Buying a new Mouse
Article - Buying a mouse Summery - So your looking to buy a new mouse for your computer and you have discovered the massive variety of types and prices available. So what exactly are you paying for when you look at the higher end of mouse technology? In this article we will run down the things that go on inside and outside of the mouse to help you make a decision on what you need to pay for and what to you is simply a waste. After all nobody like spending more money than they need to. |
|
When checking some of the specifications of a new mouse it may claim that it has high speed motion detection. While this isn't a specific technology it is related to the working of the mouse. High speed motion detection refers to a mouse with the ability to detect motion of the mouse at unusually high speeds. It is referenced as #g's of acceleration. Recently they are capable of around 15g's of acceleration which is typically beyond the speed that a human can move there hand. So a mouse with high speed motion detection will effectively be able to keep up with the speed that you can move it and still move the cursor accurately.
You may also see mice advertised with high speed motion detection as having 40ips or other number for that matter. This is a simple measurement of inches per second. This spec is telling you that the optical sensor will be able to read the surface underneath at a maximum speed of 40 inches per second. Again you will find it difficult to achieve this bearing in mind that 40ips is equal to 1.016 meters per second. Now you tell me when you will need to move your mouse a whole meter in under a second.
When your optical mouse is described as having an always on mode you may be thinking what's this for? Especially with energy saving being a big thing these days. Well Always on mode is mainly aimed at gamers. This mode will keep the laser scanning the mouse mat surface continuously waiting for a movement to be made. Without this mode the laser would power down and could cause a slight delay in any sudden movements of the mouse when coming out of power down mode.
While using any standard application this tiny delay is of no concern and will save power if always on mode is switched off. Unless you are series gamer then I would not make this feature high up on your shopping list.
Some of the very high end mice actually have customizable weights that can be added and taken away to make the mouse the ideal weight for you. This is a minor detail but some users and again yes gamers especially say that a mouse can be too heavy or too light to control effectively. Hence the introduction of this feature. I have not come across too many mice with this feature as yet, but if the idea takes off it could well become a standard addition to high grade mice.
Batteries and battery packs obviously are only required with wireless or cordless mice. You may find that some of the cheaper mice on the market will need there batteries replaced each time they die. This can be a pain especially if you don't have any spares when they finally give up the ghost. What to look for here is one of two other options.
The first and the most common is for your mouse to come with a docking station that will charge up re-chargeable batteries in your mouse. This solution is a great idea and not too expensive, whenever you are not using your mouse, simply place it into the docking station and you will have a fully charged mouse next time you wish to use it. A slightly more expensive option is a mouse with an internal battery pack. This works along the same lines but the batteries are not replaceable, but usually last longer between charges and can be charged more times than standard re-chargeable batteries.
Most of the non basic mice these days come with a varying amount of extra buttons to the standard two button system that was used for many years. These extra buttons can be incredibly useful in any application or game and even more so if the mouse software allows these buttons to be configured.
You can utilize the extra buttons on a configurable mouse for almost anything you can do with a keyboard. If you are mainly using you computer for word processing for example you can set extra buttons to execute a copy command and a paste command. This allows you to complete these functions with a click of a button instead of multiple key strokes. A basic example it may be but you can see the use for these extra mouse buttons.
On the games front extra mouse buttons are even more useful. many of today's PC game require a lot of different keys to be in use at the same time. By using the spare mouse buttons as duplicate keys you can take some of the controls away from the keyboard and bring them into an easier place to reach. Taking simple commands like jump and crouch onto the mouse you can make your gameplay easier and make you more competitive at multiplayer games.
Even simply internet browsing can be enhanced by using the extra buttons as the forward and back buttons for browsing. The amount of configuration depends on the mouse and quality of the software provided. If the mouse you choose comes with plenty of extra buttons then you will want to make sure that the software comes with plenty of options to set it up the way that you like it.
 |
|
CPU |
| Athlon 64 |
| Athlon64 X2 |
| AMD Sempron |
|
Digital Camera's |
| LUMIX DMC-TZ3 |
|
Graphics |
| Geforce 8800 |
| Radeon X1300 |
| Radeon X1800 |
| Radeon X1900 Series |
|
Mice |
| Razer Copperhead |
|
Monitors |
| Digimate L1715+ TFT |
| Samsung Samtron 73V |
|
Motherboard |
| Abit A8V-3rd Eye |
| ASRock 939 Dual S-ATA II |
| MSI P6N Diamond |
| MSI K8N SLI Platinum |
|
MP3 Players |
| Creative MuVo TX 256Mb |
| Creative Zen Micro 5Gb |
|
Printers |
| Epson Stylus RX585 |
| Epson Stylus RX685 |
| Lexmark X4850 |
|
Sound Cards |
| Audigy 4 Pro |
How do Optical Mice Work - How does that little red light make the cursor on your screen move. Find out what technology is behind the optical mouse revolution.
Buying a monitor - If your looking to buy a new monitor then make sure you get all the details you need on dot pitch, resolution and the different types of monitor available to you.