decayconstant's Full Review: Microsoft Notebook Optical (M20-00001) Mouse
If you want to play games on your laptop, you'll need a mouse. Touchpads just don't cut it. With that in mind, I went shopping for a small, portable mouse for my laptop computer.
I chose the Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse because it was small, and portable (Just what I was looking for), and it had a scroll wheel; a feature a lot of other notebook mice were missing. It also looks really cool. It is silver and has red, translucent panels on the sides which light up whenever the mouse is moved. The price, however, was more expensive that any other similar mouse, at thirty dollars.
Be warned: This is not a mouse for anything but laptops. The cord is only two feet long, so connecting it to the tower of a desktop computer wouldn't work. The cord is also quite flimsy, which may contribute to its biggest problem, which I talk about below. The small size of the mouse itself may take a day or two to get used to, but it's no big deal. When I pack up the computer, the mouse fits nicely in my notebook's carrying case.
The mouse is ambidextrous, but being so small, it doesn't have any other choice. Instead of resting your whole hand on the mouse, you can only rest the tips of your fingers on it, with your wrist resting two or three inches behind, on the desk. It has two buttons with a clickable scroll wheel. Setting it up on a Windows machine is as easy as plugging it in, though an open USB port is required. It won't work with a PS/2 port even with a PS/2 converter.
The whole point of buying the mouse, for me, was for the purpose of gaming; so how does it perform? It works well when it is working, it's accurate and easy to use, but the problem is that it doesn't always work. Often when I am playing a mouse-intensive game, a shooter for example, the mouse often just stops working. I'm then forced to quickly unplug it, then plug it back in before I die in the game. The problem doesn't usually occur when just browsing the Internet or word processing. I'm pretty sure that part of this is caused by a weak connection to the machine caused by the flimsy cord. The lack of any extra programmable buttons may also make it less desirable for some gamers.
While the Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse is a stylish, small and portable mouse, I can't overlook the fact that, sometimes, it just doesn't work. It'll work fine if all you do is work on reports, browse the Internet, and play solitaire; but it's not reliable enough for more intensive uses.
As for myself, I will be buying a new mouse soon, and it will probably be just a regular mouse, not one made specifically for a laptop.
Microsoft mice join the Microsoft family of solidly built, high-quality hardware products. Microsoft mice set a standard for comfort, accuracy, and de...More at Nu-Image Corporation
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