Posts tagged 2010

I got the Magic Mouse as a Christmas present for my MacBook Pro. It’s the newest mouse from Apple, which is currently shipping with the iMac and can be bought for 69$ (US price).
After using it as my primary mouse for some days, here’s my review.

Design

There’s not much to say about the design of this mouse – it’s gorgeous! Definitely the most beautiful mouse I have ever seen. As simple as a mouse could possible be.
And because this mouse only works on Macs, you won’t need a stupid USB receiver, it just connects using Bluetooth.

So what’s special about this thing? It’s a multi-touch mouse! The whole top surface, except for the part under the Apple logo, is like a touch screen. The top surface also works as one giant button to click, just like on the MacBook trackpads.
The mouse itself is a little heavy but it makes it feel more solid, which I like.

As you can see, the bottom of the mouse is made aluminum. It looks very nice as well.

Touch gestures

The mouse has several touch gestures, including scrolling with one finger and going forward and back with two fingers. This video shows the basics.

Use

The most important thing is of course how it is to use. Personally I think it’s really good! All of the touch gestures works very well without problems. It also works decent on all kinds of surfaces, but the rubber feet can be a bit noisy sometimes, for example when using it on a wooden surface. I’ve been using on a mouse mat myself.

The mouse is very slick and low-profile and you can’t just lay your hand on it like other mice. Instead you should try to grip it at the sides with your pinky and thumb. Like my hand on this picture.

Because of that it takes quite some time to get used to, and is not as comfortable as other mice where you can just rest your hand.
I can imagine this is especially a problem for people with big hands, but I think it’s fine myself.

The only problem I’ve had, is the tracking in Mac OS X. The cursor moves pretty slowly in the highest tracking speed compared to Windows and the mouse acceleration can be a bit annoying. However, after some days of use, I’ve gotten used to it.

Batteries

As many other mice out there, the Magic Mouse uses batteries. Two AA batteries were already included when I got it!
I haven’t been testing this mouse long enough to change them, but after 3 days of heavy use there still 93% of power left. I think that’s pretty decent and definitely better than other wireless mice I’ve used.

Changing the batteries is very easy. The only thing to do is to remove the little piece of aluminum as shown on the picture.

Verdict

So overall, the mouse does live up to its name for the most part. I think, after getting used to it, it’s a great mouse for everyday use. The touch gestures works flawlessly and the mouse is really beautiful.
At a price of 69$ it is pretty expensive, but I think it’s worth it. However, if you’re a hardcore gamer or something else, then this mouse it not for you.

Tip
If you want more functionality instead of the standard gestures and fix the slow tracking speed, you can download a little application called MagicPrefs.