Yeah, that’s slightly more negative than my usual hook, but I just can’t help myself. While I didn’t mind the Mighty Mouse so much, enjoying the click and the scroll-ball on top, this new attempt to re-vitalize the mouse misses the mark on concepts that ought to be a given considering we’ve used a mouse for a few decades now. Namely, Apple completely overlooks ergonomics, usability, and customization. The low-profile aesthetic may look nice, but it feels awful after using it for a while. While the touch gestures seemed neat on paper, two-finger swiping left and right for forward and back in browsers is painful as you contort your hand into a freakish little gremlin claw to perform the action. Finally, with a full-touch surface, so much more could’ve been done in the settings to allow user-defined actions in different apps. It could be that a forthcoming patch rectifies some of this, but as it stands the shiny Apple design doesn’t do much to offset the steep price and questionable feature set. If you absolutely need a nice wireless mouse and can get over not having the shiny Apple logo resting beneath your palm, check out the Logitech Performance Mouse MX. It’s still pretty pricey, but more configurable and it doesn’t leave you feeling like you’ve contracted carapal tunnel after five minutes of use.
5 Responses to "Hands On: The Magic Mouse Sucks"
1 | ZADL
I agree. Terrible wrist pain results very quickly from this mouse. Also, the gestures are not consistent with Apple trackpads, which causes confusion in those of us who would like to use a Magic Mouse with a MacBook.
I rate it Awful.
2 | Joshua
@ZADL I know! I was pumped about it initially but after using it for a while I couldn’t stand it. Oh well, maybe it’ll wake Apple up to the fact that sometimes no matter how pretty something is (looking at you puck mouse), if it doesn’t deliver on usability people won’t waste their time.
3 | jm
November 11th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Well. I have one now for a couple of weeks.
i have to use a mouse pad, otherwise the slippery slip is too sensitive, which is not really an issue by itself.
my pet peeve is that I have to download a 60Mb file to install a mouse, that turns out to be acting on its own at times.
Every time I reposition the mouse on the pad, and I AM NOT TOUCHING THE TOP SURFACE, it makes a ghost scroll. irritating when you’re in the middle of coding or reading or whatever needs your full attention on a given page…
magic, huh. Will probably need some more magic, really.
for now I’m returning to my mighty mouse that plain works.
4 | Joshua
November 11th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
@jim I agree completely. I dig the Mighty Mouse well enough, just have to get a wireless version finally 
5 | Magic Mouse Fail | TechDairy
November 19th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
[...] hands on: the magic mouse sucks [...]
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