Hands on with the new Magic Mouse


Magic Mouse

I’ve been looking for a new mouse for the past month or so, with no luck. I was hoping to get something wireless, but didn’t want to lose a USB slot for a remote dongle, and the Bluetooth options I had found didn’t suit my needs. I hated the old Mighty Mouse – right click rarely worked, it tracked weird and I never liked how it fit in my hand. So when I heard that Apple came out with a new mouse, I didn’t have high expectations.

Yesterday, I found myself in an Apple store and I decided to play around with the mouse a bit to see how I liked it. First off, it’s small. I’m a big guy with big hands, and it didn’t sit vertically as nice in my hand as my Logitech at home does. That said, after a few minutes of mousing around I realized that I could get used to the size pretty easily. The site for the Magic Mouse says that you have to click specifically in the top right corner to activate the right click, so I wasn’t too optimistic that it would work as advertised. In reality, it worked every time, no matter where on the mouse I clicked. It even had a distinctive “click” to it when I touched down.

The big selling point to me though, is the multitouch. I have a MacBook Pro with mutlitouch and I do like it, but I prefer the feeling of having a mouse in my hand as opposed to working the keypad. Scrolling felt very natural, and I never had any problems moving side to side with my finger, plus the extra momentum feature is really nice. The really cool thing though is two-finger flicking to go forward and back in Safari or iPhoto. It’s a handy feature that I hope someone can integrate into Firefox.

End result? Had they been in stock, I would’ve walked home with one yesterday.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

7 Comments

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  1. How do you middle-click? I very frequently open links in new tabs my clicking them with the scroll wheel, as it serves as a middle button in most mice. Is it possible with the Magic Mouse?

  2. The only dealbreakers for me — and I’m sure a lot of serious multi-taskers feel the same way — are the missing buttons/gestures for Expose, Spaces and Dashboard. Expose is one of the biggest reason’s I switched to Mac…and with the Magic Mouse, that effictively kills my productivity.

  3. @melmyfinger: It’s multitouch. Correct me if I’m wrong, but couldn’t you just program a gesture to activate Exposé or Spaces, like you would a physical button?

  4. @redwall_hp

    Yes you’re correct in theory, however there’s nothing in the driver currently that allows you to do that. Screen corners isn’t that bad of a workaround if you really like the mouse though.

  5. THERE IS NO WORK AROUD FOR MIDDLE CLICK, so hot corners is useless. Im a professional thinking about getting an i7 for my 3D work but if apple thinks swiping back in safari is more important than a middle click Ill go with a company that appreciates my needs. A pro i7 imac that can run FCS and Apple OWNS APPS like COLOR that use a middle click. No middle click, what were they thinking? Maybe apple dont know the user as well as they thought. There mice suck. Why use a Magic Mouse if it takes away function? gestures are cool BUT A GIMMICK. A middle click is a real tool for pro apps. Like SHAKE, NUKE, FUSION, MAYA, MODO, HOUDINI and many others. IM insulted.

  6. seriously, no middle click? but ILike to work in 3D. very big misstep Apple! you better come up with a free solution, now.

    In firefox, three finger swipe on the trackpad is back/forth. what’s it with the magic mouse?