Apologies if there has been a topic on this recently. I did use the search function but coudn’t find what I was looking for.
I’m after a new mouse for my Mac. Fed up with cleaning the scroll ball and general innaccuracy.
What does everyone use?
My requirements are:
Wired (don’t want extra weight and size with batteries)
Small ish (nothing worse than stretching my fingers / tendons) Ideally want to rest the ball of my palm on the table.
Infrared
If anyone can point me in the direction of a review site that would be great too.
My personal recommendation would be go to a store near you and try out a bunch of different mice. You can’t read about good ergonomics if you want something smallish.
My personal weapon of choice on all my machines for the past few years has been the Logitech MX518
I would consider it on the large side, but I have big hands so it works great for me. I’ve gone through a lot of products, some with considerable wrist pain and this one has always been golden for me, but isn’t for everyone.
I’d stop by your nearest PC store and just see what fits your fancy.
Scroll ball?!?! Last time I saw one of those was at least 5 yrs ago, probably at my moms house.
You can get the cheapo Microsoft scroll wheel laser mouse for $12. I got it for the laptop, it’s small, light, wired, a bare bones 3 button mouse that won’t kill you if it breaks. I’ve been using mine for about 2 years with the laptop with no problems.
OK, whatever the ball on top of the mac mouse is called! The mouse isn’t even serviceable without using a knife to get into it but I’m sure there’s plenty of whinge threads on here about it… Maybe it’s my especially grubby hands but it clogs up every week and wont scroll up / down / right / left (pick one). My crappy €10 mouse works better…
The M500. My favorite part is the grip of the mouse, it feels really natural. I had a mouse that was made for either hand, but this one is really nice if you’re right-handed.
I agree here. I find no reason to spend big money on things like a mouse. The cheap-o 3 button one that comes with the computer is fine by me. I did however buy a wireless mouse for my Mac at home.
After having a new MacbookPro with a multitouch trackpad for awhile, I’m really interested in trying out the magic mouse, but not sure how it will work for CAD and such.
Oh, that’s what you meant. I thought you were talking about the old style of mouse that has the grey wheel on the bottom to control the cursor as you slide it, circa 1990!
At home I use a Logitech MX1000 Laser. After using my cheap microsoft one though (which is much lighter), I have a hard time using it when I’m trying to work fast because of the weight (compared to the cheap one). I hear the newer ones have adjustable weights, etc… so that might not be an issue any more. The extra buttons on the logitech like the side scroll are very helpful for web navigation.
My favorite mouse is the Microsoft Intelimouse Explorer 3.0. Maybe once a year I tend to go out and buy an expensive wireless one, but always end up re-buying one of these these. Light weight for Alias is key especially with all the marking menu movements.
I have to admit a Logitech fanboy… I think they are constantly very sculptural and are usually my favorites
Just want to warn you about the Logitech VX Nano though… only has 2 buttons which makes ProE nearly impossible. Bought it for the Nano plug, which is really wonderful for portability. There are others with the Nano plug that DO have 3 buttons though
Not sure if it would work for mac and has a rollerball, but I’ve never found a better mouse for Alias than the 3 button logitech pilot… shown here as the SGI rebadged version (back in the days when cost of Alias ownership meant investing £20k+ on an SGI workstation)
ergonomics, weight, profile of the buttons are all spot-on. Another major consideration here is that Alias uses the buttons for x,y,z movement as well as zoom/rotate/pan - which means that the equality of the 3 buttons also improves ergonomics. I’ve always thought that modern wheel mice are really unsuited to Alias.
I remember sitting in the labs at school with using the big 3 button mice. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to it, but pressing down on the scroll wheel doesn’t give me any problems. I tried a Logitech mouse and really liked everything except the pressure required to click down on the scroll wheel was really high.
I actually spilled soda in one of my 3 Logitech’s and when disassembling it to clean the gook off the scroll wheel I must’ve lost one of the springs, after reinstalling it the middle mouse click was much more effortless and still gave good feedback.
The middle click doesn’t really bother me either and I’m in Alias most of the day. I think I’d be more bothered by the inability to scroll easily than the additional force needed to middle click.
I used to have a box of those SGI mice. Should throw them up on Ebay for the old schoolers.
I also like the back/forward buttons on the Logitech, but sometimes they bite me when I accidentally click back (after filling out a form) and then have to fill out everything all over again.
interesting post.
my main mouse is a MX518, just as CyberDemon uses. weird that dude and I should know each other. “no homo”
i must say that my frickin logitech Laser G5 mouse sucks sucks sucks.
for Alias i have to go wired… I swear to god or similar, that i can out pace the wireless connection with my marking menus. totally unacceptable to have any delay.
(buzzing through old threads looking for something else and wanted to comment here…)
I also dislike having the middle button be a big knubby scroll wheel, especially the fancy microsoft kind that also let you go left-right with the scroll wheel. Might be nice for people who do Excel all day, but not for third button clickers. Too flimsy feeling.
I’ve been switching back and forth between using a Wacom tablet and pen with all three pen buttons for SolidWorks, and the Logitech MX Air mouse.
There is a third button, somewhere under the middle two arrows, and a capacitive strip right under those arrows so you can still zoom/scroll. The scrolling is maybe not as good as the roller wheel mice, but the third click is just as positive as the L/R. Size is a little on the small side, but its meant for using off-desk as well, like a Wii controller or Gyration mouse its got 3D accelerometers etc. Plus it looks totally flash, really cool industrial design with big 3D curves wrapping around. I hope they keep inventing around this format because its great for CAD.
