January 2, 2005

{ The Mouse BT }

Since first moving over to the Mac platform, I have missed very little from the Windows world, the two main things being games and having more than one button on a mouse. While I love the mac and will never go back to using a Windows machine, the one problem I have had consistently is that I've never been able to feel that I was getting the most done with maximum efficiency while using a one-button Apple mouse. In the days since first making the Mac switch, I have since purchased and used several different two-button mice with varying degrees of success, none that great. Having recently moved from a desktop Mac to a laptop iBook, I have found myself having the additional desire to not only use a two-button mouse, but a two-button wireless mouse. And not just a two-button wireless mouse, but a two-button wireless Bluetooth mouse. Now for those that haven't yet heard of Bluetooth, it is essentially a module either internally or externally installed in or on your computer hardware (usually via a USB accessory) that enables your system to communicate with other Bluetooth devices... holy shit, without wires. When buying my iBook I opted for the internal Bluetooth chip so that I could easily use a Bluetooth compatible cell phone or mouse, however at the time there was only one Bluetooth mouse available for use, and it was the Apple mouse, meaning unfortunately there was only one button. Ugh. Well now the kind and innovative folks at MacMice have brought us a new two-button Bluetooth mouse, wickedly named The Mouse BT, that not only works phenomenally, but also looks dead-on like a (shhh!) Apple mouse - smooth, round, minimal, and infinitely cool in either iBook-matching white or Powerbook silver, the only differences really being that there is a split down the front-center that houses a translucent clickable scroll-wheel while also separating the left and right mouse buttons. Okay, there's not a lot you can really say about a mouse, so let's recap that part real quick: 1) Two buttons. 2) Bluetooth. 3) Scrollwheel. 4) Looks all badass and minimal. Now, with that done, all that's left to discuss is the function, right? Well, there's not much to say because this little bitch functions perfectly. Perfect-o. No problems. I love it. I use it all the time. I carry it with me. It's me, iBook, charger, and the The Mouse BT, together forever. Sing it. The tracking is fast and smooth, no software was needed AT ALL, very minimal lag due to Bluetooth (a fair trade for no wires), and it's battery usage is great. My only complaint is that it doesn't feel super-solid, so it may need to be babied a little if you're a bag-swingin' swag-breaker with a house full of no-longer-functioning electronics, but then if you are and the Mouse BT breaks then, well, you should be used to that by now.

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By Garrett in Electronics & Gadgets | Comments:

Comments

Yeah, gonna have to get one of these....

I love my Mac mouse, but can't shake the "I've lost a limb" feeling of one-click mousing. It's kinda scary how much this bothers me.

Posted by: Adam at January 3, 2005 8:10 PM

I actually have the opposite problem, and I have a hard time remembering what that second mouse button is supposed to be used for. Or I hit it by mistake and say "What the fuck was that?"

Of course, the computers at work have the right click deactivated in almost every program (lest we cheeky monkeys try to play around in the desktop settings, or you know, close a fucking program on the -- what's it called? -- taskbar).

Though I do tend to miss my scroll wheel from time to time. I had thought about picking up another two (or more) button mouse but was turned off by the ugliness of most mice.

Posted by: benjamin at January 18, 2005 4:56 PM