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The Ultimate DooMer

The Mouse Problem

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Having finally got sick of my current mouse, I'm going to get a new one. I'm thinking of getting one of those infra-red ones that have the red light underneath instead of the ball...are they any good, and do they work ok on warm surfaces? (ie. a hand-warmed desk)

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They're optical, not infrared. You can't even see infrared light.

Logitech has just come out with a new one that uses a laser instead of an LED, and it apparently has much higher precision and reliabilty, and also can be used on surfaces not usable with a traditional optical mouse (with an LED).

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I thought they were optical, but for some reason I changed it when I posted (in an attempt to not look like a fool...) Anyway, what's the surfaces that can't be used with a traditional one? (I'll probably end up with one of those 'cos they're cheaper)

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The Ultimate DooMer said:

I thought they were optical, but for some reason I changed it when I posted (in an attempt to not look like a fool...) Anyway, what's the surfaces that can't be used with a traditional one? (I'll probably end up with one of those 'cos they're cheaper)


I found shiny surfaces cause chaos... that's why I stuck to ye old ball mouse... much more reliable.

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The new fancy Logitech MX1000 laser mouse even works perfectly on transparent glass from what I understand. They haven't come out with a wired version yet, which is what I'm probably going to get (don't want to pay extra for wireless, which I don't need anyway).

Early optical mice were noticably inferior to ball mice in terms of precision, but with modern optical/laser technology it's not an issue.

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The Ultimate DooMer said:

Having finally got sick of my current mouse, I'm going to get a new one. I'm thinking of getting one of those infra-red ones that have the red light underneath instead of the ball...are they any good, and do they work ok on warm surfaces? (ie. a hand-warmed desk)


Mostly good, those optical things.

PRO
No innard cleaning!

CON
Mouse jumps across the screen when a hair gets in the way!

If you haven't got 752 cats (or even 6), you should be alright.

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Opticals are wonderful. Wireless mice on the other hand...not so great. Maybe they'd be good if you have an infinate supply of batteries and don't mind random skipping and such.

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Danarchy said:

Wireless mice on the other hand...not so great. Maybe they'd be good if you have an infinate supply of batteries and don't mind random skipping and such.


That's all fixed with the MX1000 (if you feel like paying for it). It comes with a recharger cradle and they've somehow gotten rid of the synchronization lag when you turn it on. Cheap wireless mice, on the other hand...

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I think optical mise are far superior to ball mice.

No moving parts = Radically increased durability.




And yeah, the surface you use your mouse on should not have a glossy finish since that bounces the light all around confusing the mouse. If you HAVE to work on a shiny table simply put a normal piece of paper beneath the mouse.

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I have an optical mouse - it rocks.
You don't have to clean it and it somehow feels smoother than a ball mouse.

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The Ultimate DooMer said:

I thought they were optical, but for some reason I changed it when I posted (in an attempt to not look like a fool...) Anyway, what's the surfaces that can't be used with a traditional one? (I'll probably end up with one of those 'cos they're cheaper)

really any uniform colored and textured surface sucks ass (say the card table i was useing until i "found" a new desk). personaly i dont use a mouse, but if you dont want to wear a spot on the table i sudgest you do use one.

i dont see why anyone would continue to use a ball mouse anymore. opticals are so much better. one lasted me for 5 years. logitech and microsoft mice are really great. wired or wireless is up to you man.

the mouse i was useing, and it still works, was the microsoft intellimouse. it still works great. i use it on my laptop and as a backup.

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Little Faith said:

I think optical mise are far superior to ball mice.

No moving parts = Radically increased durability.

lies, I'm still using the mouse I got when I bought this computer 5 years ago.

Old and proven hardware is invincible. It's new stuff that is prone to exploding on a regular basis.

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I've gone through about 5 ball mice. Dirt, (hair especially cat hair), crumbs get all caught in the in the little moving parts, and they screw up, and I yoink them out of the computer, swing them around by the plug, and then smash them into the ground repeatedly till they break into pieces. Wireless optical, or ball are the devil. My friend has probably wasted over 70 dollars in batteries and it just recently crapped out. Ever since I got my optical logitech, I've never had another mouse problem.

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I have a floptical so bacdafucup! Actually that's what my 120mb super disk drive was listed in my BIOS as. Unfortunately it died and I replaced it with a standard floppy. That was a few years ago. I never made much use of the super disks but I miss being able to read and write to standard floppies about 15 times as fast.

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yea super disk drives are nice. i have never had the drive fail. however the cable did. it was external USB. i really should find a good internal. however flash drives and CD/DVD R/RW has all but replaced those.

optical mice are the way to go. however for old systems you may be stuck with ball. heh i have never seen a optical serial mouse.

a woman did come into work and bought a USB mouse(optical) that had the USB to PS2 adapter. she then asked me where the serial to PS2 adapter was. i told her that her combo would not work and that she should just get the only ball mouse we carried. or go to radio shack and buy the $15 serial ball mouse.

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Get wired optical. Don't bother with wireless unless you absolutely need it. I have MS optical atm and its fine. It also comes with software and ps/2 adapter so usb isn't vital.

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I agree with the statement above.

Nothing is more annoying than having your mouse batteries run dry while you are working (or playing) at something.


Imagine being in the middle of a heated deathmatch and suddenly your mouse goes haywire.

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i have a logitech mx510 wired optical mouse. it is the BEST thing ive ever used as far as mice go. it is totally awesome for gaming and it never skips or jumps. cost about 50 bucks tho. its great for browsing too, cuz near the thumb area are 2 buttons, one for back and one for forward for the browser.

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yea the MX510 is a sweet fucking mouse. this woman at work would not shut up about the damn thing. ok ok two women at work would not shut up about the damn thing. however one of them was a vendor for logitech and AMD. however that wench never shuts up about anything. but i have beeter thing to spend $50 on. i just bought a $15 optical mouse and it works fine.

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Little Faith said:

Imagine being in the middle of a heated deathmatch and suddenly your mouse goes haywire.


Or it refuses to go in one direction or just not move the distance you turn it for.

(^^guess what happens to me all the time^^)

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pritch said:

Get wired optical. Don't bother with wireless unless you absolutely need it. I have MS optical atm and its fine. It also comes with software and ps/2 adapter so usb isn't vital.



I use rechargable batteries and use my phone to recharge them. The mouse drains the batteries faster than you can look (approx 1 week per charge) and if you don't have the means to recharge it will become *very* expensive. I had no choice because I can't stand mouse cables...

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Well I've just gotten a standard MS optical mouse today and it works great with a piece of paper under it (other surfaces made it go haywire occasionally), thanks for the help.

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ive got a Kensington wireless optical.....it really sux. It only works half the time, and i ALWAYS lose the damn thing.

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