Comments on: On Mice

By: Steve Simitzis

Steve Simitzis — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:09:23 +0000

Replace the mechanical ball with something touch sensitive. Then it’s perfect.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:03:35 +0000

Im currently using a wired mighty mouse, I used to have a wireless one but replacing batteries was driving me crazy. The mighty mouse was the only mouse that took my fancy as it matched all my other peripherals and of course my mac book. So far I haven’t had any problems what so ever, im just waiting for my scroll wheel to go, then I really will be upset.

By: Mel

Mel — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:56:25 +0000

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Mighty Mouse. I don’t want anything changed, and I would be immensely sad if it was replaced by something different. Also, I don’t know what people are talking about with the side scrolling. Do they mean left-to-right as opposed to up-and-down? Because my mighty mouse does that exactly. You can even set the preferences to only scroll on the horizontal and vertical axes, or to be able to scroll “diagonally” - ie. whatever slight change in degree that you move the ball. In any case, Mighty Mouse is perfect to me. Left click, centre click, right click, 360˚ scrolling, comfortable. And yeah, I like the white. If it was going to be discontinued, I’d go buy another one for when my current one eventually needs to be replaced.

By: piminnowcheez

piminnowcheez — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:33:57 +0000

The best mouse is a trackball, and one with “return” and “back” commands programmed to buttons.

By: Lucky13

Lucky13 — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:00:49 +0000

I’ve been using the Mighty Mouse for a few days now, after a family member hijacked my prized Marble Mouse trackball.

Surprisingly, I’m actually enjoying its use. All previous attempts at it were pretty negative as I just couldn’t get a handle on it. But now - I like the Mighty Mouse. Go figure.

The side buttons don’t thrill me, though. For simplicity and economy, I think they could be left behind.

By: Honza

Honza — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 09:45:24 +0000

For those of you that don’t know (and that probably not many of you), you can side scroll using the scroll wheel on any mouse, if you hold down shift.

By: frogbat

frogbat — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 18:12:36 +0000

if i’m using it at the correct angle it’s ok -if i’m out of my usual angle (usually demonstrating something to a client or colleague it effs up)

i’d like more buttons and an optical replacement for the ball which gets clogged up all too easily.

my next mouse will most likely be a logitech with side scrolling wheel functionality

By: Ed

Ed — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:14:52 +0000

I like the mighty mouse right now, what i would like is to change the color from white to aluminum with some black to match my new imac.

By: David

David — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 14:47:13 +0000

Funny you should write about this, I just wrote a blog post the other day about the same thing

http://loudestnoise.com/2007/08/27/multi-touch-mighty-mouse-m3/

By: denny

denny — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:36:06 +0000

When I first got the Mighty Mouse, I hated it. I replaced it with a Logitech Revoluton that I really liked. After many months the Logitech broke and I was forced to use the Mighty Mouse again. For some reason it now seemed comfortable and I didn’t have right click problems. Don’t know what happened, but now I love the Mighty Mouse and won’t use anything else.

By: James

James — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 11:45:24 +0000

One mouse shouldn’t fit all, so no point complaining about games because a gamer mouse would be useless for design work.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 11:01:53 +0000

I tried the mighty mouse that came with my iMac for a few days, and hated it. My current mouse, which I really love, is a Logitech G7. Scroll wheel with side scrolling; four buttons: left, right, scroll-wheel-click, and a thumb button* for Exposé; wireless with a USB2 powered charger and spare battery for no downtime.

(* most importantly, the thumb button isn’t under where the thumb rests, so you don’t bump it accidentally!)

By: Jon

Jon — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 07:16:27 +0000

I’m a PC gamer. I need two ’seperate’ buttons. Hold down right click and then left click without releasing the right button. Not possible with Mighty Mouse. Games need two buttons. I love my Mac, but Bootcamp gives me access to my games and they need two (or more) buttons.

By: Niclet

Niclet — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 06:34:08 +0000

Definitively an aluminum Mighty-Mouse with, instead of the lil’ ball, a sensitive surface spot for 360° scrolling.

By: Eric F Crist

Eric F Crist — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 02:43:57 +0000

I’ve got the wireless Mighty Mouse and, to start, I hated it. I was sorta forced to start using it, however, and I’ve now fallen in love with it. The squeeze buttons never trigger accidentally, as many claim, and aside from a short learning process, the left/right click isn’t that difficult to use. My Mighty Mouse even working great on my Windows installation, both in Parallels and Boot Camp.

OTOH, it would be nice to actually have a *real* 5-button mouse. The middle/squeeze programming options within the Mac drivers are pretty limited, and are non-existent with the Windows drivers.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with mine.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 02:37:00 +0000

I love the mighty mouse now.

By: Stephanie Guertin

Stephanie Guertin — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 01:35:44 +0000

@Nicholas Post: That would be wicked. Apple, are you listening over here? Hand-waving-tracking, now, please?

By: Jason Terhorst

Jason Terhorst — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 01:08:20 +0000

The problem I have with the mighty mouse is the sensitivity - mainly, the fact that my hand moves around, and if my finger isn’t positioned in absolutely the correct spot, then I’m stuck fighting it with the contextual menu.

Also, if too much force is applied when trying to quickly scroll through a document (which I do often), then I find Dashboard appearing. I’ve turned that off. Dashboard is only used often enough by most people to warrant taking up the F12 key.

The side buttons are useless. Why? Because they only count as one. My wonderful Logitech that I purchased for $20 at Bust Buy works great with my Mac, and the buttons that are one on each side function as forward and back in Finder and web browsers. Much more useful than what the Mighty Mouse does. The ease of general use more than makes up for its lack of horizontal scrolling.

I’m petitioning the IT department at work to replace the Mighty Mouse that came with the iMac I use there with something more like the Logitech I have at home. I really tried to get used to it, but it’s been more than a month, and I just can’t take it. It’s almost as bad as the trackball that my coworker is stuck with.

By: Andre

Andre — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:25:32 +0000

I use the mouse for a lot of drawing and painting and such, so one thing I always loved about the apple mouse was the single big button; that way I can sort of grab the mouse and click with two or even three fingers. It’s less of a strain on the muscles, especially for prolonged “click, hold and drag” operations. However I love the mighty mouse, mainly because of the cool unobtrusive scroll wheel, and its nice to be able to activate the right button when I do need it.

By: Rory

Rory — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:24:00 +0000

I’m more of a keyboard shortcut user. I’ve used mice with a multitude of buttons, and found that I didn’t use the extra buttons that much. More important to me is comfort level in my hand. Does it fit well and feel like it can be used with out falling apart.

I have the mighty mouse on our Intel iMac and have no issues, other than the occasional inadvertant click of the ball.

I have the Kensington Si670m Bluetooth mouse for our MBP and absolutely love it. The batteries provide some weight and the limited features are perfect for me.

#2 is spot on with how to use the touch areas, lift that index finger and you’re golden for the right click.

And if you are going all out with features then I’m with Colin in #8.

By: Colin

Colin — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:04:37 +0000

I give up. Disregard my last two comments. I’m throwing in the towel.

By: Colin

Colin — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:03:53 +0000

Wow, I have no idea what happened there.

“I, personally, am a power keyboard user. (Quicksilver is As for additions, I’d like to see maybe an additional button for extra customizability. A calculator for quick calculations. A fly-swatter extension to rid yourself of those nasty nuisances. Maybe a tape measure in case I misplace mine. They could add GPS in case one find’s oneself lost. And throw in a refrigerator to keep your drinks cool.

Okay fine, maybe just the lower sensitivity on the extra buttons.”

By: Colin

Colin — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 23:51:52 +0000

I, personally, am a power keyboard user. (Quicksilver is

By: Nicholas Post

Nicholas Post — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:46:05 +0000

Eye tracking scanner on the front of monitor, lap-top, etc. (like iCam) tracks your hand movement (on the table, in mid-air, etc. Like Monority Report but just basic). Think Wii but nothing in your hand.

Also, for hearing-impaired people, like me, it would be really very cool that it can read your ASL (American Signing Language) and fingering spelling for writing emails, Words, etc. without even touching keyboard.

No more hand cramping.

What do you think?

By: James

James — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:29:15 +0000

make the squeeze actually a squeeze, at the minute my thumb clicks it all the time on its own so I have to turn that button off.

Love the shape (palm hugging ergonomics are overrated and just result in gross dirty feeling mice/hands) and the right click. Make horizontal scroll the same sensitivity as the vertical.

Double shot case if possible, looks fat next to the old pro mouse

By: Matt Radel

Matt Radel — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:37:53 +0000

I actually need buttons on my mouse. While they might increase the complexity of the device by doubling the current number of buttons (tongue firmly in cheek), it ultimately makes things more complicated to integrate touch sensitivity. If nothing else, it provides another barrier for current would be windows to mac converts.

I also need a scroll wheel. I’ve got big hands, and that tiny scroll ball drives me insane.

By: Charles

Charles — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:30:50 +0000

The one thing I NEED in a mouse is one thumb button that can be configured as a modifier, particularly for Command-click. You shouldn’t have to resort to a 3rd-party app to provide such basic driver functionality.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:57:52 +0000

Jason Terhorst: Here’s a tip that will help you a lot; to normal click, click the ENTIRE mouse. BOTH buttons. To alt click, Simply raise your index finger off the left-hand side of the mouse, and then press down. You’ll find it a lot easier to not take the Mighty Mouse as ‘like any other mouse’. Just my thoughts.

By: Jason Terhorst

Jason Terhorst — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:42:30 +0000

How about non-touch-sensitive? The current one drives me bonkers when I try to right-click something. I’m used to Logitech mice, so to try to change habits after so long is a difficult thing…