About a year ago, I put all prejudices aside, cast away all of my prior experiences with the platform, and I tried a Mac for a month.

The experiment, as I called it back then, was very much a success.  I've integrated the Mac platform into my regular computer usage, using it for a lot of my work, while also continuing to be an avid PC user.  Giving Macs a chance for the first time last year wasn't all that hard, except for one major issue on which I would not budge: the mouse.

One of the defining Mac vs. PC arguments has always been the mouse argument; more specifically, Macs had one-button mice, while PCs had two.  More recently, PCs grew a few more buttons and wheels on their mice, all the while Apple refused to move beyond the one.  There are many justifications thrown about for the use of a one-button mouse, just as there are many for the use of a multi-button mouse, but regardless of what they are, they have been here for a couple of decades now. 

Back during the planning days of my Mac experiment, I knew that in order to give the platform a fair chance, I couldn't use that mouse.  I'd spent my mousing-life with two buttons and having to give one of them up would be too much to ask, if I were to be as objective as possible.  As time went on, I began to see both sides of the argument and truth be told, today, I can actually get by with a one-button mouse on a Mac just fine.  I still prefer to have a multi-button mouse, but it's not the deal breaker for me that it once was. 

Of course, now that it's no longer a problem for me, Apple finally broke tradition and launched their first multi-button mouse for USB enabled Macs, and it's called the Mighty Mouse and it retails for $49.99. 

The Mighty Mouse

The Mighty Mouse looks a lot like Apple's previous one-button mouse, with a few visible exceptions.  The first obvious difference is that the Mighty Mouse features a scroll ball, whereas previous mice had no scrolling specific buttons/balls/wheels.  The second difference is that there are now two side buttons on the mouse (they existed on prior Apple mice, but they didn't function as buttons). Looks can be deceiving as the two side buttons of the Mighty Mouse only function as one, and only if they are both depressed at the same time. 

Mighty Mouse (left) vs. Apple Optical Mouse (right)

The third item worth mentioning isn't a difference at all, but rather a similarity between the Mighty Mouse and prior Apple mice - the surface of the mouse hasn't changed at all.

Apple's one button mice in the past haven't really had a button; rather, the entire surface of the mouse acts as the primary mouse button. Pushing it down makes the mouse click and acts as a left or primary click.  The Mighty Mouse works the same way, but there are now touch sensors below the left and right halves of the mouse that sense whether or not you are trying to left or right click.  So, although a left and right click mechanically trigger the same button, the sensors below the surface of the mouse determine the sort of a click that you're trying to perform. I'll get to whether or not this actually works well in a moment.

The underbelly of the Mighty Mouse

Along with the mouse comes a new mouse driver that allows you to configure the various buttons and settings for the Mighty Mouse.  The settings themselves are pretty self-explanatory, although there is one glaring absence that I will touch on a bit more later; the lack of any control for how many lines are scrolled when using the scroll ball is a major omission of the first Mighty Mouse drivers. 

The remaining aspects of the new drivers are fairly run of the mill. You can configure any of the buttons to perform everything from performing an Exposé operation, bringing up the Dashboard or even launching another script/application. 

Quite possibly the most important point about the drivers is that both the left and right mouse "buttons" are configured to left or primary click by default.  You have to go into the Mouse Preferences and assign the right mouse action to act as a secondary button before it'll work as such.  This default setting gives us much insight into Apple's intentions with the Mighty Mouse. The Mighty Mouse isn't Apple's embracing of the two-button mouse; it is Apple's way of offering the option to those who truly want it, yet still making the Mighty Mouse a primarily one-button device. 

Apple has effectively built the world's first multi-button mouse that's designed to look and work primarily like a one-button mouse.  And now it's time to find out if they did a good job in doing so...

Left, Right, Left, Right, Left

Using the mouse for the first time, I quickly became frustrated with how rarely my right clicks were registering.  Apple said just to click the right side of it and it'd work, but it didn't, or so I thought.  I kept on repositioning my middle finger further and further right of the scroll ball until I would get the right click to register, which usually ended up being on the very far right of the mouse.  Something had to be wrong - no company would release such a blunder of a mouse. And of course, something was wrong - my pesky index finger.

As I mentioned earlier, when I first started my Mac experiment over a year ago, I refused to use the Apple mouse.  As such, I've developed a small collection of the mice that do nothing but sit in their original wrapping.  I needed my second mouse button and I wasn't going to be able to give the platform its fair chance with that mouse. I tried to be as open-minded about the platform as possible, but I would not budge on the mouse issue.  Since I rarely used Apple's mouse, I had no reason to grow accustomed to what is, in my opinion, the biggest difference between it and normal mice. 

Apple's mice have no button on their surface. Instead, when you "click", you push the entire surface of the mouse down, which works as your primary click.  With a single button mouse, it's not that big of a deal, but once you get into a 2-button mouse situation, things get a bit more complicated. 

Hold mouse over image to see the mouse being clicked

On my Logitech MX1000, when I'd right click, I'd have my index finger resting on the left mouse button.  There was no reason to lift my index finger because my middle finger was doing all of the work at that point, clicking the right mouse button.  And when I needed to left click, my middle finger remained idle while the index finger did its duty.  This is the way most mice work, and most importantly, it doesn't confuse the user; right clicking feels like right clicking because your index finger is on the left mouse button and you can tell that it isn't moving when you right click. 

Doing the same on Apple's Mighty Mouse not only feels weird, but it isn't exactly possible to do without producing a very different outcome.  The Mighty Mouse is no different than Apple's regular mouse from a mechanical standpoint, so regardless of what side of the mouse on which you're pushing down, the whole surface of the mouse clicks.  So, if you happen to have both fingers on the mouse and attempt to right click, it tends to bring about a bit of confusion (you're trying to right-click, but the finger with the job of left clicking moves down as well.  It's an uncomfortable and momentarily confusing feeling, but at the same time, if you're feeling it, then you're using the mouse incorrectly.

Since there aren't two physical buttons on the mouse, left and right clicks are determined by the side of the mouse that you are touching.  So, if your index finger is slightly touching the left side of the mouse when you go to "right click", the click won't register as a right click; instead, it will default to a left click.  That fact alone was what took the most getting used to for me.  At first, I blamed the mouse, but then I quickly realized that all of the times when the right mouse clicks weren't registering, my index finger was resting peacefully on the left side of the mouse - even when I didn't think it was. 

The solution is simple, although a bit annoying for conventional 2-button mouse users: whenever you go to "right click", just lift your index finger off the surface of the mouse.  You have to completely remove your index finger from the surface of the mouse in order to guarantee a right click; otherwise, you'll get a left click.  Of course, if you already do this, then it doesn't take any adjusting. But for me, it was the steepest part of the Mighty Mouse learning curve.

Once you have that down, right clicking seems natural, mainly because your index finger isn't around to feel that it isn't exactly natural.  If you remember to keep your index finger out of the way, you can right click anywhere to the right of the mouse ball.  You can actually click below and to the right of the scroll ball and still generate a right click. 

Small Balls and Touchy Sensors

Not only is the Mighty Mouse Apple's first multi-button mouse, it is also their first mouse with a scroll wheel, or to be more precise, scroll ball. 

Despite what some originally thought, the Mighty Mouse's scrolling mechanism isn't the same thing as the trackpoint devices that we've seen on laptops; instead, it is actually a very small ball that can spin in all directions. 

The scroll ball lets you scroll in both X and Y directions, as well as in combinations of the two (e.g. diagonally left).  The scroll ball isn't active unless it is slightly depressed. In other words, you can't scroll with it without putting a very slight amount of pressure on it. The whole "not active until you push it" aspect caught me off guard initially and it took a little getting used to, but it wasn't a huge deal. 

Hold mouse over image to see how far the scroll ball can be depressed.

The scroll ball will also act as a middle mouse button, but just pushing it down doesn't register as a middle-click.  You have to push the ball down and actually push the surface of the mouse down until it clicks to register a middle-click.  Although this may seem more complicated than it is, it actually works very well.  I never found myself accidentally middle-clicking or, alternatively, the Mighty Mouse never middle-clicked when I was scrolling. 

When scrolling, the ball does provide you with feedback; it feels like you're using a scroll wheel with more frequent and quieter clicks than any other mouse that I had used before.  With much less distance between scroll "clicks", the Mighty Mouse gives you much finer grained scrolling than with my Logitech MX1000.  The clicks are also far less intrusive than on the Logitech, making Apple's scroll ball more of a hybrid of the Logitech MX1000's scroll wheel and the newer click-less Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0 scroll wheels in terms of tactile feedback. You get smoothness similar to the Microsoft mice, but with the aural and tactile feedback more like the Logitech wheels. 

Scrolling up and down is business as usual with the Mighty Mouse, although even at the highest scroll speed setting, it takes more time to scroll rapidly through multiple pages than on the Logitech; it's the trade-off that you make for the finer grained scrolling, which the Mighty Mouse offers.  The problem with the finer grained nature of the scroll ball is that scrolling large distances is often a lot quicker using the actual scroll bars in an application.  Apple's Mighty Mouse drivers don't provide a setting for controlling how many lines each scroll "tick" corresponds to, and they err on the side of under-scrolling rather than scrolling too much.  I'd guess that this is something that can be fixed with a simple updated driver with a new option, but until then, it is a complaint that I had about the mouse. 

From my experience with the Mighty Mouse, scrolling along the X-axis worked fairly well, but I'm not sure if a ball is the best suited for horizontal scrolling.  The best way to think about it is like this: note the range of motion of your index finger when you wave to someone with just that finger (in a manner similar to operating a scroll wheel); now, try moving your index finger from side to side and note the significant reduction in its range of motion.  Obviously, the way that your fingers are jointed dictates that they will move much freer and easier in the former manner rather than the latter, and unfortunately, it also means that scrolling left to right with a device like the Mighty Mouse isn't as perfect as it could be. 

Left to right scrolling works on the Mighty Mouse - it just doesn't work perfectly, thanks to the fact that your index finger doesn't naturally want to move left to right as easily as it moves up and down.  This is one area where I think Microsoft/Logitech actually have it right. Their horizontal scrolling is handled by pushing the wheel left or right and holding it there until you are done scrolling.  This method means that you don't have to keep moving your scroll finger left to right (or right to left), which makes it a bit easier than what the Mighty Mouse requires of you. 

Apple's other claim to fame with the scroll ball is that it lets you scroll in all directions. After all, it is a ball and balls tend to allow that sort of freedom.  While getting used to the horizontal scrolling wasn't too big of a problem, scrolling at angles isn't as glamorous as you would think.  Pretty much the only time that I have to scroll in both X and Y directions at the same time is when I'm looking at or editing a big image, so I fired up Photoshop and gave the scrolling a try. 

The problem with scrolling diagonally is that it isn't smooth at all; it's not smooth and it's slow.  You would naturally want diagonal scrolling to be as smooth as horizontal or vertical scrolling, but it ends up being more of a jaggy operation; scrolling at a 45 degree angle feels a lot like scrolling right a bit and then scrolling up a bit, and repeating that over and over again with the abruptness of switching directions included.  It's not horrible, and it is useful for those times when you do need to scroll a short distance in a direction other than strictly along either axis, but overall, it isn't too useful.  The other problem is that half of the time, I found myself scrolling left/right or up/down when I was trying to scroll diagonally.  Instead of dealing with the frustration of the scroll ball not going where I wanted it to go, it was usually easier just to scroll left/right then up/down separately.  And once again, because of the fine granularity of each scroll click, I found that often times it was a lot quicker just to grab onto a scroll bar and get to where I needed to go that way. 

Last up are the new side buttons on the Mighty Mouse, the buttons that for me are the worst design element of Apple's mouse.  Although there is one button on each side of the Mighty Mouse, they need to be depressed together in order for them to activate and operate, which means that the two buttons only really act as one. 

One of the two side buttons

By default, pressing the two together activates Exposé across all windows, but it can be mapped to any number of functions.  The functionality itself is useful, and even having to use both buttons at the same time isn't too big of a deal. The problem is that in order to use them, I found myself having to reposition my fingers to get a better grip on the mouse to squeeze the sides of the mouse to the point where the buttons would activate.  Apple did their best to make their first multi-button mouse look and feel like a single button mouse, and with the exception of the side buttons, they did a good job.  Unfortunately, in an effort to make the side buttons not look or behave like regular buttons, they have effectively, in my opinion, made them a useless part of the mouse.  These aren't side buttons like you may be used to on Logitech or Microsoft mice. Rather, these buttons require you to almost completely reposition your hand in order to use them and as such, aren't very desirable to use.

High Resolution LCD and Gaming Performance

One of the reasons why I originally switched to the Logitech MX1000 was because of my use of higher and higher resolution displays.  I found that the larger the LCD I moved to, the more of a pain using low DPI optical mice became.  When I first decided to leave my old Microsoft mouse behind, I bought two mice and did a little mini roundup for myself to determine which one I'd use for my main machine.  The running was between the Logitech MX1000 and the Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0.  In a nutshell, my conclusions were that although I liked the ergonomics of the IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0 better than the MX1000, the scroll wheel (I accidentally middle-clicked a lot with the IntelliMouse's wheel) and, most importantly, the tracking accuracy of the MX1000 was far better for my needs, especially on using very high resolution displays.  So, the MX1000 became my work mouse and the IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0 became my testbed mouse. 

Earlier Apple optical mice had always disappointed me with their tracking accuracy, but as you can expect, the larger Apple's Cinema Displays got, the better suited for them their optical mice became.  The Mighty Mouse worked particularly well on the three displays that I tried it on (Dell 2001FP, Apple 23" Cinema Display and Apple 30" Cinema Display), even quick flicks of the wrist did not result in any confused cursors.  I was pleasantly surprised with that aspect of the Mighty Mouse's performance.  Although the MX1000 was better, the difference in the vast majority of tasks was basically undetectable. 

One of the areas where Logitech's mice are supposed to excel is in gaming. So, I fired up a few games and tried out Apple's latest just to see how mighty it was.  However, it was in its gaming performance that I was actually the most disappointed.  The tracking speed and accuracy were good enough for me; granted, my first-person shooter skills have atrophied over the past few years, so I'm not as dependent on the perfect mouse as I would have been before, but I would say for the majority of casual/recreational gamers, the tracking and accuracy won't be a problem.  The major problem instead was an issue that I mentioned earlier in this review: the problem of right clicking when your left click finger (in my case, the index finger) is resting on the left side of the mouse. 

When using the mouse for anything but gaming, I'm not usually alternating left and right clicks all that much, especially given how much of a keyboard-shortcut nut I am.  But even when I am clicking a lot, the pace of my clicking isn't so great that I have problems remembering to lift my index finger before I go to right click.  It's a pain, sure, but it's something that I can deal with.  In games though, it's a very different story. 

I fired up a game of Command & Conquerer: Generals, a real-time strategy game where left clicking will select your characters and right clicking deselects them.  The reason why I picked this game in particular is because it involves a lot of alternating between left and right clicking, which was where the single-button design of the Mighty Mouse truly failed.  Quickly switching between left and right clicks using the mouse had my hand doing a finger dance that it wasn't used to doing at such a fast pace; it went something like: index finger up, right click, index finger down, left click, combined with a lot of dragging and selecting.  Although the Mac is far from a gaming platform, those of you who do happen to game on your Mac (or want to use the Mighty Mouse on your PC) should know of the mouse's shortcomings. 

Aesthetics and Ergonomics

Ergonomically, the Mighty Mouse (and the rest of Apple's mice for that matter) is really a hit or miss depending on the size of your hands.  Personally, I've never been too happy with the size of the Logitech MX1000, so moving to a smaller mouse is nice, but at the same time, I don't feel that the design of the Mighty Mouse is particularly ergonomic for resting your hand on it for long periods of time.  Then again, quite possibly the most ergonomically sound decision that you can make is to not rest your hand on your mouse for long periods of time. 

Logitech MX1000, Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0 and the Mighty Mouse

The mouse, like all of Apple's products, is very simple and stylish in its appearance, but this is one area where form does not follow function.  The glossy plastic that you grab onto when using the Mighty Mouse is very easily dirtied, and more specifically, it is highly susceptible to the oils from your hand, making the surface a lot slicker and slimier than the less shiny Microsoft or Logitech mice.  It looks nice, but can feel a little on the icky side if your hands are particularly oily, so prepare to give the Mighty Mouse a good buffing on a regular basis. 

IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0 vs. Mighty Mouse Height Comparison

The mouse is, of course, USB only and features a fairly short cable designed to be plugged into your Apple keyboard.  I prefer the length of the cable because I can plug it into my keyboard without having a lot of slack in the cable, but if you aren't going to be able to plug it in anywhere close by, its length could be a bit of a problem. 

Final Words

Apple created a truly interesting product with the Mighty Mouse; essentially, they've created a one button mouse that is a bit more flexible than their prior one-button offerings, but definitely not a mouse that is catered to the needs of those who depend on multi-button mice.

The scroll ball is nice, although I'd like to see some control over the number of lines per scroll click. The side buttons are horrible and it would be nice to make them a little easier/more convenient to use, but then again, that may conflict with Apple's desire to make the Mighty Mouse still look and work like a single-button mouse.

Gamers need not apply for this mouse, as the Mighty Mouse's touch sensors end up being more of a liability than a convenience in games. You're probably better off control-clicking with a one-button mouse than using the Mighty Mouse for gaming on the Mac. Some desktop users may feel the same way about simply using the mouse for regular applications, although personally getting used to doing the left/right finger dance wasn't as big of a deal for me in normal application usage. The drawbacks of the single button/multiple sensor construction of the Mighty Mouse are unfortunate, as I do believe that Apple could put together a very well designed mouse for the multi-button user.

For the single button mouse user, the Mighty Mouse brings scrolling functionality to Apple's mice, which is much needed.  And for all intents and purposes, the default configuration of the Mighty Mouse acts and behaves just like a single button mouse with a scroll wheel.  In the sense of Apple's ability to bring scrolling functionality to their single-button mouse users, the Mighty Mouse works.  But if you are a user who needs to have and frequently uses that second mouse button, the Mighty Mouse isn't exactly perfect. 

It's an interesting approach by Apple, but personally, it caters to a user who is very different than myself, and potentially, many of you. What I would like to see is what the designers at Apple could pull off if they were tasked to come up with a true competitor to the best of the best from Logitech and Microsoft.  It'd be for a different type of user than the Mighty Mouse, but I think that it'd be the only time during which I'd really prefer using an Apple mouse.