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- Your Mac's Specs
- Black Colorware PowerBook 1.67 GHz G4, 2 GB DDR2, 100GB 7200 RPM
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
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