02-07-2005, 04:24 PM

Note, in advance: This is NOT an advertisement at all. This is meant to be further argument against problems potential Windows switchers have against the one-button mouse. I'm not pushing this product for my own or the manufacturer's benefit. And here we go. Consider yourself disclaimered.

Ever since I've looked into Macs and switched this past December, one of the biggest arguments I've heard against Macs is that their default mice are only available with one button. This is counted by Mac users as fairly insignificant as you can hook up any mouse you want, no matter how many buttons it has. However, many users I've heard of, myself included, hold out on getting a PC-designed mouse simply because it doesn't look good next to a gorgeous Apple computer. The first mouse I got for my iBook was the Bluetooth-enabled Apple Pro Wireless mouse. I loved it, and I decided it was worth using one-button because of the OS and etc, and I would hate to switch back to an extremely physically unappealing Windows mouse when I had this Mac laptop that I adored. There's a certain psychological stigma that is, for many Mac users, easily applied between something associated with Microsoft being present on a Mac. 'Keep your Apples and oranges separate,' so to speak. Then, I saw a little mention in a thread on this forum for something called The Mouse, by MacMice/DV Forge Inc. The problem of all Apple-like mice being one button only is officially out the window. I purchased The Mouse BT, a Bluetooth-enabled, two-button with scrollwheel mouse designed specifically for Macs. It blends beautifully with the shiny white plastic of my iBook. They even make a grey/silver version to go with Powerbook/Powermacs and the Studio series monitors that Apple produces. Now, on to the gritty gritty. The one thing I noticed that I do not like about this mouse is that it's not quite as well engineered as its Apple-made counterpart. When you lift it up, you can see the buttons come up off of the mouse. You can also clearly see the optical light, but this was an issue with the Apple ones anyway. As this is extremely unimportant, and only evidence of "craftsmanship design flaws," I will move on. That being said, the mouse is still obviously overall well made. It feels to me exactly the same as the Apple Pro official mice. It's even one piece of plastic, like the original. It splits off where the buttons are. The scroll wheel is probably the best one I've used on any mouse. It's extremely smooth to the touch, as well as in the way it scrolls. It's just obviously well done. I noticed that the optical light comes from the side of the mouse rather than directly over the opening, which is different from any optical mouse I've seen before. This results of course in the increased red light you'll see on the mouse that I spoke of earlier, but I believe it may also be a positive, as I've never used a mouse that tracks more smoothly across the screen. Another feature I noticed that is incredibly useful, though I've only tested it in Camino and Safari, is that when you click on a link with the scroll wheel's button rather than the normal click, it opens up either a new window or tab, depending on which preference you have enabled. This is especially useful for saving time and windows if you have the tab option on. All in all, I'd give this mouse a 4 and a half out if 5. The only reason I don't give it a full five is the 'not-as-well-made' appearance. It actually is quite sturdy and such, it just doesn't feel as expensive and such as the Apple-made mouse does. But for those who want both the Apple-look (and for the first time perhaps a Powerbook/Powermac look), AND two-button, scroll-wheel functionality, I wholeheartedly recommend checking this out at dvforge.com

02-07-2005, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by Meyvn

I would hate to switch back to an extremely physically unappealing Windows mouse

What is it about a "Windows mouse" that makes it physically unappealing?
Personally I think my Logitech MX700 is one of the best looking mice in existence.
You just want one that matches the computer? Or perhaps matches your socks?

Are there actually people who spend this much time and energy worrying about what their mouse looks like? I prefer comfort over looks, the Apple mouse isn't even that comfortable to me.
Nowhere nearly as bad as that horrible "hockey puck" mouse from the original iMac, but the logitech and microsoft mice seem perfectly contoured to the hand.

02-07-2005, 05:03 PM

I love the Apple mouse. And I adjusted to the other button functions on the keyboard overnight. Why should the mouse do all the work?

02-07-2005, 05:44 PM

Originally Posted by witeshark

Why should the mouse do all the work?

If it is more efficient for the mouse to do the work, let the mouse do the work. Most of the time you do not have a hand on the keyboard, and the mouse. You are either using just the keyboard, or just the mouse.

02-07-2005, 06:23 PM

i have a microsoft wireless 2 button mouse with tilting scroll wheel for my emac and i love it mainly because of the scroll wheel but its handy to not have to press command click. and its faster for creating folders and such on the desktop(just right click the desktop) :alien:

02-07-2005, 06:48 PM

Speaking of Mac mice, I found a cool little article (in Japanese, so you need to go to AltaVista's Babel Fish translator to read it probably), on making a vintage Mac mouse (REALLY old) have two buttons, a little more in the style of Apple-pride, AND be USB compatible, all at the same time. Check it out (but remember it needs to be translated): http://papasan.org/misc/submc99.html

02-08-2005, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by Avid6eek

If it is more efficient for the mouse to do the work, let the mouse do the work. Most of the time you do not have a hand on the keyboard, and the mouse. You are either using just the keyboard, or just the mouse.

Oh, gosh, come on... Maybe you don't. I certainly do. What if you need to type something like ABC. Would you put your second hand on keyboard to do that, or just use one hand, huh? Well, I work as webdesigner and software developer and I use photoshop, illustrator etc. a lot and I switched a while ago, got myself Apple wireless mouse and I love it. One button is really amazing, at least for me. Now when I get to those x-button mouses on PC I always try to do control + click, but it doesn't work

I believe everyone has different preferences. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean everyone else doesn't like it either.

02-08-2005, 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by Tiranis

Oh, gosh, come on... Maybe you don't. I certainly do. What if you need to type something like ABC. Would you put your second hand on keyboard to do that, or just use one hand, huh? Well, I work as webdesigner and software developer and I use photoshop, illustrator etc. a lot and I switched a while ago, got myself Apple wireless mouse and I love it. One button is really amazing, at least for me. Now when I get to those x-button mouses on PC I always try to do control + click, but it doesn't work

I believe everyone has different preferences. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean everyone else doesn't like it either.

Well, see, the beauty of having a multi-button mouse is that you can use just the one left mouse button when you want to, but the other ones are there if you need them.

Unless you're the type that gets confused with all the buttons.

Personally I think the scroll wheel is a great idea. Anything that gives you more control with less effort/motion is good. But even if the extra button or scroll wheel is there, you don't have to use it if you don't want to.

02-09-2005, 02:47 PM

Good post, I was looking for a sleek bluetooth Apple-esque mouse

02-09-2005, 03:14 PM

I didn't take the time to read all that, I am just going to say I used a Microsoft 4 button mouse with scroll wheel on my Mac, it works just fine.

02-09-2005, 03:31 PM

Just use whatever mouse you want. USB allows the choice...so go for whatever u want.

02-09-2005, 06:08 PM

The point of this post wasn't to refute anything to do with USB, or to start a chain of people who repeatedly say either 'I can live with one button' or 'I use this Windows mouse.' I just was offering an alternative for people who wanted both the Apple esthetics and the two-button scrollmouse functionality. There's no need for an endless debate that we've all heard before.

02-09-2005, 11:46 PM

cool stuff, did you check out DVForge.com's iBreeze? These products really offer the function and style that Mac's afford. Good read.