chrispoole.com

Apple design some great hardware. Their computers looks great. Their laptops are stunning. Even their software is excellent (if you believe the Apple marketing), or very good, if you believe everyone else. Their music players are great, as are their keyboards. But their mice are terrible. Even the “mighty” mouse.

Here are the things I don’t like about the mighty mouse:

• Due to the way it works, to right-click you have to lift your finger from the left button
• The shape looks great. The key word here is looks. For usability, it isn’t that great at all. The ergonomics are all wrong (for my hand anyway, and I have a pretty regular hand)
• The side buttons are too far forward, and don’t feel right when you squeeze them

The first point doesn’t sound so bad. I didn’t even think about it when I bought it. But it really does get annoying after a while, for me anyway. The second really is something to do with all Apple mice, not just the mighty mouse. But for me anyway, my hand just doesn’t feel as relaxed using an Apple mouse as it does using a Microsoft one, for example (they make some great mice). The third is a strange situation. you don’t want your fingers or thumb to be always over the buttons, as this will inevitably lead to accidentally pressing the side buttons. But you want the buttons to be along the locus your thumb makes when you move it (this is in an arc of an oval). With the mighty mouse, you actually have to stretch your thumb out, or move your hand slightly, to properly reach the button. And when you squeeze it, the little click it makes (made by a little speaker in the mouse itself, for some reason), doesn’t feel as reassuring as a proper click that a proper button makes. The squeezing thing just isn’t a great idea.

In summary, I’ve got rid of it, and have just bought the Logitech MX 1000.