What mouse? (And pointer acceleration)

Hello everyone!

My first post here. Here´s couple of questions:

1. What mouse?
I just bought a Mac Pro, but I wasn´t happy at all with the Mighty Mouse. It was way too slow and small, so not good for my hand. I then bought Logitech MX400 lasermouse, but I´m still not happy with the performance. I can´t adjust it to be pixel accurate, fast and smooth. So what mouse would you recommend for me?

2. Pointer acceleration
Now this thing just drives me crazy. How can I turn this thing off? I´ve searched this forum and I found, that other people too are annoyed by this "feature". But has anyone figured out yet, how to turn it off?
Some guy described it´s behavior perfectly, "when I was making broad movements with the mouse, I would overshoot the mark - but then, when I slowed the mouse movement, it felt like I was dragging the pointer through mud".
I tried Steermouse, but that didn´t help much. And I really wouldn´t like to pay anything just to turn a "feature" off.

So bottom line. I need a very accurate mouse for music editing work and the pointer acceleration off (or at least adjust the acceleration to slow).

It´s weird, that I have Logitech LX3 optical mouse on my PC and it´s almost perfect. Weren´t the laser mouses suppose to be more accurate? Or maybe they are too accurate?

I have the Logitech V470 Travel Mouse (white).

Even though it's quite small, it fits perfect in my hand, and the laser makes it very accurate. With Logitech Control Center you can also set the tracking speed.

With Logitech Control Center you can also set the tracking speed.

Click to expand...

I know this is possible with PC, you get the "pointer speed adjustment" AND "pointer acceleration adjustment". But when I installed the Mac drivers for MX400, all I got was "tracking speed multiplier", which won´t help my problem at all. I need the acceleration off.

Welcome to Mac-Forums, JtmSun. Glad you found us.

Maybe you could try a third-party mouse driver, Steermouse, see if it works for you.

This may be obvious, but just to doublecheck, I assume you have played with the Tracking Speed settings...

Applications > System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Mouse

There isn't a specific option to turn off acceleration, but with so many incremental settings, there might be one in the middle that would be acceptable.

Maybe you could try a third-party mouse driver, Steermouse, see if it works for you.

Click to expand...

I tried Steermouse, but that didn´t help much. And I really wouldn´t like to pay anything just to turn a "feature" off.

Click to expand...

This may be obvious, but just to doublecheck, I assume you have played with the Tracking Speed settings...

Applications > System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Mouse

There isn't a specific option to turn off acceleration, but with so many incremental settings, there might be one in the middle that would be acceptable.

Click to expand...

Yes, of course I´ve adjusted those settings and Logitech´s Control Center too. But just can´t seem to get smooth performance like in my PC.

I now tried my PC mouse Logitech LX3 optical mouse on Mac. Same thing, really poor performance. The acceleration drives me nuts and the pointer just jumps around like it is out of control. Now I´m just shedding tears here.

Is there any mouse (with good drivers) out there that would be accurate on Mac?

This is very important for me, ´cause in my editing work I do very precise adjustments. And for a computer that I paid almost 7000 Euros I really didn´t expect a mouse performance downgrade this big. The Performance should be better or at least just as good than on PC, right? (And the talk how Macs are so superior compared to PCs).

JtmSun said:

*Snip*
I tried Steermouse, but that didn´t help much. And I really wouldn´t like to pay anything just to turn a "feature" off.

Click to expand...

Sorry I missed that in your post.

I think you should take this to Logitech (they do have a user forum there). This isn't the first time they make inferior drivers for OS X. I tried using an MX1000 and had to dump it because they did not want to improve the mouse driver. Mac users don't seem to be very important to Logitech.

JtmSun said:

I tried Steermouse, but that didn´t help much. And I really wouldn´t like to pay anything just to turn a "feature" off.

Click to expand...

Did you actually adjust the settings within Steermouse? I use my MacBook Pro with a Logitech V270 side-by-side with my Windows-based desktop at work. I often go back and forth between the two machines and found it very cumbersome until I installed and properly calibrated Steermouse. Now there is absolutely no tangible difference between the two machines.

Unfortunately, Apple has certain "eccentricities" that it builds into the OS. These eccentricities are designed to make modern Macs feel much like they did in the beginning - and one of these things is the mouse acceleration curve. Long time Mac users don't notice this, but newcomers like you and I do - especially if you jump back and forth between a Windows machine and a Mac.

I have Steermouse set as follows:



..and while I agree that its unfortunate that Apple doesn't include customization options for the acceleration curve and special mouse features out of the box, I'd much rather have a well-made 3rd party program than have to run some Logitech crap-ware. Logitech makes great hardware, but their software has been lacking since the company's inception (and their Mac support is very weak).

JtmSun said:

This is very important for me, ´cause in my editing work I do very precise adjustments. And for a computer that I paid almost 7000 Euros I really didn´t expect a mouse performance downgrade this big. The Performance should be better or at least just as good than on PC, right? (And the talk how Macs are so superior compared to PCs).

Click to expand...

To be blunt, there's nothing wrong with the mouse tracking. You're just not used to it. You're used to Windows' tracking, which is different.

If you stop complaining about how different it is from Windows and use it, you'll become accustomed to it with time. I personally can go back and forth without noticing a difference. (The mouse tracking under Linux, of course, drives me nuts...not because it's bad or inaccurate or slow or jumpy or whatever...just because I haven't used it as much.)

Did you actually adjust the settings within Steermouse?

Click to expand...

Yes, I tried to adjust for a long time, but didn´t seem to get satisfactory settings. And even if it had done the trick, I would have had hard time spending money for something that should be there in the first place.

To be blunt, there's nothing wrong with the mouse tracking. You're just not used to it. You're used to Windows' tracking, which is different.

Click to expand...

OK, I understand the acceleration is Apple´s "thing", but why force "things" to people? Why can´t there just be a choise to disable/enable the acceleration? I don´t think it would be that hard to put it in Leopard.

But different thing is the "out of control behavior" of the pointer. It´s like it moves couple pixels, then jumps couple of pixels... So it seems like the Logitech drivers for Mac are bad... that makes me sad.
Because I´m starting to notice also, that other programs are coded more poorly for Mac, than the PC versions. Like for example I use the music recording program Cubase 4. And I noticed that it´s performance in graphics and latency is poor in Mac. On PC it is much faster and smoother.

So don´t the software developers care about the Mac users and are making sloppy code for Mac?

You might wish to try the Logitech S530 wireless desktop combo. It is a set containing a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse. I have use Logitech mice pretty much all my life, and the mouse with this set is the best one I have ever used. Ditto for the keyboard.

I do a LOT of photo editing with this mouse, and have never had any issues with getting perfect per pixel positioning when I needed it. My only complaint about the whole setup is that the mouse takes a second or so to "wake up" when you leave it idle for an hour or so and then resume use of it.

If either of these two broke down, I would go right out and buy another one - I am that impressed with it.

My two cents.

I like the Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse 5000. Its a good size and has many buttons.

JtmSun said:

Yes, I tried to adjust for a long time, but didn´t seem to get satisfactory settings. And even if it had done the trick, I would have had hard time spending money for something that should be there in the first place.

Click to expand...

Anti-virus *should* be built into Windows but it's not. All laptops *should* come with a case, but they don't. A car *should* come with floor mats, but sometimes they don't.

Every major purchase sometimes needs to be accessorized. If it's going to make your life easier and helps you to enjoy your purchase, what's the difference?

Steermouse has something like a 30 day trial. After that, it's $20. It will do just about everything you're looking for. Try the settings shown in the picture above and see how it works for you.

cwa107 said:

Anti-virus *should* be built into Windows but it's not. All laptops *should* come with a case, but they don't. A car *should* come with floor mats, but sometimes they don't.

Click to expand...

And the number of hotdog buns in a package *should* match the number of hotdogs in a package!

Apple can't keep up with all third-party hardware that is released. It's up to the third-party hardware manufacturer to either take into consideration Mac users or not.

If Logitech doesn't care to provide you with a usable driver, either get rid of the mouse or try SteerMouse and buy their product if it solves the problem but since it doesn't seem to, ditching that mouse is about the only solution left to you.

I shotgun your old mighty mouse! hahha

Maybe you didn't get Steermouse set right for your preferences. It isn't obvious what the settings do.

I ended up with these settings, and the mouse is at least as fast and accurate as I had on W**d**s.

Tracking 0.0375
Sensitivity 100

I use a cheap MS optical mouse, but I think the mouse itself is not so important.

I put up with Apple's ergonomically challenged mouse action for six months, and hated it more every day. I couldn't use this machine without Steermouse.

I can´t work like this way, when I try to grab some small "editing things" in Cubase 4, the pointer just jumps over the target again and again and it drives me nuts.

So I guess I need to find a better mouse. What would you recommend?

JtmSun said:

I can´t work like this way, when I try to grab some small "editing things" in Cubase 4, the pointer just jumps over the target again and again and it drives me nuts.

So I guess I need to find a better mouse. What would you recommend?

Click to expand...

It's not a hardware issue.

mac57 said:

I do a LOT of photo editing with this mouse, and have never had any issues with getting perfect per pixel positioning when I needed it. My only complaint about the whole setup is that the mouse takes a second or so to "wake up" when you leave it idle for an hour or so and then resume use of it.

If either of these two broke down, I would go right out and buy another one - I am that impressed with it.

My two cents.

Click to expand...

Heh, it's stuff like this that made me go out and get a Wacom graphics tablet for photo editing. Yeah, there's a bit of a learning curve, but it's spot-on, and absolute for cursor positioning. No acceleration. The cursor goes where the pen is. Always.

My wife used to use her Wacom exclusively as a pointing device before she got a Macbook, on which she exclusively uses the trackpad.

Me? I use either the MM or the trackpad when not using the Wacom.