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Mouse tracking on OS X? Not good compared to my PC

C

circa7

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 8, 2013
205
10
I've connected both a magic mouse and a Logitech mx518 and both dont have as precise of tracking as they do on my HP Envy PC. Is this a common issue with OS X, or is there something wrong with my MacBook Pro? I just got the Mac and it's my first one, so this is new to me. I couldn't imagine OS X being poor in this regard.

When I say not as precise, I mean that the actual pointer when moving is a bit "jagged". On my PC it's smooth and accurate, on OS X its a bit jump. Even when I adjust the tracking down it still does not work as good as I'm used to.
 
QuarterSwede said:
OS X always has acceleration. Windows has none. Generally that's the reason it feels different.

Try MouseZoom or BetterTouchTool to disable mouse acceleration.
Click to expand...

AWESOME links, thanks!

Logitech does not support all of their mice for OS X (hence many of peoples' speed issues), and keyboard support isn't complete either (e.g. at least re: my G10's LCD panel and its showing inaccurate RAM and CPU usage readouts, and to this day there's no fix, but it is an older keyboard and no longer supported... a newer keyboard might have fixed software.)
 
There are all sorts of debates about this, whether it is simply the acceleration curve or not, or whether OS X physically lags mouse input, you'll find some strong opinions here:

http://d43.me/blog/1205/the-cause-for-all-your-mac-os-x-mouse-annoyances/

included in the comments is one by John Carmack, who actually measured a lag in OS X using a 120fps camera, his argument being that OS X has a window compositor that causes a lag related to frame composition (and in theory Windows 7/8 should have a similar problem). The owner of that blog is the one who founded the smoothmouse forum and software.
 
Smoothmouse is doing something unique to OS X apparently, it is not just removing the acceleration curve as other software does, but bypasses the OS X mouse handler at the lowest level. As I don't really notice a substantial difference I've not bothered trying smoothmouse, I do find the very wide divergence of opinions over mouse handling interesting though...
 
nontroppo said:
Smoothmouse is doing something unique to OS X apparently, it is not just removing the acceleration curve as other software does, but bypasses the OS X mouse handler at the lowest level. As I don't really notice a substantial difference I've not bothered trying smoothmouse, I do find the very wide divergence of opinions over mouse handling interesting though...
Click to expand...
I've been using OS X since 2005 as my personal OS of choice and I have to use Windows at work occasionally. Everytime I get onto a Windows machine at work I notice the mouse feeling "right." I've gotten used to OS X's mouse over the years but every once in a while it still bugs me.

Note: I did grow up on pre-mouse OS's and first used a mouse to select commands from a command line menu my father programmed. Then I used it in Windows so my brain might just be wired to like Window's mouse better.
 
yeah I love my pc's mouse too. I love my magic mouse too. Seems that smooth mouse makes things alot better it might just be me though.
 
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