Five minute Mighty Mouse Review

I recveived my Mighty Mouse last week. While many other detailed, in-depth reviews have been posted, I wanted to wait awhile before I gave my impressions of the multi-sensored white rodent. After many hours of usage, here’s my feedback.

Appearance:

First off, you know that since it is an Apple product, the aesthetics are top notch. The Mighty Mouse keeps the same shape and size of the Apple Pro Mouse. However, the shell is now a all white solid. While this provides more of a match for the Apple Pro Keyboard, I believe it makes the mouse look a little cheaper than the Apple Pro Mouse. The see-through outer shell of the Apple Pro Mouse was just uber-cool, and the Mighty Mouse doeesn’t illicit that same reaction. I’m not saying it’s unattractive. Quite the opposite, as it’s a very attractive, unassuming component when sitting next to the Apple Pro Keyboard.

Feel:

The most important feature of any input device is how it feels in your hand over an extended period of time. The Pro Mouse was lauded for it’s comfortable feel in hands of all sizes. While the Mighty Mouse shares the same general shape and size of the Pro Mouse, it is used differently due to the scroll wheel and the right click and side “squeeze” functioanlity. If you use the Mighty Mouse as just a single click device, it should feel just like Apple Pro Mouse to you. Buy why would anybody do that when this mouse costs $20 more than the Pro Mouse? Easily – you wouldn’t. Which brings us to the new Mouse’s achille’s heel – it’s right click and side click functionality.

First off, the right click. What you will notice first upon using this mouse is that mechanically, it is just like the Pro Mouse in that it is really just a single button mouse. How Apple approaches the extra buttons is through sensors placed underneath the shell of the mouse. So, by tapping on the top right hand side of the mouse, you get your right click registered. By squeezing the sides, you get your squeeze click registered. Same for the scroll wheel button.

The problem is that the the sensor for the right click starts right at the center of the mouse. Since you have no clear ridges where buttons are, your left click finger (your index finger for most of you with 5 digits) may sometimes be positioned more towards the center of the mouse, thus producing a right clicks when you meant to produce a left click. It seems like a pretty easy fix – make the sensor for the right click start a few more mm/cm to the right instead of right down the center.

The side sensors which activate the “squeeze” just feel awkward. There is little tactile feedback when pressed, and their positioning makes it an uncomfortable move to make for most people. If I were revising the Mighty Mouse, I would make the side sensors extend a little bit higher on the mouse. This would give the thumb a better position on the left sensor, and the fourth finger a better grip on the right sensor (assuming you are a right handed user).

When it comes to the scroll ball, Apple got it just right. At first the small size took a bit getting used to. I usually use a Kensington Optical Elite mouse, and it’s scroll wheel is comparatively large. But after a couple of hours, I found myself very comfortable with the scroll ball. It is much more comfortable than the scroll wheels on other mice.

Finally, a word about the tiny speaker inside the Mighty Mouse. Much ado has been made about it. To set the record straight, when you make your primary click, the sound that is produced is the mechanical click sound, just like the Apple Pro Mouse. When you right click, you are still actually making a mechanical click as well. Same for the click using the scroll ball.

The internal speaker is used to produce audible feedback when scrolling and when side clicking/squeezing. Apple did a good job with it’s implementation, because you never really even think that the sound is generated synthetically and not from a mechanical operation.

Software:

The mouse driver you install gives you enhanced functionality on Tiger 10.4.2 or higher. The software allows you to assign Exposé, Dashboard, Spotlight, or any other application to any click. One unfortunate limitation is that you can only assign one operation to both left and right side buttons, essentially meaning that your two buttons are really only one two sided button. This seems like such a waste.

You can also adjust whether the scroll wheel will allow for only vertical or horizontal scrolling, or both.

Also of note – many 3rd party mice work with the Mighty Mouse driver. My Kensington Optical Elite operated exactly like the Mighty Mouse when I plugged it in. However, by comparison, the Kensington mouse driver is much more flexible, allowing you to assign keystroke combinations to your buttons. This allows you to use the left and right side buttons as backwards and forwards buttons in your web browser and the Finder. I find this very useful and am disappointed this functionality doesn’t exist in the Mighty Mouse driver.

Conclusion:

If you need a multi-button Mouse, and want to keep all of your peripherals Apple branded and matching each other, the Apple Mighty Mouse is a worthwhile addition to your setup. If you need the flexibility to assign keystroke actions to your buttons or you aren’t a fan of the feel of the Apple Pro Mouse, you may want to pass on the Mighty Mouse

Score: 3.5 out of 5

Category: Hardware