Magic Mouse Review
 |
| Beautiful, isn't it? |
It's not cheap... not cheap at all, especially considering the price after you convert them to Rupiah. So, is this baby worth your hard-earned cash? Let's find out after the break :D
The Package
 |
| As beautiful as it looks, it's also packaged beautifully |
When you first get it from the store, you'll get a cardboard box filled with hard sponge. Within is where your mouse is hiding (this packaging might vary depending on the store). The sexy mouse is packaged in a transparent, rounded rectangle-shaped plastic jewel case. The contents can be seen from the picture below:
 |
| Don't mind the book, just look at what that beautiful case contains :p |
In the box, you'll get the Magic Mouse itself, a short quick-start guide, warranty notice, and a few technical Bluetooth papers. If you turn your case around, you'll see the manual on how to use the mouse. Oh, by the way, there's a couple of AA batteries included in the mouse. Unfortunately, those aren't re-chargeable, so you'll need to replace those once they don't have enough juice anymore.
 |
| Included Battery |
The Appearance
The Magic Mouse is a beautiful mouse, no doubt about it. It's outer case is made of stainless steel and hard acrylic on top as the single button (that's right, Folks. You'll need to configure a right-click gesture later through the OS). The white and gray colors are enough to distinguish that this product is designed in California, and assembled in China :p
 |
| See the faded logo? |
Nothing much to say from the appearance side; this is one minimalistic mouse I've had so far. Most of my mice either have two, or more than two buttons, including the scroll, and other buttons.
Okay, so let's talk about its size, now. From the previous picture, you should be able to conclude that I'm a man with big hand, and is used to using normal to big-sized mice. Heck, I've never been a fan of those little mice with their USB cable reeled into the mouse. My hands are just to big to click and rub on those little buttons and scroll wheel.
See the picture of me holding the little mouse? I can easily grasp the whole mouse with my hand if I want to. Anyway, this time it's subjective and depends on the user, but to me... this mouse is a little bit too small.
 |
| I feel my hand has gotten bigger =A= |
Personally, I don't think I'll be comfortable to work using Photoshop/3DSMax using this mouse without much training...
 |
| Yeah, not that same... but similar. |
The Performance
Okay, down we are to the heart of this review. There won't be images since I'm still trying to learn how to printscreen on Mac. Anyway, here's how I set it up. It should be the same as long as you're using Snow Leopard and later version. I'm using Mountain Lion, and here's how I set up my Magic Mouse:
- Open System Preferences.
- Head on to 'Mouse' in 'Hardware' section.
- Click 'Set Up Bluetooth Mouse'.
- Your Mac will start looking for your mouse. Make sure it's on, and once you see your device detected, press 'Continue' and your Mac will do the rest :D
I'll be real honest here. The first time I try moving my mouse on my wooden desk, it doesn't feel smooth at all, until I maxed out the track speed in System Preferences. I've also switched to paper, plastic, and even a mousepad; they hardly give any change to the performance. Combined with its small size, I think I'm going to need a few days or even weeks to familiarize myself with this little baby. Personally, I don't think the sensors work as advertised...
I've just used it for one day, and I don't know much about battery life. Apple claimed that the battery could last for 4 months. I guess we'll just see in the next 4 months, eh?
As for the multi-touch feature; the feature advertised heavily by Apple, it's limited although there's a potential. There are only up to six default gestures: two-finger swipe, middle scroll, smart zoom, etc. (thank God there's a way to toggle Mission Control by default :p). Fortunately, if you aren't satisfied with the limited gesture, you might want to take a look at BetterTouchTool, a free utility which you can use to add more gestures to this mouse. I haven't tried it yet, but I will.
The Verdict
I know this review is mostly subjective, but I can't help it. I reckon that probably, most users out there are also whining the same thing about this mouse. I'll give the credit for Apple in aesthetics, for designing such a beautiful mouse. However, I don't think that it's the best out there. Some features like multi-touch has a big potential, but not perfect as of now. Scrolling speed isn't that comfortable as well, compared to other mice with the same price tag.
Who knows that one day, Apple might make a comeback for this three-year-old baby, and that day, would be the day Apple made history again. As for now, this isn't the right time...
Should I Buy?
 |
| Choosing between a trackpad and a mouse with a new iMac needs a serious consideration |
The point is, if you can afford one, you're welcome to try and explore the multitouch feature. It's pretty nice and you might like it.
However, if you're the one who likes to have a bang-for-your-buck and has a big hand and does professional things and gaming often, you might as well get an alternative like Microsoft's Arc Touch Mouse, Logitech's MX series, or even Razer or other high-end gaming/professional mice.
If you have a MacBook Pro, I think the integrated trackpad is already sufficient for everyday use. If you're planning on getting an iMac, I suggest you spend some time in your nearest Apple Store or Authorized/Premium Reseller because this thing is really, really subjective, and depends on you, the user. Seriously. Consider whether you should pick up the Magic Trackpad or the Magic Mouse before you walk out of the store with that huge iMac box.
Once again, no offense intended to any Apple fans or employees, or even executives. I'm just pouring down what I think about this mouse, since my hand is reviewing the mouse, and not everyone's hand is the same size as I am.
Finally, I realize that the images are worse than the last big review, thanks to the poor lighting in my room and Magic Mouse's glossy acrylic roof that reflects light often, projecting my shadow and made the shots dark and blurry (and thanks to Samsung for stealing the LED flash out of my original Galaxy S). Thus, I apologize for the inconvenience, and the subjective content in this writing. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and thanks for reading :D
Oh, and feel free to fill in your comments below if you have critics, suggestions, or even questions. Don't worry, I'm fully open to any critic :)
Comments
Post a Comment