Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer First Look
CompUSA was running a deal this weekend where a Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer (version 2.0) was only $17.99! That was too good a deal to pass up, so I bought one and mounted it on my dual PowerMac/Windows XP PC set-up. It’s working really well on both systems hooked in via my Apple keyboard.
The mouse itself is a shiny but dark blue (Cobalt Basin) and uses the large, right hand sculpturing of its wired cousins. Cursor response is excellent; I can not tell this mouse from its wired counterpart, though, even accelerated, Microsoft mice do not seem to speed across the screen as quickly as Logitech mice do. This gives the Microsoft mouse a “softer” feel, but not enough to make it undesirable. The scroll wheel on this mouse works in both the horizontal and vertical directions and yields better scrolling inside Photoshop than my Griffin PowerMate. I’m looking forward to testing it inside Final Cut Pro, though I suspect the PowerMate’s “wheel”-type ergonomics will make it the winner there.
Marketing material on the box stated that this mouse would get three times the battery life of the competition. That’s going to be a hard thing for me to judge since this is the only wireless mouse I own. To their credit, Microsoft included two Eveready AA batteries with the mouse, making the CompUSA price for the thing even that much more incredible.
I can’t really comment on the mouse’s range. The transmitter and receiver are less than a foot apart. So, why am I using a wireless mouse? Because I can. Seriously, though, it’s because the chord from a wired mouse tends to droop beyond the keyboard shelf and can get tangled up with lines going to my joystick or even get caught in my feet. A wireless mouse seems to be a good solution to avoiding the clutter.
The mouse itself is a shiny but dark blue (Cobalt Basin) and uses the large, right hand sculpturing of its wired cousins. Cursor response is excellent; I can not tell this mouse from its wired counterpart, though, even accelerated, Microsoft mice do not seem to speed across the screen as quickly as Logitech mice do. This gives the Microsoft mouse a “softer” feel, but not enough to make it undesirable. The scroll wheel on this mouse works in both the horizontal and vertical directions and yields better scrolling inside Photoshop than my Griffin PowerMate. I’m looking forward to testing it inside Final Cut Pro, though I suspect the PowerMate’s “wheel”-type ergonomics will make it the winner there.
Marketing material on the box stated that this mouse would get three times the battery life of the competition. That’s going to be a hard thing for me to judge since this is the only wireless mouse I own. To their credit, Microsoft included two Eveready AA batteries with the mouse, making the CompUSA price for the thing even that much more incredible.
I can’t really comment on the mouse’s range. The transmitter and receiver are less than a foot apart. So, why am I using a wireless mouse? Because I can. Seriously, though, it’s because the chord from a wired mouse tends to droop beyond the keyboard shelf and can get tangled up with lines going to my joystick or even get caught in my feet. A wireless mouse seems to be a good solution to avoiding the clutter.
posted by Andy Foster at
6:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home