I may be in a minority at the Ars Orbiting HQ, but I've been a big fan of the Apple Mouse (formerly known as the Mighty Mouse) since its introduction. I like the styling and the mouse's functionality, and unlike some of my relatives, I can remember that something different will happen if I click with my finger on the right side of the mouse. Of course, the Apple Mouse has its drawbacks, the chief of which is the tendency of the scrolling orb to get gummed up with palm cheese and stop working correctly.

When Apple announced the Magic Mouse, the feature list intrigued me, especially the gestures. Since getting my MacBook Air, I've become a big fan of the three-fingered swipe for navigation when surfing. So Apple's move to bring that functionality to its mouse lineup made ordering one an easy decision. I placed my order the day the Magic Mouse was announced, and it arrived this past Friday.

Apple Magic Mouse Manufacturer Apple Price $69 Shop Ars System requirements Mac OS X 10.5.8, Mac OS X 10.6.1

The mouse arrived in a nondescript brown box. I opened it to find what looked like a plastic display case with a Magic Mouse encased therein. Two AA batteries were installed with power switch on the bottom set to "off." I surfed over to apple.com to download the software (Leopard version), and after a mandatory reboot, it was time to experience Apple's latest attempt to improve the humble mouse.

After restarting, I attempted to discover the Magic Mouse using the "Set Up Bluetooth Device" option under the Bluetooth Status icon in my menu bar. Unfortunately, it was unable to see the mouse, and after three attempts I opened up the Mouse panel in System Preferences (the icon for which now bears an uncanny resemblance to the Magic Mouse). From there, it was another 30 seconds until the mouse was recognized and happily guiding my cursor around my monitors.

As you can see in the screenshot below, the Magic Mouse takes over the the Mouse panel, so you can easily set it up. Included options are secondary click (e.g., right-click), scrolling, screen zoom, and swipe navigation. The Magic Mouse interprets downward and upward movements of the finger as scrolling, and you can configure it to scroll with momentum or without. With momentum-less scrolling, the mouse works exactly like any other scroll wheel. If you use momentum, you can easily scroll to the bottom of a giant window with a single, fast flick of the finger.

The Mouse panel in System Preferences after the Magic Mouse software is installed

For those used to ergonomic mice, the shape of the Magic Mouse will likely be a bit off-putting. Its more gentle slope and metal sides are a stark contrast to the more voluptuous curves of the Apple Mouse. At 4 ounces, it has a pleasing heft to it (the Bluetooth Apple Mouse weighs 5oz while the wired model comes in at about 3oz).

A tale of two mice

Usage

Unlike most other laser mice which use the underside of the mouse as the gliding surface, the Magic Mouse moves around the desktop on a pair of black plastic-looking rails. The overall effect is a bit smoother than the Mighty Apple Mouse. Unlike other vendors, Apple offers little in the way of technical specifics about the tracking ability of its mice, but after a few days of use, I will say that the Magic Mouse feels more precise than its predecessor, whether on my wood desk or a black granite countertop.

With its rather un-mouse-like shape, the Magic Mouse feels less comfortable than other mice. The much-rounder Apple Mouse invites you to rest the full weight of your hand on it, but doing that on the Magic Mouse isn't that comfortable. I find myself gripping it with a much lighter touch—not because I'm worried about usage, but because it's more comfortable that way.

Apple boasts that the Magic Mouse is the "world's first Multi-Touch mouse," and we'll take the company at its word on that. But what's multitouch like when integrated into a mouse? It's pretty sweet—most of the time. Scrolling on the Magic Mouse is incredibly smooth, and since there are no mechanical parts, you don't have to worry about junk getting into a scroll wheel (or scroll ball). Horizontal control is also more precise than with the Apple Mouse. I keep the "scroll with momentum" option turned on, as it's very useful when navigating large pages.

The two-finger swipe is quite useful when browsing the Web, and I've already stopped right-clicking to go backwards and forwards through my browser history. You don't even need to grip the mouse as you swipe; there's enough static friction to keep it from moving if you perform a hands-off gesture (I've tried on glass, wood, and granite). If you have used screen zoom with the Apple Mouse, you'll find the implementation with the Apple Mouse to be fairly intuitive—simply hold down the control key and swipe your finger across the top of the mouse.

But the Magic Mouse not all rainbows and unicorns. If you want to right-click, you'll need to get used to lifting your left-most finger off of the mouse in order for it to register correctly. If you have an Apple Mouse, you'll already be used to it—I do it without thinking, but that doesn't change the fact that lifting your index finger into the air so your middle finger can click is a more stressful position for your hand.

I've also noticed that the mouse will occasionally interpret a movement as a swipe, although this has only happened a couple of times. Those of you who make middle-clicking a regular part of your mousing activities will want to avoid the Magic Mouse altogether: middle clicks are not supported at all. But there's one aspect of the Magic Mouse that may be a complete deal-breaker for long-time Apple Mouse users: no support for Expos? and Dashboard actions.

For those who aren't familiar with the Apple Mouse, it offers the ability to activate Expos? and Dashboard without using the keyboard or mousing over to a monitor hot corner. I had my Apple Mouse configured to bring up Expos? when I squeezed the pressure-sensitive sides and launch Dashboard when I pressed down on the scroll ball. After using the Magic Mouse for a half-hour, I realized how dreadfully much I used that functionality. I use Expos? for switching apps and windows when I'm mousing (if my hands are on my keyboard I'll use command-tab and option-tab instead), and I use Dashboard several times a day as well. Now that I'm using the Magic Mouse, I've got Dashboard and Expos? mapped to the F18 and F19 keys on my extended keyboard, so there's a minimum of movement between mouse and keyboard to active that them. It's an adequate workaround, but one that has destroyed a couple years' worth of muscle memory.

The Apple Blog has posted a hack to get Expos? working with the Magic Mouse, and while I can confirm that it works, it does so at the expense of the functionality that makes Apple's newest input device distinctive. I was able to map Expos? to a right-swipe by mapping right-swipe to F18 using MultiClutch, but right-swipe no longer worked for navigation in Safari.

I have yet to decide whether the Magic Mouse is much of an improvement over its predecessor. The multitouch capability and lack of a scroll ball to gum up are definite upgrades, but the loss of Expos? and Dashboard support about balance that out for me. If you like your Apple Mouse's pressure sensors and the ability to launch Expos? and Dashboard from your mouse, you may want to give the Magic Mouse a pass until Apple figures out a way to support those features with its new mosue. If you're in love with multitouch and are tired of futzing with scroll wheels and scroll ball hand crud build-up, the Magic Mouse may be for you. If you're using a Logitech or some other third-party mouse and are wondering if it's time to give one of Apple's eccentric mice a shot, it isn't.

The good

Swiping back and forth through your browser history beats clicking or keyboarding

Momentum scrolling is extremely well-implemented

No place for palm cheese to be deposited

Pleasing heft

Tracking

The bad

Not the most ergonomically pleasing mouse

Occasionally interprets movement as a swipe

Secondary-click implementation could be better

The ugly