First Look: Apple's wireless, multitouch Magic Mouse

[AppleInsider]

Apple has broken its decade-long chain of terrible mouse designs with the new multitouch, wireless Magic Mouse, although its multitouch features are somewhat limited in functionality.

If previous versions of Apple's Bluetooth wireless mice and the sticky trackball of the Mighty Mouse have left you skeptical of the company's ability to design a desirable mouse, you may be in for a surprise with the new Magic Mouse.

There's no real magic; just a highly accurate laser optical mouse paired with a hard plastic, multitouch surface that supports smooth document scrolling, right clicking, screen zoom, and two finger swipes.

Given that Apple has pioneered practical applications of multitouch technologies in consumer products, you might have high hopes for the new mouse's multitouch surface. While scrolling up and down and left and right is smooth and satisfying, the surface of the mouse isn't big enough to act like a trackpad, so don't expect it to act like one.



Unlike Apple's multitouch trackpads, there's no provisions for touching to click (which makes little sense on a mouse), or for fancy gestures like four finger expose. You'd be hard pressed to even get four fingers in contact with the mouse's surface at once. Instead of trying to make a mouse with a conventional trackpad surface, Apple has delivered a usable Mighty Mouse that primarily uses touch sensitivity in place of a scroll ball.

Touch to scroll

This part works very well; there's no small ball to target, so you can freely move your fingers anywhere on the surface to scroll within documents. You can even scroll by touch without the mouse making any contact on a surface. There's also an option for scrolling with momentum, which provides a little scrolling inertia when you flick, similar to the iPhone.

Scrolling within documents or menus (such as the slides list in Keynote) seems appropriately accelerated at the default speed setting. However, trying to scroll within Cover Flow requires subtle finger action, because the touch surface is tremendously sensitive (and Cover Flow exaggerates this sensitivity). Your first attempt to scroll in iTunes will likely whip you through a couple hundred albums. With some practice and patience, you'll be able to scroll album by album with finger motions that seem almost imperceptible.

Multitouch gestures

Apple didn't overload the Magic Mouse with excessive shortcuts, so there's little to learn. Here's where the assumption that this thing works like a trackpad or Wacom tablet will fall flat. It's not either; it's just a mouse. You can't paint on the surface, there's no triple finger gestures, and you also can't pinch zoom or dial with your fingers to rotate. While Apple might explore additional features later, it's not hard to see why things are kept pretty tame: it's simply hard to keep the mouse positioned when doing fancy touch operations on its surface.

Like the previous Mighty Mouse, you can configure right clicking (or secondary left clicking, if you're left handed) to access contextual menus. This seems to work flawlessly and intuitively.

Scrolling also works well; you don't really have to distinguish between one and two fingers when scrolling; if you're scrolling up and down, any number of fingers will work. If you've configured two finger swipe, then there's a difference between momentum scrolling left and right with one finger and using two fingers to flick right or left to navigate one step at a time, but the use of two fingers is almost awkward enough to make these two gestures seem completely different.

Two finger flick for navigation allows you to move a slide at a time in Keynote, but don't plan on using the mouse to do this during a presentation. The iPhone makes a much better handheld navigator. Two finger flicks also work in iPhoto to move between photos, but again, this gesture is a little awkward, almost to the point of being a novelty. You might want to do it occasionally, but it tires the fingers quickly.

Another novelty is screen zoom. This requires hitting a modifier key, which is users selectable to be Option, Command, or Control. But how often will you want to zoom into the screen? It's nice you can, and Apple provides a number of options related to this, but apart from showing off or corner cases like zooming into an unresizeable web video to present it full screen, this doesn't seem to be very practical.

Magic Mouse as a mouse

Unlike the downright fat mouse designs that Apple has sold since it got rid of the USB yoyo/hockey puck mouse, the new Magic Mouse is compact to the point of almost being flat. It doesn't feel to be much thicker than the iPhone, thanks in part to its sculpted curves.



The metal base rises up on either side to provide a strong but not sharp edge. This makes the mouse easy to grip and not slippery feeling like earlier models, which were all one piece of shiny plastic. This results in a satisfying feel that's easy to position accurately. The base sits on two hard plastic strips that act like sled runners to keep the sculpted unit in flat contact with the surface it sits on.



Unlike Apple's previous Bluetooth mice, the new Magic Mouse doesn't feel too heavy, despite also using two AA batteries. It has a solid weight to it, but its compact design makes it feel well balanced rather than bulbous and unnaturally weighted as before.

The mouse comes with batteries included and even installed. To replace them, a thin metal cover pops off to reveal the battery compartment. Also on the underside surface is a solid-feeling metal switch to power it off and an indicator lamp that shows its on.



Apple still sells its old wired Mighty Mouse under the new name Apple Mouse, and the new Magic Mouse is only available in the wireless version. Why no wired version? Well it might not be feasible to make a cheaper version, and there's really no drawback to its use of Bluetooth, unlike earlier models which seemed too heavy when carrying the necessary batteries.

Magic Mouse software

If you have a Bluetooth enabled Mac, all you need to do is turn the mouse on and select it from the Bluetooth Setup Assistant. Unless you bought it bundled with a new Mac, you'll probably also need to install the new Magic Mouse software, which shows up in System Preferences after you attach it. installing this requires a system restart for some reason.

Once installed however, you get a fresh new System Preferences icon for Mouse settings, and within that pane you get the new options for setting your preferences.



Magic Mouse in Review

If you're looking for a replacement mouse, you are likely to really like the new Magic Mouse as a mouse, and its scrolling features are very smooth and practical. Don't expect to get crazy with lots of complex multitouch gestures however, because it isn't designed to do that.

If you like mice with lots of programmable buttons you're also out of luck. This mouse is intended to be simple and intuitive.

Rating 4 out of 5



Pros:
Highly accurate tracking
Great feel, weight and styling
Effortless scrolling and contextual click features

Cons:
No excessively fancy multitouch gestures or extra buttons

Where to Buy
MacMall - $66.94
ClubMac - $66.94
Amazon.com - $69.99

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Kolchak]

Oh, well. I was hoping that Apple would finally give me something to replace my old iGesture tablet, but they don't seem to have their hearts completely in MultiTouch yet. I'll stick with the iGesture.

[Postulant]

Sweet... mine arrives today.

[Blastdoor]

I got mine yesterday, and I have to say I don't recommend it at this point. I'll try it out a bit longer, but I might go back to my old MightyMouse. The plus side is that it's better for scrolling, since you don't have to worry about that little trackball getting gunked up on the MightyMouse. But that's just about the only benefit. The huge downside from my perspective is the loss of the ability to use spaces and expose from the mouse. I LOVED that ability on the MightyMouse. Without the ability to activate spaces and expose from the mouse, those two features (which I think are two of the most compelling interface advantages of OSX) become much less accessible. Of course, Apple can fix this problem -- implement multi-finger clicks or other gestures and then let us assign those to expose/spaces. I just hope apple does that (or a third party figures out how to do it -- I'm looking at you QuicKeys people!)

Finally, two corrections to the appleinsider review:

(1) the ability to zoom with the mouse is not new. You could do that using the scroll ball on the MightyMouse combined with the exact same modifier key options as now.

(2) I'm getting a little tired of reading how zooming is a useless or novelty feature. I have a nontrivial vision impairment and I depend on zooming everytime I use my Mac. It's another one of those things that makes me really like my Mac (the "magnifier" in Windows isn't nearly as useful, in my opinion). Also, I suspect that many older users whose vision might be deteriorating would also find this feature very useful. It's a shame that this reviewer has such a narrow perspective. My only wish is that Apple would implement resolution independence and combine that with the zoom feature, so that when things are zoomed they stay super-crisp).

[BenRoethig]

The good thing though is that this mouse is pretty much a collection of pressure sensors. In theory, Apple can make adjustments and add things that they left out with software patches. This is on my future wishlist. I just want a couple thing corrected first.

[Quadra 610]

I love my Mighty Mouse. When it works, it's a dream. And knock on wood, it's been working great since June. I clean the ball now and then (it's easy), but for the most part it hasn't really gotten too gunked up.

This Magic Mouse had better be just that . . . magic.

[Ronbo]

Originally Posted by Blastdoor

The huge downside from my perspective is the loss of the ability to use spaces and expose from the mouse. I LOVED that ability on the MightyMouse. Without the ability to activate spaces and expose from the mouse, those two features (which I think are two of the most compelling interface advantages of OSX) become much less accessible.

I use Expose a lot. But I personally found it easier to invoke with a pointer in the lower left corner of the screen, so I disabled the MM 4th-button thing. (Plus I go back and forth between a desktop with a MM and a laptop, so a unified function was better for me anyhow).

Originally Posted by Blastdoor

(1) the ability to zoom with the mouse is not new. You could do that using the scroll ball on the MightyMouse combined with the exact same modifier key options as now.

(2) I'm getting a little tired of reading how zooming is a useless or novelty feature. I have a nontrivial vision impairment and I depend on zooming everytime I use my Mac. It's another one of those things that makes me really like my Mac (the "magnifier" in Windows isn't nearly as useful, in my opinion). Also, I suspect that many older users whose vision might be deteriorating would also find this feature very useful. It's a shame that this reviewer has such a narrow perspective. My only wish is that Apple would implement resolution independence and combine that with the zoom feature, so that when things are zoomed they stay super-crisp).

Agreed. I use this feature all the time. It's easily engaged and enormously useful. They aren't advertising this feature because it's new. They're advertising it because it's cool and most people apparently don't know about it. Case in point, eh?

[jparker]

Our family uses zooming everyday. We've got a MacPro driving a 40" 1080p TV serving as the DVR and also serving apple lossless iTunes music to the whole house. The zoom feature makes this possible by allowing you to sit on the other side of the room on the couch and still see what you are doing. As more people use a Mac (or PC) as a media server they will realize how important this is.

(The bluetooth keyboard and mouse are critical too! ;-)

[Blastdoor]

Originally Posted by jparker

Our family uses zooming everyday. We've got a MacPro driving a 40" 1080p TV serving as the DVR and also serving apple lossless iTunes music to the whole house. The zoom feature makes this possible by allowing you to sit on the other side of the room on the couch and still see what you are doing. As more people use a Mac (or PC) as a media server they will realize how important this is.

(The bluetooth keyboard and mouse are critical too! ;-)

A Mac Pro as a media server? Wow -- that's some serious firepower! But I agree with you -- we have a Mac Mini hooked up to our TV (my Mac Pro is in the office upstairs), and the zoom feature is tremendously useful there for the very reason that you cite.

[djames42]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Another novelty is screen zoom. This requires hitting a modifier key, which is users selectable to be Option, Command, or Control. But how often will you want to zoom into the screen? It's nice you can, and Apple provides a number of options related to this, but apart from showing off or corner cases like zooming into an unresizeable web video to present it full screen, this doesn't seem to be very practical.

You'd be surprised. I use this feature a lot. At home when watching flash video I use this to coax content into full screen (neat trick, hit L to highlight the URL field, then hit space and the mouse cursor will go away).

Its real use is at the office though where I use it to show co-workers something I'm working on. I can magnify text so people can see it without coming up to the screen. I use that feature quite frequently.

[Blastdoor]

Originally Posted by Ronbo

I use Expose a lot. But I personally found it easier to invoke with a pointer in the lower left corner of the screen, so I disabled the MM 4th-button thing. (Plus I go back and forth between a desktop with a MM and a laptop, so a unified function was better for me anyhow).

Good point. I am trying the lower left and right corners as hot points for expose and spaces right now. I'll see if I like that or not. If I don't get used to it, I'll switch back to my old mouse.

[kasakka]

The two biggest drawbacks I see with this thing is that it has no middle click. I use middle click all the time to open links in new tabs in the background etc.

But a far bigger problem is that you're most likely stuck with Apple's abysmal mouse acceleration. Correct me if I'm wrong. I can't stand it, feels like the cursor is plowing thru mud.

I rarely use zooming but IMO the Ctrl + mouse wheel works great. If OSX had real resolution independence zooming would be mostly unnecessary though...

[Quadra 610]

Originally Posted by Blastdoor

Good point. I am trying the lower left and right corners as hot points for expose and spaces right now. I'll see if I like that or not. If I don't get used to it, I'll switch back to my old mouse.

That's what I have. But it only really works well IMHO if you have tracking set high, meaning NOT OS X's native tracking, but something like what USB Overdrive offers. I can't use a mouse in OS X without USB Overdrive. OS X's native tracking is dog slow, although I think it can be tweaked via the Terminal and there are also a few utilites out there that can help (other than full mouse utilities like USB Overdrive and SteerMouse.)

[Somynona]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Another novelty is screen zoom. This requires hitting a modifier key, which is users selectable to be Option, Command, or Control. But how often will you want to zoom into the screen? It's nice you can, and Apple provides a number of options related to this, but apart from showing off or corner cases like zooming into an unresizeable web video to present it full screen, this doesn't seem to be very practical.

This is actually the thing I'm looking forward to the most. I don't know how many times I've found myself wanting to zoom in on a column of text like I can with the iPhone.

[super8sean]

Originally Posted by Somynona

This is actually the thing I'm looking forward to the most. I don't know how many times I've found myself wanting to zoom in on a column of text like I can with the iPhone.

Its a great mouse dont get it twisted, but no expose and random screen movements when u dont mean to move the screen are annoying.
Other than that its a great mouse.
Please fix the expose feature( Three fingers activate expose maybe???) That idea was free of charge
p.s Quit pissing google off apple. want the new google map it looks sick!!!

[ghostface147]

No thanks. I want a wired version (not going to happen) and I want to middle click. I also want activation for expose on the mouse, which may or may not show up in a future software patch.

[Somynona]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple still sells its old wired Mighty Mouse under the new name Apple Mouse, and the new Magic Mouse is only available in the wireless version. Why no wired version? Well it might not be feasible to make a cheaper version, and there's really no drawback to its use of Bluetooth, unlike earlier models which seemed too heavy when carrying the necessary batteries.

Are you kidding! The drawbacks are constantly having to change batteries and lost connectivity (and all the irritation that can result from fluffing about with reconnecting and not being able to control your computer).

This will be especially bad in our office. We have over and dozen Macs and I don't fancy managing all the batteries for keyboard and mice.

Apple should make the keyboard and mouse dockable, to recharge when not in use.

[sheff]

I played with the mouse at the Apple store and its a no go for me. I am sticking with the Mighty Mouse. This thing is just too flat, and would hurt my wrist after a long period of continuous use.

That said I really love the no scroll ball scrolling, in my view that is the future for all mice. If only they made this one as tall (as in not flat) as the mighty mouse...

[zindako]

Originally Posted by Kolchak

Oh, well. I was hoping that Apple would finally give me something to replace my old iGesture tablet, but they don't seem to have their hearts completely in MultiTouch yet. I'll stick with the iGesture.

I got mine last night, omg I am loving it, good game apple, job well done.

[hillstones]

Originally Posted by Blastdoor

The plus side is that it's better for scrolling, since you don't have to worry about that little trackball getting gunked up on the MightyMouse. But that's just about the only benefit. The huge downside from my perspective is the loss of the ability to use spaces and expose from the mouse.

The main benefit is the scrolling feature. No more moving parts, so the scrolling will always work. I could care less about Spaces and Expose, and I don't use either. I think it is a very small percentage of people that actually do. Both Expose and Spaces are eye-candy. I have no problem using Command-Tab to rotate applications. I don't need Expose to tile windows on the screen and I don't need to hide programs using Spaces.

[Quadra 610]

Originally Posted by Kolchak

Oh, well. I was hoping that Apple would finally give me something to replace my old iGesture tablet, but they don't seem to have their hearts completely in MultiTouch yet. I'll stick with the iGesture.

Kolchak . . . as in, the Night Stalker?

[anonymouse]

Originally Posted by hillstones

The main benefit is the scrolling feature. No more moving parts, so the scrolling will always work. I could care less about Spaces and Expose, and I don't use either. I think it is a very small percentage of people that actually do. Both Expose and Spaces are eye-candy. I have no problem using Command-Tab to rotate applications. I don't need Expose to tile windows on the screen and I don't need to hide programs using Spaces.

I think it's actually quite a high percentage of people who use them, and, for those who do, they aren't eye candy at all, but rather, a major productivity boost. But they are easily accessible without the scroll ball as button.

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by ghostface147

No thanks. I want a wired version (not going to happen) and I want to middle click. I also want activation for expose on the mouse, which may or may not show up in a future software patch.

Just curious here but
1) What's wrong w/ a bluetooth version? Do you hate batteries or do you have an older Mac that doesn't have bluetooth or do you just have an aversion to wireless things?
2)What do you propose to do with your middle click? I work in an engineering office and the only thing I've ever used middle click for is CATIA and that's not even on OS X so I'm not sure what the purpose of the middle click is (games?)
3)I've actually found that moving my mouse to the top right corner is more efficient for me than anything else to be honest - it's even more efficient than the 4 finger swipe on my MBP - of course maybe that's because I've been using the top right corner for expose since the second I got my hands on it years ago.
4)What would you propose for the software patch? A 3 finger tap or what?

EDIT: That might read a little rude - really didn't mean it that way, just curious what your thinking is

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by anonymouse

I think it's actually quite a high percentage of people who use them, and, for those who do, they aren't eye candy at all, but rather, a major productivity boost. But they are easily accessible without the scroll ball as button.

+1 - it's night and day for me having Expose and Spaces. It completely 100% eliminates the need to ever minimize anything saving you multiple trips down to the dock. Also, when I'm updating my financials I can get a single window to sit on top of Safari rather than having all of Quicken covering up the screen and switching back and forth would be nothing short of insanely tiresome without Expose (and spaces saves me from having to deal with Safari, Quicken, Mail, Adium and iTunes all in one screen).

For me it's arguably one of the very best differences between windows and Mac.

[mamoore]

Hey guys,

I've been reading these forums for a couple of years, but this is my first post. I felt I had to chime in on this review and echo some of the sentiments I've seen others say.

I was really looking forward to a multitouch mouse. Besides the obvious scroll ball issues with the Mighty Mouse, the Expose activation was getting to be a pain for me. Sometimes it would activate at the slightest touch, and other times it wouldn't activate at all. As someone who keeps multiple windows open and uses the feature a lot, it was getting to be a pretty big issue for me, but I can understand if not everyone uses it. There's always the keyboard shortcut, after all.

The lack of a third button, however, seems like something I'd imagine many people use constantly. I know I do. It's a complete and utter deal-breaker for me. I really can't believe AppleInsider hasn't made a bigger issue out of what seem like huge, gaping, common sense problems with this mouse.

Hopefully Apple will quickly refine this product, because I'd love to have a mutltitouch mouse like this.

[michaelt]

I'm enjoying it. I hope that future software upgrades will increase its options, but it's a good 1.0 product.

The main problem I'm having with it is I keep trying to use it the same way I use the track pad on my MBP. But I'm getting used to the fact that they are different. It's just a matter of familiarity.

I don't mind the battery issue. I have had a wireless Mighty Mouse and found the battery life to be acceptable. I like no wires. A lot.

It's comfortable, and I do not miss the little scroll button. Having said that, I agree that a middle click would be nice, but again I think that might be implemented in a future software upgrade.

All in all I love it.

[neilw]

For those who don't rely on middle-click (which would probably include most non-techie users) the Magic Mouse will probably work great. I also see it as a good draw for Apple stores; unlike the Mighty Mouse, folks will try out the Magic Mouse and see something really different and cool, and for trying things out in the store the absence of extra buttons won't make much difference.

Much as I'm sure I would love the scrolling of the new mouse, I'd have a very hard time abandoning my old MX-500 because button-activated Expose is a huge feature for me. I tried hot corners for a while, but I find it's so much extra mousing, and very distracting to need to move the mouse away from where I'm working. I'll probably try it out when I get my new iMac (so I'll have one of these to play with either way), but I don't expect to be able to live with the compromise. I do have hope that someone will release some shareware to add additional gestures. I think there would be plenty of ways to simulate additional buttons, but I guess we'll see.

Oh, and I would say that for a company promoting its green-ness all over the place, supplying products that use disposable batteries is bad form. Some (like myself) will dutifully use rechargeables with it, but most won't bother. I would definitely prefer to see a built-in rechargeable option. How about an inductive charging mat built into the iMac base?

Anyway, it's good to see that they at last have a mouse that is genuinely innovative, if not necessarily ideal for everyone's use.

[corinhorn]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Another novelty is screen zoom. This requires hitting a modifier key, which is users selectable to be Option, Command, or Control. But how often will you want to zoom into the screen? It's nice you can, and Apple provides a number of options related to this, but apart from showing off or corner cases like zooming into an unresizeable web video to present it full screen, this doesn't seem to be very practical.

This is not a novelty, nor is it new to the Magic Mouse. This feature has been in Mac OS X for several years now.

Many people, including myself, who are visually impaired use the zoom capabilities everyday. Without it, we would be unable to use our Mac. The ability to zoom makes it possible for us to read and interact with the contents of the screen we would not otherwise be able to see.

[Blastdoor]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

+1 - it's night and day for me having Expose and Spaces. It completely 100% eliminates the need to ever minimize anything saving you multiple trips down to the dock. Also, when I'm updating my financials I can get a single window to sit on top of Safari rather than having all of Quicken covering up the screen and switching back and forth would be nothing short of insanely tiresome without Expose (and spaces saves me from having to deal with Safari, Quicken, Mail, Adium and iTunes all in one screen).

For me it's arguably one of the very best differences between windows and Mac.

I totally agree. When you have an 8-core Mac Pro and have dozens of windows open, expose and spaces allow for much more efficient organization and task switching. There are days that I really hate coming into the office because I'm forced to leave my Mac Pro behind for Windows in the office, and two of the things that I miss the most are expose and spaces.

[ghostface147]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

Just curious here but
1) What's wrong w/ a bluetooth version? Do you hate batteries or do you have an older Mac that doesn't have bluetooth or do you just have an aversion to wireless things?
2)What do you propose to do with your middle click? I work in an engineering office and the only thing I've ever used middle click for is CATIA and that's not even on OS X so I'm not sure what the purpose of the middle click is (games?)
3)I've actually found that moving my mouse to the top right corner is more efficient for me than anything else to be honest - it's even more efficient than the 4 finger swipe on my MBP - of course maybe that's because I've been using the top right corner for expose since the second I got my hands on it years ago.
4)What would you propose for the software patch? A 3 finger tap or what?

EDIT: That might read a little rude - really didn't mean it that way, just curious what your thinking is

It wasn't rude, but a fair question on your part.

1. I have a Santa Rosa MB Pro, so it does support BT easily. I like to keep my menu bar at the top of the desktop as clean as possible, so adding another icon would begin to clutter it. I also don't like to replace batteries a lot. I replace plenty on my WiiMote. I also like wired because it's what I'm used to.

2. I use the middle click for games in Windows via Boot Camp. Modern Warfare comes to mind, which the MB Pro runs very well in Windows.

3. I have never used hot corners, I may look into that. However squeezing the sides of the mouse was just more convenient and just there as an option.

4. Well due to the size of the mouse, I guess there really isn't much space for a lot of gestures. A 3 finger tap would be ok I guess.

[corinhorn]

Originally Posted by Quadra 610

I love my Mighty Mouse. When it works, it's a dream. And knock on wood, it's been working great since June. I clean the ball now and then (it's easy), but for the most part it hasn't really gotten too gunked up.

I have to clean my Mighty Mouse several times everyday, but I admittedly sweat Crisco (even on my hands), so that may be a factor. Once my Magic Mouse arrives, I'm smashing my craptacular Mighty Mouse up against the wall.

[Gazoobee]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple has broken its decade-long chain of terrible mouse designs with the new multitouch, wireless Magic Mouse, although its multitouch features are somewhat limited in functionality. ...

I haven't got mine yet, but I'd like to say that as well as Apple finally hitting a home run with the mouse, this review is similarly great. It is also simpler and more friendly than previous reviews and seems to have a bit more balance when it strays into opinion.

My only quibble is the tiny dig taken at the zoom feature. Even though I have excellent vision, once you get the hang of using this, it really is so handy that one ends up using it all the time. People complain (without ever using it sometimes), about having to use a modifier key but most serious computer users use modifier keys all the time, and the only alternative to the zoom is Cmd-+ which takes your hands off the mouse altogether.

This is a fantastic, basic, mouse redesigned for the future. For those who want more ... Perhaps they will come out with a pro version once everyone's mom gets used to multi-touch as a standard.

People seem to forget that multi-touch products were around for quite a while before Apple bought the company and didn't catch on. Apple's job here isn't to make some super pro multi-touch wonder that does it all and no one can understand. Their job is to drive broad adoption of the technology so that it will *become* useful. To ask them to do otherwise is to ask them to make the same mistakes that FingerWorks made.

[Gazoobee]

Originally Posted by Quadra 610

Kolchak . . . as in, the Night Stalker?

Not a good handle. No one ever believes Kolchak, and he always ends up with the short end of the stick.

[corinhorn]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Why no wired version? Well it might not be feasible to make a cheaper version, and there's really no drawback to its use of Bluetooth, unlike earlier models which seemed too heavy when carrying the necessary batteries.

For me, there are two drawbacks with a wireless mouse. 1, as already mentioned, some don't want to continually pay for batteries. 2, I don't like it when my toddler wanders off with my $70 wireless mouse.

[stompy]

Originally Posted by neilw

How about an inductive charging mat built into the iMac base?

Nice idea, would be very convenient to set your keyboard, mouse, iPod or iPhone on the base -- simultaneously sync'ing the iPod iPhone via Wi-Fi. Too bad this won't actually happen.

[Quadra 610]

Originally Posted by Gazoobee

Not a good handle. No one ever believes Kolchak, and he always ends up with the short end of the stick.

Hehe . . . was wondering who would get the reference.

[xgman]

I agree with those that have said the lack of a programable 3rd button is a deal breaker for me. Hugh oversight.

[corinhorn]

Originally Posted by xgman

I agree with those that have said the lack of a programable 3rd button is a deal breaker for me. Hugh oversight.

I don't think it's an oversight at all. I think it was deliberate. Apple chooses who to market to and who to cater too. 3rd button users were chose not to be catered to.

[Marvin]

I love the scrolling on the mouse but the sides are too sharp, the mouse too low and I find having to lift to right-click very annoying. Nice weight and I like the bluetooth connectivity but I'll stick with Microsoft mice for now. Maybe the next Magic Mouse revision will fix the issues.

Also be very aware that momentum scrolling only works in 10.6.1 and above so if you are on Leopard, look forward to a much longer install procedure to get your mouse to work properly. Due to the slow tracking speeds Apple use, that feature helps a lot.

[Kolchak]

Originally Posted by Gazoobee

Not a good handle. No one ever believes Kolchak, and he always ends up with the short end of the stick.

Yeah, but he's usually the one who's right when the disbelievers are wrong, no? Excuse me, I need to go pick up my seersucker suit from the dry cleaner.