Apple's new Magic Mouse

[rallynavvie]

So Apple, following a ridiculous amount of earning in their call yesterday, followed up with new items at their store. Among them are a redesigned MacBook, a huge 27" LED iMac, different Mac Mini options, and a new mouse. While the monster iMac is kinda neat (I'm trying to get one for work) the new mouse has me intrigued.

For those that haven't seen the new Magic Mouse, which I'm assuming is going to replace the Mighty Mouse (that wasn't that great IMO), it's a mouse with no buttons. It instead has a new multi-touch pad which allows the typical mouse buttons plus gestures for directional scrolling and navigation (forward/backward and such). It seems to use the touchpad from the old MacBook where it only recognizes two fingers instead of the MBP which offers rotations, sizing, Expose, and more.

Unfortunately, excited as I may be to replace my Logitech for this thing, it does not support Windows yet and there wasn't any mention of Windows support that I'd seen. Yes, I know Windows 7 added multi-touch support, but that still requires a generic driver for the device which may not work with this because it's a mouse and not a full HID trackpad. Other problems I noticed were the left/right gestures are a bit uncomfortable when torquing your wrist. The scrolling feature is much better than a scroll wheel though. Another thing it's lacking is a middle mouse button (which is also absent from the full multi-touch on the MBP) which is almost a necessity with a Windows machine.

Until I get confirmation of Windows drivers for it I'll hold off replacing my trusty Logitech. I'm hoping to get one for my lab while we're doing Apple retail concept testing so I can test it with a variety of Windows builds just to see if it'll recognize anyway.

[poisondeathray]

For folks who like pictures & specs
http://www.apple.com/magicmouse/

[yoda313]

I don't know about anyone else but it looks like it doesn't have enough of an arch. It almost looks like it would be uncomfortable after extended use. I mean most mice have a couple inch rise in them.

That multi touch thing sounds cool but I could see if your not fully alert clicking the wrong thing and mess something up pretty easily.

I hope thats not a trend to come. I would prefer mice keep tactical buttons so you don't slip and click the wrong thing.

[jagabo]

That multi touch thing sounds cool but I could see if your not fully alert clicking the wrong thing and mess something up pretty easily.

I hope thats not a trend to come. I would prefer mice keep tactical buttons so you don't slip and click the wrong thing.

I agree. It will have some uses but it's not a replacement for a mouse with real buttons.

[rallynavvie]

I'm an expert with a trackpad so this feature is probably more interesting to me, I guess. I'm actually surprised how many people prefer using buttons on a trackpad instead of tapping the pad. I rarely ever mistakenly tap the trackpad and get errant clicks, and that's on several different laptops I have (and have used). I'm finding it's not for everybody unless you really get good at it.

I was discussing this new mouse with a coworker and we decided it would be much cooler to have just the multi-touch pad from the MBP as an input device. If it could come in a slim package that could sit on a desktop just about where the mouse normally sits with a ribbon cable leading to the BT receiver (or even just a USB cable) it would be even better than this mouse. Once you've used a multi-touch pad you start to hate all other HID pointing devices as low-functioning.

[vhelp]

That touch-sensitive type mouse is not a good idea. its a bad one imho. Its fate will end just like Office 2007 did, where they change the interface in every tool and made it virtually cripple your workload as well as your mind, especially if you were a heavy database user such as I am. It was evil and cursed, and back it went. The buttonless mouse will end similarly i'm afraid. its like hitting a hard surface..how many nails will you brake before you too throw it out the window

The new mouse and office 2007 are very much alike--they drive you nuts, you loose your mind, ...

-vhelp 5236

[AlanHK]

Until I get confirmation of Windows drivers

http://store.apple.com/us/question/answers/product/MB112LL/B?mco=MTI2NTE0NTg&pqid=QJUX...TDJY7PJ2C77Y4T

The Leopard or Snow Leopard Disk contains the Apple Drivers for Windows, and the Snow Leopard Disk contains improved drivers for Windows 7.

On a laptop, I prefer the IBM TrackPoint.
But good to see some innovation in input devices, as long as it isn't mandatory.

[rallynavvie]

Snow Leopard doesn't have Windows drivers for the Magic Mouse. In fact I think the only reason my multi-touch pad works in my Windows environments is because of Fusion's emulation layer.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3039

[minidv2dvd]

i was pretty confused about the new server. $1000 mac mini? it's slow and just silly.

the mouse looks like a joke. i've been using 5 button mice for 8 or 9 years. having to hold down a keyboard key or swipe sideways with 2 fingers is not acceptable. my current on-mouse adjustable dpi logitech g9 is hard to beat. especially for a person like me with xl hands.