mouse precision issues

[chronos75]

Hi All --

First post, so be gentle. Searched the forums, but could not find an answer to my problem.

Set-up:
Pwerbook 15" 1.33
10.3.7
1.5 GB
No video upgrade
Running second 19" LCD

Problem:
No matter what mouse and/or driver I use, I can't seem to be able to get a precise cursor movememnt established. I've tried wired, Bluetooth, Wireless, Mac (Pro and Mighty) and non/mac (Logitech, Microsoft), and it all seems "mushy." as if there is a short delay in the movement -- like swimming in molasses. Whenever I work on a different set-up, (G5, some OS), the precision is dead-on, and worlds apart. Even some old PC with a mechanical mouse feel more precise ?!?!?!

Any ideas???

Thanks.

 

[dbhays]

Have you tried preferences --- keyboard mouse? Do you have the right drivers?

 

[Mr. Mister]

Does it feel like your cursor is overshooting even when you know that you didn't move your mouse too much?

My guess is that it's mouse accelleration that's got you down. Mac OS X mouse accelleration has to be one of the most obnoxious things the computer does to try to help you. Accelleration can be good on laptops and sometimes even with a mouse, but Apple's accelleration algorith blows and absolutely ruins you if you're used to a PC.

Download Steermouse, it's freeware and will let you disable accelleration. Tell me if that fixes it.

 

[chronos75]

thanks guys. All drivers are in place, and I tinkered around with IMouseFix and MouseZoom. While I can tell the difference between having acceleration activated and deactivated, it does not seem to solve my issue. I also created a new user, but even at that set-up it feels just as weird.

Could it be that the vido card has a bug? Not powerful enough to support both displays? When I move Word documents to the powerbook screen, scrolling down in the pages creates incorrect images ... I dunno ...

 

[extraextra]

Is it like the mouse is lagging? I had that problem with my iBook (it was CRAZY SLOW. I would move the mouse and then about 1 minute later the arrow would move and it went by at a snails pace) and I took it to Apple. They said it was some sort of bug (?) and fixed it for me in about 15 minutes. They also said I shouldn't use the mouse I was using (it was a non-Apple one). I wish I could tell you what they did but I wasn't really paying attention.

You're running two screens though, have you tried to use the mouse with the external monitor off/disabled to see how it works? It's possible that the PB doesn't support the 19" monitor because the resolution is too high, and that might be causing the lagging?

 

[Mav451]

You've pretty much just described the symptoms of input lag--a common fault of LCD displays. If you got a PVA/MVA panel in your LCD--there's your cause.

 

[chronos75]

Mav,

how do I find about this LCD panel issue? I have a Samsung 191T. Can I run some utility that will tell me whether or not that panel is part of it's make-up? Any easy fix, besides gettign a new LCD?

Just to confirm, the issue I am experiencing is very subtile. If I would not work on another mac with a CRT half the time, I might just blame it on something else.

Thanks.

 

[miles01110]

Long shot, but what kind of surface is your mouse gliding on? Assuming it is optical, make sure that it's not on any kind of glossy or reflective surface.

 

[stvlvr]

mac mouse not right, mac no game platform

maybe that's why mac's aren't gaming platforms. the mouse just doesn't feel right. the trackpad is pretty nice, but it could be a little more smooth and accurate--not so jumpy. an external mouse, even with the right drivers, just doesn't respond right. despite how nice my mac is, I really despise this downfall. Now I'm gonna try iMousefix, and see what happens...

iMouseFix's acceleration does feel better, but like the other guy said, it's not quite there.

 

[FRKT]

maybe that's why mac's aren't gaming platforms. the mouse just doesn't feel right.

Heh. Funny.