Contour Design MiniPro

retrograderetrograde
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I am considering getting a new mouse for use with my future iBook and, as much as I like the look of Apple's optical mouse, am considering Contour's MiniPro optical mouse which is super small and apparently comfortable to use to boot. It also uses optical technology and has a second button placed, interestingly, behind the main button which can consequently be used in the normal one button style. And now Contour have released a MiniPro Titanium which looks pretty nifty.



I like the idea of this but am wondering if there is anyone who has had extensive experience using this mouse and how they have found it's performance. Does the optical tracking work well? Is the second button comfortable to use or annoying because of its location? Do you regret not having bought a mouse with a scroll wheel? Does this mouse perform as well in OS X as in 9? Has anyone bought the new Titanium MiniPro and, if so, does it look nice or cheap?



Any thoughts/observations would be greatly appreciated

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    I used to have one.



    The look is okay but with two 'major' problems



    1) The mini button is act as a right click button by default. But it locates at the bottom of the main button...which makes it very awkward for people to do lots of right-clicking.



    2) There are quality problem with the button. The mouse button can mis-click, double-click, or not work at all.



    If you are thinking about getting a mini mouse you should rather look for those from Targa or Kensington.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    markmark Posts: 143member
    Hmm. I think I was recommending the MiniPro right before the old AI forums vanished...knock on wood.



    Anyway, I love the MiniPro. I was just about to give up and buy one of those awful, oversized and overwrought mice on the market (three buttons, two scrollwheels, plus it vibrates and glows in the dark? Wow! ) when I found this little bitty mouse:



    It's not for everyone, but the MiniPro is ideal for people who like to hold the mouse with their fingers, and move it only slightly - rather than palm it across the desk. And the bottom-button-as-right-click setup suits this preference: it feels like a smaller movement than to extend your finger outward to reach the second button. Tinker with the mouse acceleration curve in OS X and the setup is perfect IMHO.



    (Sorry to hear about your faulty model, Leonis - luckily I've had no problems with mine.)





    Cheers,



    Mark.



    [ 11-29-2001: Message edited by: Mark ]</p>
  • Reply 3 of 6
    retrograderetrograde Posts: 503member
    Thanks for the insights guys



    Well, I actually got a chance to test drive this puppy: at MacExpo UK in London last week! I found the tracking to be good and it looked pretty nice (the one I was using was the new Titanium look). My biggest impression was that I found the main button to have a very light response: it wasn't like my old Apple Bus Mouse II which has a firmer click. At first I found this a little distracting but after using it for a bit I found I preferred it. Countour Design think a lot about ergonomics and perhaps they were purposely building a button that would cause less stress to your hand when clicking. And I found the second button comfortable, but then I'm not the kind of user that uses a second button constantly as I am guessing Leonis does. If I was, perhaps I would feel differently. All in all, I went away feeling that this would be a good choice for a mouse.



    But incredibly I wandered over to the Macally booth at the MacExpo and there amongst all their other gadgets sat a positively miniscule mouse which the guy told me hadn't been released yet and was just a prototype: they call it the "MicroMouse". This mouse was tiny, I'm not kidding!! :eek: But what was even more incredible was that it was optical, had 2 buttons and a tiny scroll wheel. Now I know this was a prototype but I found the scroll wheel to be a little stiff and I found the mouse to be just a little too tiny to be comfortable. But, boy, this is one amazing mouse. If I were to go on looks alone I would have decided there and then that this would be the mouse for me. If you were only going to use this for travel, this would be the ideal roadwarrior mouse. The Macally guy told me it should be available for purchase sometime around Christmas (my guess is it will be launched at MWSF). So keep your eyes peeled!



    Nice as the Macally MicroMouse was, I think the Contour MiniPro is more suited to me.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    retrograderetrograde Posts: 503member
    Oh, I meant to add that for the Contour MiniPro you can setup the software in OS 9 so that you can use the second button to do a whole range of different things: even different things for different applications. It looked quite extensive.



    But for OS X it looks like, at the moment, it just defaults to the contextual menu or standard right click type action. Hopefully they will get their act together and write a proper driver for it under OS X.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    retrograderetrograde Posts: 503member
    For anyone interested in the two mice I mentioned earlier, here are the links and some pics:



    <a href="http://www.contourdesign.com/minipro_ti.htm"; target="_blank">Contour Design MiniPro Titanium</a>





    <a href="http://www.macally.com/new/new_micromouse.html"; target="_blank">Macally MicroMouse</a>

  • Reply 6 of 6
    retrograderetrograde Posts: 503member
    [quote]Originally posted by Retrograde:

    <strong>But for OS X it looks like, at the moment, it just defaults to the contextual menu or standard right click type action. Hopefully they will get their act together and write a proper driver for it under OS X.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    For those interested: I had a reply from Contour Design's customer support today which confirmed that dedicated Mac OS X drivers for the MiniPro mouse would be released at this MacWorld San Fransisco.
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