How To Choose a Computer Mouse

Tracking Technologies

Mechanical mice - Mechanical mice were the first ones used on computers, and can still be found for sale, despite the advances of tracking technologies. These mice feature a hard ball on the underside that rolls as the mouse is moved, and rollers inside the mouse allow the physical motion to be translated to the pointer on the screen. Optical mice - Optical mice replace the whole ball/roller assembly of mechanical mice with a beam of a light and an optical sensor. Optical mice have several advantages over mechanical mice. Although mice generally aren’t heavy, the elimination of the ball and roller mechanism allows an optical mouse to be much lighter than a comparable mechanical mouse. A clean desktop is generally good enough, but those looking to take the precision of optical mice to the highest level may opt for a performance “mousing surface”. Laser mice - Laser technology is the latest and greatest in computer mice tracking, and takes the advantages of optical to a new level.

Most of the attributes of a laser mouse have been described in the optical mouse section, except for one. The Logitech MX1000 laser mouse may be the mouse for you if you are looking for extreme precision. PS2 - PS2 mice were the standard for a long time, as all motherboards provided two PS2 ports for connecting a keyboard and a mouse. It seems that just about any mouse now uses USB to connect, whether it is a wired mouse, or any variety of wireless mice that we are about to look at.

Wireless Connection Technologies

This generic wireless mouse operates on the 27MHz frequency and the mouse itself is powered by AAA batteries which are not included. The A4Tech ND-30 RFID wireless mouse must be used with the included mouse pad in order to function, but there are no batteries in the mouse, and no cords on the mouse to get in the way. Features
Buttons – Most mice (except for a Macintoch’s) include at least two buttons.