iPhone 3GS from AT&T. Free ShippingApple Magic Mouse
Manufacturer: Apple Part number: MB829LL/A
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- Apple's new wireless Magic Mouse gets a sleek makeover and even has multitouch controls, but it's better as a portable laptop companion rather than a full-size desktop accessory. The swiping gestures add interactivity to Web browsing and media, but the awkwardly narrow single button design leaves us reaching for better mice from Logitech and others.
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| Amazon.com Marketplace |  | In stock | Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price | as of 02/08/2010 |
 | | In stock | as of 02/08/2010 |
CNET editors' review
Apple Magic Mouse price range: $68.00 - $69.99
- Reviewed by: Justin Yu
- Edited by: Rich Brown
- Reviewed on: 10/21/2009
The good: Sexy design; vertical scrolling works like a physical scroll wheel; pairs easily with Mac computers; ambidextrous.
The bad: Awkwardly narrow profile; doesn't work with Windows PCs; laser sensor not as advanced as Darkfield and BlueTrack competition; horizontal swipes don't feel as natural as thumb buttons; can't customize swiping functions; no pinching.
The bottom line: Apple's new wireless Magic Mouse gets a sleek makeover and even has multitouch controls, but it's better as a portable laptop companion rather than a full-size desktop accessory. The swiping gestures add interactivity to Web browsing and media, but the awkwardly narrow single button design leaves us reaching for better mice from Logitech and others.
Apple's latest pointer, the Magic Mouse, is included with its new iMac desktops, but you can purchase it separately for $69. Just don't confuse it with the Mighty Mouse, because although they're the same price, the differences end there. The Magic Mouse gets an aerodynamic face-lift and also supports application-sensitive touch gestures. New users should expect to spend awhile adjusting to the narrow shape and "buttonless" design. We suspect that many Mac users will hail the Magic Mouse and its multitouch functionality as the first in the next generation of input devices, but we still prefer the Logitech MX 1100 that gives you a more comfortable, sculpted shape, more customizable buttons, a combination scroll wheel, and a more versatile sensor for only $10 more.
Design
In terms of simple aesthetics, Apple has again succeeded in producing a beautifully designed product that still retains the classic Apple stamp and silhouette. The exact dimensions aren't on Apple's Web site, but we measured it at 4.5 inches long by 2.3 inches wide by 0.5 inch tall. Compared with the Mighty Mouse's oval shape, the rectangular Magic Mouse is definitely smaller, overall, except for its weight, which gains a few ounces because of the two AA alkaline batteries that power it. The design initially brought images of Microsoft's Arc Mouse to mind, although Apple's flatter design almost makes the mouse appear to sit flush with the top of your desk.
The clicker itself is ostensibly buttonless with a smooth, white top shell that blends naturally into the silver undercarriage. The only visible mark is a near subliminal gray Apple logo that sits at the bottom of the mouse to quietly send wonderful Apples flying through your dreams at night. Underneath, the mouse is almost as bare, except for a latch that spans the length of the undercarriage that covers the batteries. There's also a power switch to shut off the mouse as well as an indicator light, and it even goes into battery conservation mode while not in use for an extended period.
We've only set aside our older Logitech and played around with the Magic Mouse for a day now, but we're already suffering from separation anxiety. As was the case with Apple's previous mice, the Magic Mouse feels as if it's carved out of a lump of aluminum. While that does wonders for its looks, its comfort and usability also suffers.
The Magic Mouse's slim profile is just too close to the table to use efficiently and we found ourselves struggling around the narrow form to find a comfortable position for our fingers. Granted, its uniform shape easily accommodates both left- and right-handed users, but the average mouse jockey will certainly find the lack of ergonomics disappointing and maybe even painful after eight hours of work. The lack of two physical buttons is irritating, as usual with Apple mice, but you can go through the preferences to enable the right button and swap the left and right buttons.
The Magic Mouse connects to computers via Bluetooth, but it only works with Apple computers running Mac OS X version 10.5.8 or later and you must install the Wireless Mouse Software update 1.0 that comes included with OS X version 10.6.2. We tried to pair it with a Windows PC and it didn't recognize the mouse. That said, the process to connect it to a Mac is almost hands-free; our new 27-inch iMac automatically discovered the mouse, displayed a small icon, and we were ready to go.
The Magic Mouse incorporates a standard laser sensor that can track on nearly every surface. We say nearly because it's impossible for such devices to work properly on cloth and shiny surfaces such as glass, mirrors, marble countertops, and high varnish wood. Logitech recently introduced a new kind of glass-tracking technology called Darkfield that lets its mice maintain a reliable signal on fully transparent glass, carpet, pant legs, and so on. The feature is not as big of a deal as Logitech and Microsoft would like you to think (Microsoft reports that only 7 percent of mouse users were interested in tracking on glass), but we're disappointed that Apple is still clinging to older laser technology.
Features
Multitouch gestures set the Magic Mouse apart from the competition. The multitouch user area is spread across the entire surface of the mouse, so you can swipe your finger anywhere and expect the same results. Aside from the two main buttons up top, you can also use a single finger to scroll 360 degrees anywhere around a Web page, photo, or document. Swiping two fingers horizontally across the top surface lets you quickly navigate forward and back on the Web or while in video playback. Unfortunately, you can't pinch your media as you can on an iPhone, but you do get a basic zoom feature by holding down the Control key on the keyboard while scrolling up and down the shell with one finger. You can also achieve this function with a keyboard on any Mac by toggling the "Universal Access" setting in Preferences. Finally, Apple's momentum feature senses the speed of your drag and adjusts the corresponding action intuitively.
Our take on the Magic Mouse's multitouch functionality is bittersweet. We like that vertical scrolling on the mouse acts almost exactly like a scroll wheel, except for the obvious fact that you don't get the precision of notched scrolling. Regardless, a simple flick of a finger can send the scroll bar flying down a page and it's easy to stop by simply tapping once again. The capability to pan 360 degrees is also incredibly useful and the most similar to using an actual touch pad, but our main issue lies with the two-finger swipes.
Up until this review, we simply used the forward and back buttons on the side of our Logitech mouse, but navigating through Web sites using the Magic Mouse is considerably more awkward, especially if you use your index and middle fingers as advised by Apple. Additionally, if you don't have a uniform grip on the sides of the mouse with your thumb, ring, and pinky fingers, the shell can easily get away from your hand--this is why a touch surface with no hard buttons just doesn't make sense on a mouse.
Our last complaint with the Magic Mouse is that the software doesn't let you reassign the actions of your finger swipes. In other words, you can't tell the mouse to open a program or stop playback by swiping two fingers across the surface. The custom preferences for the Magic Mouse includes 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, but it doesn't make sense to trade in our Logitech MX 1100 with nine customizable buttons, a ratcheted/free spinning scroll wheel, and an advanced sensor for an Apple-branded accessory with none of the same features.
User reviews
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Liked scrolling. Needs real buttons and Windows support
by unfrostedpoptart on October 22, 2009
Pros: Nice size. Comfortable. Felt solid. Liked scrolling up-down and side-side by dragging on surface. Better than scroll wheel or Apple's tiny trackball in old version.
Cons: Still want physical buttons, especially for right and middle click.
Want it supported in MS Windows.Summary: Wait and see.
Summary: Wait and see.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Good technology, lack of ergonomics.
Pros: Works well on Macs, lack ergonomics, good look is not everything.
Cons: Shape, lack of Boo Camp support for Windows.
Summary: The Magic Mouse's slim profile is just too close to the table to use efficiently. Lack of ergonomics is very disappointing and maybe even painful after few hours of ...
Summary: The Magic Mouse's slim profile is just too close to the table to use efficiently. Lack of ergonomics is very disappointing and maybe even painful after few hours of work.
Lack of support by Boot Camp makes magic Mouse very limited if I need to use it in Windows. Half price Logitech will do better job than Magic Mouse.
Need ergonomics and software improvement. Nothing magic for the end user....2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Not an improvement
by NervClaX on October 23, 2009
Pros: Sleek design, effortless glide
Cons: Too narrow, hand cramps, no feedback
Summary: Steve Jobs continues his one-man war against buttons and tastes defeat. The Magic Mouse is pretty, but it is decidedly NOT and improvement for computer input devices. It makes me ...
Summary: Steve Jobs continues his one-man war against buttons and tastes defeat. The Magic Mouse is pretty, but it is decidedly NOT and improvement for computer input devices. It makes me wonder whether they did any consumer research before putting it into production, or they were blinded by their need to be secretive.
4 out of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Fantastic design, ease of use
by drdunkyn on November 25, 2009
Pros: The real beauty of this mouse, aside from its sleek outward appearance, is in its multitouch potential -- using a great app like BetterTouchTool, gestures can be added to replicate functions of MBP trackpads. And it works almost perfectly.
Cons: The lack of built-in support for any gesturing beyond basic scrolling/flipping (which, though cool and useful, is too limited). This has already been corrected, though, by 3rd party software.
Summary: This mouse essentially replicates the functionality of the trackpads on the MBP's, which I have grown to love and find indispensable in working with photos, and movies. The interface ...
Summary: This mouse essentially replicates the functionality of the trackpads on the MBP's, which I have grown to love and find indispensable in working with photos, and movies. The interface feels natural (if you are holding it correctly), and once implemented with the BTT app, gestures enabling up to 23 discrete movements( including 1, 2, and 3 finger touch, click and swipe, as well as pinch to zoom) are now capable of being assigned, in the same way as can be used with the trackpad. Will everyone like it? Of course not. But for people such as myself who have enjoyed the superior multitouch interface that the recent Mac laptops utilize, this will be the perfect addition to a desktop setup. It's not going to cause carpal tunnel, or give you cancer...but naturally, try it first before you buy it to see if it suits your needs.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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awesome design, okay on usage
by aqnguyen87 on February 5, 2010
Pros: new aluminum design is very sturdy, clean look, battery seems to last forever
Cons: missing middle button for third press
Summary: its an awesome mouse but without the middle mouse button I can't use it for spaces, which i use A LOT. I use spaces to navigate between safari, mail, ...
Summary: its an awesome mouse but without the middle mouse button I can't use it for spaces, which i use A LOT. I use spaces to navigate between safari, mail, calender, and itunes on a daily basis in four different spaces. Right now i have right click turned on to spaces and have to "control+click" if i need copy and paste, open links in new tabs, etc... hopefully a software update comes out to solve this problem, otherwise an awesome mouse!!!
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Flashy baloney.
by palermor on January 29, 2010
Pros: Robust mechanical click. Precision of tracking.
Cons: Inadvertent surface gestures are impossible to avoid. A nightmare of unwanted scrolls in big documents or spreadsheets, or uncontrolled drags of drawn objects when working in PowerPoint. Native control panel offers no means to control sensitivity.
Summary: Inadvertent surface gestures are impossible to avoid. A nightmare of unwanted scrolls in big documents or spreadsheets, or uncontrolled drags of drawn objects when working in PowerPoint. Native control panel ...
Summary: Inadvertent surface gestures are impossible to avoid. A nightmare of unwanted scrolls in big documents or spreadsheets, or uncontrolled drags of drawn objects when working in PowerPoint. Native control panel offers no means to control sensitivity.
If they gave up the added buttons of the Mighty Mouse, they should have furnished better options for programming keyboard click combinations for things like Expose and Dashboard. But no such thought was given to this.
Overall, this item is a bit of hyped engineering, that adds nothing in functionality and had LOST functionality by becoming just a two button mouse. My biggest regret is that when my wireless Mighty Mouse died, this was the only wireless mouse option from Apple. -
Not worth it- I sent it back to Apple
by rburn90 on January 28, 2010
Pros: Looks nice, simple design
Cons: Very slow tracking even when adjusted to the fastest setting
Too thin wich makes it uncomfortable to useSummary: I was really excited when I saw this and I looked at reviews and decided to buy it and paired it with my macbook pro. After using it for 2 ...
Summary: I was really excited when I saw this and I looked at reviews and decided to buy it and paired it with my macbook pro. After using it for 2 days, I decided to return it to apple. Like other people have said, the tracking is very slow even when it is set to the fastest setting. You have to download a 3rd party app in order to make it faster, and after i downloaded that it made the tracking uncomfortable (not sure how to explain but it didnt feel right). It is really thin and makes it very uncomfortable. I have a microsoft explorer bluetrack technology mouse which ive used for a while, and I like it a lot more than the magic mouse so i decided to stick with that. If you are thinking about getting one, you might want to go for a different one instead.
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Ergonomic nightmare
by Thresher on January 22, 2010
Pros: It's a beautiful. Tracks okay. Multitouch is good.
Cons: Ergonomically, this is the worst excuse for a mouse I've ever tried.
Summary: If you have a Mighty Mouse, keep it. If you don't, bet something from Logitech or Microsoft. Don't wait $70 on this thing.
I do not have carpal ...Summary: If you have a Mighty Mouse, keep it. If you don't, bet something from Logitech or Microsoft. Don't wait $70 on this thing.
I do not have carpal tunnel syndrome, but I imagine I would if I used this for a while. I used it for about an hour and my wrist started hurting. It needs to be a good 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thicker and conform better to the hand. -
Retarted Mouse
by DaconTheTool on January 18, 2010
Pros: It has a right click.
Cons: This mouse is the most useless mouse in the whole world, all you can do is click, sometimes if you are lucky you can scroll, i hate the mouse pad that is with the laptop but i'd rather have the mouse pad than this piece of crap.
Summary: Crap and more crap.
Summary: Crap and more crap.
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Good looks, bad ergonomics.
by fantasie85 on January 12, 2010
Pros: Sleek and sexy design. Multitouch scrolling works great. Bluetooth wireless frees up USB port. Good battery life. BetterTouchTool for two finger zoom or expose/desktop.
Cons: Heavier than a wired mouse but expected. Multitouch two finger swiping feels awkward. Too flat to rest your hand, grab with thumb and ring fingers. Pointer slow and accuracy could be better. Expensive for a mouse but expected for an Apple product
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Apple
- Part number: MB829LL/A
- Description: The same Multi-Touch technology first introduced on the revolutionary iPhone comes to the mouse. It's called Magic Mouse, and it's the world's first multi-touch mouse. Click anywhere, scroll in any direction, and swipe through images on its smooth, seamless top shell. It works wirelessly using Bluetooth, so you don't have to worry about cables or adapters cluttering your workspace.
General
- Device Type Mouse
- Orientation Right and left-handed
- Form Factor External
Input Device
- Connectivity Technology Wireless
- Interface Bluetooth
- Movement Detection Technology Laser
- Features Multi-touch technology
Expansion / Connectivity
- Interfaces Mouse
Battery
- Type AA type
- Technology Alkaline
- Installed Qty 2
Manufacturer info
- Apple
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Apple products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.apple.com
- Address:
One Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014 - Phone: 1-408-996-1010
