After all this hoopla about how bad ball mice are compared to optical, I decided to once and for all compare them both.
Using a traditional Microsoft IntelliMouse with a ball for years, I have stepped up to Logitech's offering here:
http://www.epinions.com/content_59638648452 .
But after using the Logitech, I decided to go back to Microsoft's mouse offerings. The optical version of the IntelliMouse fits my hands great, and was something I didn't even knew I missed until I held it in my hands again. The contours are perfect for the right hand, which is bad news for lefties.
The newer offering from Microsoft includes extra buttons on the left side where your thumb makes contact, allowing you to (by default) move back and foward in Internet Explorer. You can reprogram them to do other things such as Start Menu, minimize, maximize, and restore.
Tracking is slightly better than the Logitech. However, both suffers the same incompatibilities with certain surfaces such as glass and mirrored, which is understandable. However, most of us will have a mouse pad, a wood grain desktop, or a black matted desktop for the mouse to play on.
With the ball version, sudden movements are tracked, but only linearly. With the Logitech, the cursor moves quickly, but suddenly looses sight and starts to move the other (opposite) direction as well. The Microsoft Optical IntelliMouse, however, tracked it better, but still looses sight as to what you are exactly doing. But again, these are the pitfalls of optical mice, and most of us would not be pushing any mice that quickly in the first place.
The included USB to PS/2 converter is apprieciated, as old DOS programs will not work with USB mice. Also, not everyone needs the precision that the IntelliMouse provides, which the USB interface provides with the right mouse (such as this mouse). The PS/2 may not transfer as much data required for this precision compared to USB, as many of us would agree, for most mousing around in Windows, we really don't need it.
Either way, this Microsoft IntelliMouse covers a lot of basis, which is hard to imagine for such a device meant for simplistic tasks.
Drivers are not needed, as it is detected as a simple PS/2 mouse, or even as a human interface device (if UBS is used). The included software is meant to enhance the mouse, including programming the extra buttons and the wheel itself. It is very straight forward, and being Microsoft, the software is embedded with the Window's Control Panel under Mouse. It creates more tabs for programming the buttons, along with sensitivity, speed, and more.
All this makes sure that this mouse is another one of those devices that you use all the time, but never think about.
CompuVest
