Author: Naota
Product: Apple Magic Mouse
Price: Around $69.00
Date: 11/8/2009
Rating: 3.5/5
OS Used in Review: OSX10.5.8

Pros:
Sleek and Innovative design. Exceptional multi-touch capabilities. Bluetooth technology.

Cons:
Awkward handling, Mouse moves when motioning. Not Windows compatible. (EDIT: See conclusion for windows driver hack)

Thoughts:
The Magic Mouse is definitely an exceptional product. But I would only recommend it for people who don’t game or need to perform any delicate tasks.
Today we will be reviewing Apple’s Magic Mouse. This has probably been the most anticipated mouse ever released, and after all the success Apple has had lately, why shouldn’t it be? Besides, who has ever heard of a mouse with no buttons? Let’s continue…

Design:
As you can see, the Magic Mouse follows Apple’s typical color scheme. It looks just as attractive in person as it does in the photos. It is extremely slick, light-weight and is of course, wireless.

As you can see there is no buttons, and no scroll wheel. On the flip side we have a laser mouse. As you can also see, this mouse is a little on the small side, making it perfect for notebooks. The entire casing is aluminum.

Functionality:
This mouse uses Bluetooth, which is a nice change from 2.4ghz, or infrared, like most wireless devices have. The Magic Mouse uses laser technology, giving extra accurate readings. You can swipe a finger forward and backwards to scroll, and if you use two fingers and swipe left or right it lets you navigate photos, songs, and performs the “forward one page”, “backward one page” function in Safari. You cannot pinch (zoom in and out) but can zoom by holding the control key and sliding your fingers forward and backward.

*Edit* Many of you have asked me about the O.S. requirements so I have appended this information to the review

This product will work out of the box for Mac OSX 10.5 or later. Earlier versions of OSX will need to run updates to be able to use this mouse.

This product is NOT Windows Compatible.. but I assure you that if you wait, someone will eventually create drivers for Windows.

Actual Use:
The mouse itself rests comfortably in the hand. It is easy to move around as well and works for both left and right-handed people. I was able to do several gestures, scroll easily and even detects how fast you scroll, and slows down like a normal mouse would. You can also click without a hitch. The Magic Mouse was very accurate as well.

Moving the mouse was kind of awkward but was easy to get use to. The lack of clicking felt a little off as well as this is a completely button-less mouse. Due to the mouse’s slick shape, it was a little harder to perform the gestures as it would be on a mouse pad, but that is to be expected. Performing these gestures made this lightweight mouse glide, which is a pain. I found that using a non-gaming mouse pad helped limit the glide.

Build Quality:
The Magic Mouse, like all of Apple’s products, is very nicely built. This does not feel flimsy at all. I suspect that this mouse could take a beating and work just fine. If you ever have any issues, there are plenty of Mac stores. But with that said, many users experience slow tracking speed and bad sensitivity. Many of these users had to install third party software to remedy their issue.

Conclusion:
Apple adds another fine product to its inventory. It seems like they are putting gestures on everything these days. All in all, the Magic Mouse was okay. I would not recommend it for anything but casual browsing. Because it had awkward handling, the fact that it glides when performing many gestures, and the fact they are not opening it up to windows users (minor point) I rate the Magic Mouse a 3.5.

*Edit* It has come to my attention that this product now has a Windows Driver hack – both 32-bit/64-bit. You may download the Magic Mouse Windows Hack here. You also need Apple’s Bluetooth Update for Windows