Well, I have, and have been using, my brand new Apple Magic Mouse. I won’t attempt to explain the inner workings, but it is really really cool.
To afford it I sold my second brand new (formerly known as) Mighty Mouse on Ebay. I say second because this is the second replacement Mighty Mouse that I have acquired from Apple, courtesy of my iMac’s Apple Care.
While the Mighty Mouse was a technological wonder when it arrived on the computing scene, it contained a hold-over from previous generations: the scroll ball. Instead of a scroll wheel that went up, and then down, the scroll ball was capable of 360° movement. This seemed like a new idea on a mouse, but really, it was a very old idea. Before some genius applied laser tracking to mice, they literally rolled around on a ball. All Apple did was put the ball on top of the mouse, and use it for scrolling. Honestly, I don’t know why no one thought of that before, or tried to market it. However, back to my replacement mice, the ball-on-top was prone to the same problem as the ball-underneath: gumming. Rolling the ball around on your desk, or even mousepad, invited the ball to pick up dust, dirt, grime, and whatever hangs around on your computer station. Rolling your fingers around the scroll ball on the Mighty Mouse had the same effect. The only difference is those old mice used to be really easy to clean. The scroll ball on the bottom was very easy to remove, clean, and replace. The scroll ball on the top was completely integrated into the casing of the mouse, and only by literally breaking it open could you clean it. So, I had not one, but two Mighty Mice replaced because eventually the ball would quit sensing the scrolling I was trying to do.
I wanted for some time to replace my latest gummed-up Mighty Mouse, but had been hearing rumors of a new mouse from Apple, and so waited. Sure enough, the Magic Mouse was released a few weeks ago. I immediately called Apple Care, and negotiated for a new mouse. Secretly I hoped that they would note that I had a wireless Mighty and out of the goodness of their hearts upgrade me to a Magic (all Magic Mice are wireless) but alas, they must have a few old Mightys in storage. However, my good friend the global garage sale came to my aid, and some dude in Manhattan bought my Mighty.
Thus in the need for a mouse, I went to the Apple Store and ordered a Magic Mouse. It arrived a few days later. After the obligatory install of new software and a reboot, I was up and running, or should I say, gliding. The Magic Mouse glides. Having used a variety of mice in my technological career, this is the smoothest mouse I have ever used. It sits on two parallel runners on the bottom of the mouse, and however they are designed, they make the mouse fairly float across my pad. Add to this a decent amount of weight built into the mouse (the Mighty Mouse felt a lot lighter) and the movement is the best you could hope for. Also, they say that the laser sensor is among the best ever designed and at least to my mind, the pointing seems more precise, but this could just be my imagination.
The mouse is precisely symmetrical (or would be except for the Apple icon). It is no bigger front to back or right to left. It is slimmer than the Mighty Mouse, and a tad shorter. It is also about 3/4 the height. You might think that this screws up ergonomics, and admittedly I know nothing about that, but it feels great in my hand. My arm-wrist-hand is flatter and in more of a straight line when I use this mouse, and I don’t have as much of an incline using the Magic as I did using the Mighty. People with really big hands might have trouble with it, but for us average folk, it shouldn’t be a problem.
But, to my favorite feature…the surface!! There is NO scroll wheel, NO scroll ball (“only a ray shield prevents beaming!” um…) because the Magic of the Magic Mouse is in the multi-touch surface. Using the same technology available on Macbook/Pro touch pads, and the iPhone/iTouch surfaces, the Mouse senses where your finger is and what it is doing, and interprets actions from your phalange motion. A sweep of a finger down the mouse surface scrolls. A click anywhere (literally, anywhere, front or back or middle) on the left is a left click, same with right. The scroll is accelerated, so if you swipe, it scrolls fast, if you slide, it scrolls slower. And it is still 360° scrollable. Finally, a two finger left/right sweep advances forward or backward in apps that have a forward backward (Safari, iPhoto, etc).
Finally!!!
No gummed up scroll ball. No only up-down wheels. Unhindered, effortless, magical scrolling. Always. This is by far my favorite part of the Magic Mouse, though it is all amazing.
In my mind, this is the best human/machine interfacing device since the keyboard. It is sleek, sexy, functional, state-of-the-art, and on the cutting bleeding edge of today’s best (for this type of hardware) technologies in a single piece of hardware. If you like the Mighty Mouse, you should love the Magic of Apple’s new Mouse.
I do.
a simple man 