A mouse I enjoy seeing.

Packaging:
If you have ever opened an Apple product, and I am assuming that you have, you know that Apple’s attention to detail extends to the contents and the placement of everything in one of their packages. This is also true with the Mighty Mouse, albeit, to a lesser degree. The Mighty Mouse box lacks the ornately cut styrofoam that adorns the MacBook and instead sports a straight forward approach. The Mighty Mouse is situated in the middle of a custom designed egg crate and is hidden underneath manuals and the installation CD. Anticlimactic? Perhaps.

The Installation:
The included manuals insisted that I needed to install the software before connecting the mouse, but I’m a rebel and decided to connect it first. OS X recognized the mouse and placed it in the Mouse and Keyboard pane of system preferences, just like that. No interaction necessary. To this day, I am not sure why Apple demands that you install the software when it appears to be included with OS X (10.4.9) already. Installation? Effortless.


The Design:
Apple’s color scheme consists of two colors: white and grey. And, if you’re picky, black and silver. But, it’s this way for a reason. Everything matches. The Mighty Mouse pairs with my white and grey MacBook as if it were an ensemble assembled by a fashionista. They just go together. Another nice touch is the inconspicuous Apple logo on the top shell.
The tail (wire) of the Mighty Mouse could be short depending on how you work. For me, it’s not a big deal, but I can see where some would get frustrated. It was designed to be plugged into the back of an Apple Keyboard, but the length is sufficient enough to stretch behind my MacBook to a mouse pad on the opposite side of the USB port.

Some argue that the pill shape of the Mighty Mouse is bothersome. It depends on how you hold it though. If you are patient, you can discover a way to hold the mouse comfortably, while still being able to access all of the mouse’s features. I now prefer this pill design over the “ergonomic” shape of some other computer mice. It’s simple, it’s basic, and it works. Design? Attractive and functional.

Using it:
Computer mice have become a kind of medium for some manufacturers to test their latest psycho ideas. Some of the ideas are alright, but some are just plain dumb. All of the features of the Mighty Mouse are thought out and logical. The scroll ball is an engineering marvel in its flexibility and excellent tactile feedback. It allows the user to scroll in ANY direction: horizontal, diagonal, vertical, and 360º. This is nice when you are plowing though an extensive iTunes library, or when you are editing tracks in GarageBand. As Steve Jobs would say, “It scrolls like butter.”

There are four buttons on the Mighty Mouse. The right (1) and left (2) click, the side squeeze button(s) (3) and the scroll ball can be pressed as well (4). Each button can be assigned to do whatever you please. They can launch Dashboard, all three forms of Exposé, Spotlight, Application Switcher, and in some cases, you can have them set to launch an Application such as Keynote. For me, the best setup is to have Dashboard assigned to the scroll ball button, and Exposé assigned to the squeeze buttons. For some reason, the side squeeze buttons have been attacked like the French in WWI by editors and casual users. I don’t understand why. They are incredibly useful when set to launch Exposé. I just barely have to contract my hand muscles for the buttons to activate. Some people might just be trying too hard. Who knows? They work quite well if you ask me.

“When will Apple introduce a multi-button mouse?” If I got paid for every time I heard that, I would be quite a rich man. They did it, and there is finally a right button. Some are confused at this though. There are no buttons on the mouse so how does it distinguish between right and left clicks? Capacitive sensors under the shell. In order to right click, you need to lift your left finger up then click with your right finger.. Now, if you are too lazy to do that, then I am sorry, but once you get used to it, lifting your finger becomes second nature. It also prevents unwanted right-clicks.

The default tracking (speed) setting for the Mighty Mouse was quite low, and it felt like I was mousing through mud. All you have to do is change the setting to a speed you are comfortable with, and there you go.

Conclusion:
Just like Apple’s other products, the Mighty Mouse is a device that gets out of your way so you can do what you need to, but it also features incredible technology that lets you get your work done faster. The Mighty Mouse is a perfect companion for your Mac, and there is not a better mouse out there, especially for $50.ƒmice