Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Microsoft arc or apple keyboard & mouse?

AQUADock

AQUADock

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 20, 2011
1,049
37
I want to get a new keyboard & mouse for my mac. My old wireless apple keyboard is dieing, for some reason its using excessive amounts of battery and my mighty is just old. I was thinking of getting the Microsoft arc touch mouse & arc keyboard they were bundled together for $70 (good deal or not), or should I get a new apple keyboard & magic mouse? What do you think?
 
If it were me, I'd get the Apple keyboard and track pad...actually I am thinking of doing this.

I bought a little knock off apple keyboard off ebay for $30.00, and IT HAS NO ESCAPE KEY!!!! grrrr

I've been using my Wacom bamboo tablet as a trackpad, and I hate it. It's not nearly as responsive as my MBP' trackpad is, and it irritates the crap out of me.:eek:
 
AQUADock said:
I want to get a new keyboard & mouse for my mac. My old wireless apple keyboard is dieing, for some reason its using excessive amounts of battery and my mighty is just old. I was thinking of getting the Microsoft arc touch mouse & arc keyboard they were bundled together for $70 (good deal or not), or should I get a new apple keyboard & magic mouse? What do you think?
Click to expand...

I have an arc mouse and it works really well...it also folds up really good for traveling!

I have lots of different mice and I wish logitech made something like the arc that used the unifying receiver concept so I could also carry my k340 kb and my n300 number pad for when I wanted to use those devices!
 
aimeeinohio said:
If it were me, I'd get the Apple keyboard and track pad...actually I am thinking of doing this.

I bought a little knock off apple keyboard off ebay for $30.00, and IT HAS NO ESCAPE KEY!!!! grrrr

I've been using my Wacom bamboo tablet as a trackpad, and I hate it. It's not nearly as responsive as my MBP' trackpad is, and it irritates the crap out of me.:eek:
Click to expand...
I don't really like trackpads that much

J&JPolangin said:
I have an arc mouse and it works really well...it also folds up really good for traveling!

I have lots of different mice and I wish logitech made something like the arc that used the unifying receiver concept so I could also carry my k340 kb and my n300 number pad for when I wanted to use those devices!
Click to expand...
Is the arc comfortable? and it sounds annoying that ill have to use 2 separate receivers.

rgarjr said:
u have a Mac so might as well go with :apple:
Click to expand...
:D
 
the mac trackpad is not a normal trackpad though..You do really need to go to a mac shop and experience a multitouch pad...it was far and away better than a mouse for general usage...
 
i have a magic mouse and I didnt even realise this was a problem, having to lift the left finger to click the right. I honestly have not been concerned about his at all...Ive even played portal 1 and 2 with this mouse and I dont find it to be an issue
 
Apple keyboard - yes, but I don't recommend the mouse. I have both Apple mouses and they are annoying to use. The magic mouse idea is great but the mouse itself is too flat.

I bought recently Arc Touch and it's a really good product. I use it with my MBP when travelling, while at home Performance M950 from Logitech. M950 is very good mouse but I am not completely happy with it: you have to recharge batteries quite often; this mouse is slightly too big despite I have quite big hands; sound click is not as I would expect to be (M905 and Arc Touch have better click sound to my taste). However I am not sure yet if I would like to swap Arc Touch for my primary mouse. I can't figure out how to customize page down / page up buttons. I am using steermouse and was able to customize middle click, but not up / down.

My wife has Anywhere M905 from Logitech and it is a very good mouse: good battery life; very comfortable in hand. I highly recommend this mouse. Probably M705 is also worth looking at, I was actually considering buying this or Arc Touch but went for the latter.
 
I would not recommend the Arc mouse. It's unreliable, the battery cuts in and out at times, etc. Go with the Magic Mouse.
 
Mice and keyboards are probably by far the most subjective parts of a computer. I recommend you visit a shop in person and try them out.

Personally, I hate Apple's recent keyboard. I go with a Microsoft ergonomic wireless desktop set. But that's just me..I know some people who hurl at my setup, but it works for me, and that's all that matters.
 
laudern said:
the mac trackpad is not a normal trackpad though..You do really need to go to a mac shop and experience a multitouch pad...it was far and away better than a mouse for general usage...
Click to expand...

This is a very individual preference. I had a Apple trackpad and found the lack of accurate and quick cursor control very frustrating, so sold it and went back to a Magic Mouse. Like you said, one really should try the trackpad out before buying.
 
Sorry to bump this, but curious - do the Arc Touch mouse's gestures work on OS X exactly the same as the Magic Mouse? Like, flicking between pages etc?
 
Only you can know what's right for you. Personally I've been using the Apple products for a few weeks now and they are not working out too good ergonomically for me so I may go back to my wired ergo keyboard and trackball.... I like how cool the Apple products look, but what good is cool if you get carpel tunnel syndrome?
 
rikbrown said:
Sorry to bump this, but curious - do the Arc Touch mouse's gestures work on OS X exactly the same as the Magic Mouse? Like, flicking between pages etc?
Click to expand...

Nope, but the fast scrolling works. In fact, the configuration settings are very limited in terms of this mouse. For example you cannot even turn off the scrolling sound in OSx and you can't assign all keys. Steermouse recognizes the middle button (when you tap it twice) so you can configure this, but it doesn't see page up / page down so you can't configure this to your own preferences.

Steermouse replied the following:
"Unfortunately SteerMouse does not support the mouse.
Probably some special device commands are required to support it.
We will need an actual mouse for investigating it, but we do not have.
I am sorry for not giving you good news in this case."

Anyway, this is the best portable mouse I came across. I couldn't stand neither of Apple mouses.
 
I have been using this mouse with my new macbook (after switching from Win 7) for a week. The page up page down buttons work fine. I haven't tried configuring the "back" function yet, am just installing the mac software from microsoft...

I am quite happy with this mouse (although I prefer to have a physical BACK button for my thumb, which this mouse doesn't have). I have never tried a Mac mouse, being new to Macs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back