Does anybody still make a mouse with a decent middle click button?
Almost every model of mouse I've tried from the major brands like Logitech and Microsoft fall short in this one area, regardless of price. The build quality of input peripherals is no longer commensurate with price. Keyboards went down this road long ago, and mice have as well.
The norm for most designs now calls for only a cheap dome/bubble switch, which has insufficient travel, high effort and poor tactile response. There is a glaring disparity between the feeling of the middle button, and the left/right buttons, which still use proper snap switches.
I don't believe middle-(command) clicking is a rare task, so I'm puzzled as to how things have reached this state.
There are still some rare exceptions, but they are usually older models still being sold (with no modern driver), or classic designs that have been carried over, like the Logitech MX500/518/G400.
I'd buy one of those in an instant, but Logitech keeps ignoring requests from Mac users to add Mac driver support. I won't support them if they won't support us, and a 3rd party driver would add another 50% or so to the total cost.
I like "clicky" scroll wheels but they're the first thing I usually wear out.
The notion of a solid state scroll mechanism is intriguing, but it's hard to get right. Kensington has tried in the past. Targus had decent hardware but a horrible driver implementation.
Microsoft's Arc Touch uses it, but in a compromised form factor. Perhaps the upcoming Explorer Touch will finally be the solution.
Almost every model of mouse I've tried from the major brands like Logitech and Microsoft fall short in this one area, regardless of price. The build quality of input peripherals is no longer commensurate with price. Keyboards went down this road long ago, and mice have as well.
The norm for most designs now calls for only a cheap dome/bubble switch, which has insufficient travel, high effort and poor tactile response. There is a glaring disparity between the feeling of the middle button, and the left/right buttons, which still use proper snap switches.
I don't believe middle-(command) clicking is a rare task, so I'm puzzled as to how things have reached this state.
There are still some rare exceptions, but they are usually older models still being sold (with no modern driver), or classic designs that have been carried over, like the Logitech MX500/518/G400.
I'd buy one of those in an instant, but Logitech keeps ignoring requests from Mac users to add Mac driver support. I won't support them if they won't support us, and a 3rd party driver would add another 50% or so to the total cost.
I like "clicky" scroll wheels but they're the first thing I usually wear out.
The notion of a solid state scroll mechanism is intriguing, but it's hard to get right. Kensington has tried in the past. Targus had decent hardware but a horrible driver implementation.
Microsoft's Arc Touch uses it, but in a compromised form factor. Perhaps the upcoming Explorer Touch will finally be the solution.