Got My Mighty Mouse

I have heard great praise about them, 'cept the M$ lover in the local newspaper (He diss's every machine or product that is not made but M$, B@**ard.) I talked to Word03, and he got one. He loves it!. However, I don't know if it would work with my iBook, seeing as how it would have to have a long enough cord to get to the right side of my laptop. I still haven't been able to play with one. They seem really cool.

Original Source: http://www.spymac.com/news/index.php?contentid=3065

I recently went to my local Apple reseller to check if they had an obscure part I needed and ended up walking out with a Mighty Mouse. I'd been meaning to pick up a two button mouse for a while now, and though this one costs a bit more than average, after playing with it for a few minutes, I was ready to lay down my $75 CDN. This mouse was easy to install, configure, and use. And it's shiny.

Like most Mac users, I assume that when I plug in an Apple product, it's going to just work. The Mighty Mouse exhibited standard two button behavior when plugged into my iBook running OS 10.4.2, but the full configuration wasn't available. A quick install and reboot later I had access to the preferences that I wanted.

This is where I ran into the first bit of oddness with this mouse. When plugged in without drivers, it behaves like a two button mouse with scroll wheel. After driver install, it defaults to acting like a one button mouse again. Though I can understand that Apple wants to keep the one button as the 'default' behavior, the initial settings should remain consistent.

After drivers were installed, the preference pane for mice showed me a picture of the mouse, allowing me to set the functions for both sides of the mouse, the button under the scroll ball, and the side button. In addition to "Primary Button" and so on, it gave me options for common features like Dashboard or Spotlight. It also had a cool little item called "Other" where I can choose to have a mouse button launch a program. I set my side buttons to Dashboard, the left and right clicks to Primary and Secondary, and my scroll ball to launch Terminal.app.

One more note about the default settings. I had to adjust the scroll ball speed quite high before it felt comfortable. Speaking with the sales staff at the store showed that it was a common sentiment.

A big concern I heard online after this was announced was that the lack of physical left and right buttons would be confusing. I didn't have any trouble with this, and I'm left with the idea that perhaps if you need to actually look at your mouse to see which finger you're using, you should stick to one button mode. Another concern that's been voiced is the lack of a Bluetooth version of this mouse. I don't find this a burden, as the cord length was good for either reaching around the back of my 12" iBook or off of my Apple Pro Keyboard, but I'll admit that Bluetooth would be an added bonus when watching video on the machine, as the scroll wheel worked fine for fast-forwarding in my favorite video application.

Using the mouse felt like any other two button mouse I'd used. My only complaint here is that the side buttons feel awkward to use. I'd prefer if they were a bit more sensitive to pressure, as it feels like I have to push twice as hard as I should. This may just be my preference though.

All in all, it was worth the price, mostly for the level of customization that it gave me. If you already have a two button mouse with scroll, don't feel the need to run out and get this one. It's fancy, but it's not revolutionary. But did I mention it's shiny?

Pros:
Easy installation
Excellent configuration options
Felt fine using

Cons:
Install needed for full functionality
Side buttons feel like they require too much pressure
Inconsistent defaults between Mac OS drivers and Mighty Mouse Drivers
Some initial settings required adjustment before it felt usable
Higher cost than average
Wireless version not available