Apple has released new products this week, in case you haven’t heard. I usually don’t write about hardware that I haven’t personally tested, but I am excited about the Magic Mouse. I have had so many problems with the Mighty Mouse, especially with the scroll ball, which is continually a nuisance. So, I’ve been reading various articles about the Magic Mouse all over the Internet. Here is a basic rundown from what I’ve read.

The body of the mouse has an aluminum base, topped with a smooth multi-touch panel, made of white polycarbonate, (like the keys on Apple keyboards). Its narrow profile sits really low, appearing to sit flush with the surface. It is 4.5 inches long x 2.3 inches wide and 0.5 inches tall and is still Bluetooth capable, powered by two AA batteries, and is supposed to get up to four months of use per charge. I have read some comments on other sites that people find this not ‘earth friendly’ and my take on it is that you can purchase rechargeable batteries (which I use on my Mighty Mouse).  There are left and right clicks, like the Mighty Mouse, but what makes it different is its touch-sensitive scrolling and two-fingered gestures. The Magic Mouse seems to know how to interpret a click on the left or right; this click, of course, needs to be activated from the System Preferences before you use it. The tracking is the standard laser technology that tracks on most surfaces. Flicking up and down moves you up and down web pages fast, as long as the ‘momentum’ is turned on in the settings. When the ‘momentum’ is off, you get fine-grained 1:1 scrolling. You can also click with one finger, scroll with another, allowing you to highlight blocks of text like on a normal scrolling mouse. The bonus is that you have the ability to scroll in all directions, 360 degrees around. Use two finger swiping to navigate web pages, which may seem awkward at first use. You’ll need to pinch the sides of the mouse with your thumb and fourth/pinkie finger while you’re scrolling, so you don’t lose the mouse. There is a power switch to shut off the mouse as well as an indicator light, and just like the Mighty Mouse; it even goes into battery conservation mode while not in use for an extended period of time. There’s no option for touch-sensitive clicking and the preferences don’t allow you to reassign actions that happen when you swipe. The custom preferences for the Magic Mouse only include check boxes to turn off the secondary click, momentum scrolling, and screen zoom, as well as options to alter tracking, scrolling, and double-click speed. The Magic Mouse works with Apple computers running Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later and you must install the Wireless Mouse Software update 1.0 that comes included with OS X v10.6.2.

This concludes this article about the new Magic Mouse. I am very excited and as soon as I grab one, I will write an update to this article. If anybody has the Magic Mouse, please, leave a comment on what you love/hate about it. Spread the wealth to other readers!

-TINA