how first impressions count - I just wonder how many customers Apple already lost because someone tried moving the mouse around on an Apple demonstration computer, and the first thing that went through their mind was "Yuck!"
It's a bit like iPhone 4s being suitable for right-handers but being utterly useless for left-handers. (I say this as an iPhone 4 owner myself.) Whomever designed the acceleration curve - and then made it a design decision to omit preferences about disabling or modifying the acceleration curve, represents the epitome of Apple's "it's our way or the highway" approach to human-computer interaction. If you happen to fit into that 5% or so who like it that way, good. If you don't, well, that's just tough.
It's not like adding a checkbox to enable/disable mouse acceleration is particularly hard, or "confusing" for the user. Hell, Windows isn't the most user-friendly of operating systems, and even that has had it for years. I'm an IT guy and I have to spend my billable hours in front of Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Linux and Windows boxen. But I'm personally really glad the Mac hasn't caught on in the IT world, because the Mac's mouse movement is, for want of a better word, crap. Even IBM's OS/2 was better, and that's saying something. Even Mac owners I know who play games have actually been paying for Windows licences to install on their Macs via Boot Camp, because they're always getting fragged by the competition who play using mice under Windows. (Well, that and the fact that quite a few games run faster under Windows than Mac OS on the same hardware.)
The mouse is an analogue device, and I expect to be able to use it as such. The last time I had cause to use mouse acceleration was back in the day when I was using the Advanced Art Studio on a Commodore 64. (The mouse I was using back then was *not* analogue, and effectively behaved like a joystick.) If I want a large movement on the screen, then I will make a large movement on my desktop. Not exactly a difficult concept to grasp, yet this has eluded Apple's best and brightest for many years - judging by the number of Google hits I found for this defective piece of UI engineering. People have been complaining for years - you guys are NOT the first - and nothing has happened as a result.
I've no issue with people who use trackpads, for whom mouse acceleration may be more helpful. I've no issue with people who choose to use tablets, or joysticks or Voodoo charms to control their cursors. But there is such a thing out there in userland called "choice", and it's about time we had some with regard to mouse acceleration on the Mac. I think it says a lot when I find my Mac far more usable via a PC console using VNC (or preferably, where possible, using SSH), than actually sitting at the console and using the Mac directly. Fortunately, I only use my Mac mini for iPhone development (using a PC keyboard, naturally - Apple keyboards are an exercise in masochism) - I refuse to touch it for anything else, until Apple manage to match Microsoft in terms of "user experience". Yeah, I'm talking to you, Steve Jobs.
I leave you with one thought: You see Apple Mac machines on sale everywhere, these days - we have several in the local Galeria Kaufhof (big shopping chains common in Germany), as well as some other chains and more specialist Mac places like Gravis and JCS - and they're always set up so you can have a little play on them. You know how first impressions count - I just wonder how many customers Apple already lost because someone tried moving the mouse around on an Apple demonstration computer, and the first thing that went through their mind was "Yuck!"
Exactly my observation!
Especially with the showcase 27-Inch iMacs it seems to take you a year and a half to reach out to the menu and go back to the window that you have been using somewhere on the screen.
As screens are getting bigger this problem only increases.
Battle with the mouse
I have been looking for a solution for the mouse issue for some time without any luck at all.
I do a a lot of drafting and was hoping to use vm ware to rum my windows CAD PROGRAM. In VM the problem seems even worse.
I introduced my father to macs after using PC's since before dos.
He did not notice at all.
For me it drove me crazy.
Even in Photoshop i seem to lack control.
I finally installed windows under bootcamp and am using my windows mouse and keyboard.
Hopefully there will be a solution to this. But I am guessing there will not be as it only seems to affect a very small portion of users.
KAI
I have been looking for a solution for the mouse issue for some time without any luck at all.
I do a a lot of drafting and was hoping to use vm ware to rum my windows CAD PROGRAM. In VM the problem seems even worse.
I introduced my father to macs after using PC's since before dos.
He did not notice at all.
For me it drove me crazy.
Even in Photoshop i seem to lack control.
I finally installed windows under bootcamp and am using my windows mouse and keyboard.
Hopefully there will be a solution to this. But I am guessing there will not be as it only seems to affect a very small portion of users.
KAI
Yeap, I officially made the switch to Macs almost a month ago. I got a Macbook Pro. I use to be a HARDCORE Microsoft/Windows fanboy for my entire technology lifetime. And this is definitely one of the first things I've noticed, and it's sincerely bothered me as well. I'm a Gamer, and so this is a real problem when I'm playing games, because it feels like the mac mouse control is simply less precise.
Its really sad to come to a forum topic thats been going for 2 years and no solution has been found.
Welcome to Mac forums. Got my first mac three years ago and there was no help available in the forums and it's only marginally better now. Mostly people want to tell you that the problem lies with you and not with the product.
Ugh ... gaming on the iMac. It's really a pity because the graphics are so beautiful. I guess we know why Mac doesn't include games with the OS