Mice

[Stephen Coates]

Anyone got any recommendations for mice?

I currently use a Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical which I got in 2002. It works fine but is getting a bit yellowed, so I am pondering getting a new mouse. I also lack spare PS/2 mice.

All I want, is a conventional mouse shape (non of these weird shapes), a left button, a right button, a wheel, and wheel (middle) button. Oh, and a wire.

Nothing more.

A lot of mice these days seem to either be funny shapes, have too many buttons or have strange coloured LEDs. Maybe if there is nothing new which is good I will just get an old stock Wheel Mouse Optical.

[Puni/Void]

I don't have any suggestions I'm afraid, but I just wanted to say that I agree with you. A lot of of the modern mice are more about appearance than functionality. It is the same with keyboards. It's not easy to find a good classic keyboard anymore.

I'm using one now that I'm not happy with. It's more clumsy than my old one and the keys are more cramped together. Did buy an adapter to use my old favourite keyboard, but that does not work on my PC unfortunately.

Anyone got any recommendations for mice?

I currently use a Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical which I got in 2002. It works fine but is getting a bit yellowed, so I am pondering getting a new mouse. I also lack spare PS/2 mice.

All I want, is a conventional mouse shape (non of these weird shapes), a left button, a right button, a wheel, and wheel (middle) button. Oh, and a wire.

Nothing more.

A lot of mice these days seem to either be funny shapes, have too many buttons or have strange coloured LEDs. Maybe if there is nothing new which is good I will just get an old stock Wheel Mouse Optical.

[Stephen Coates]

What sort of keyboard do you have?

I did have a look at modern keyswitch based ones as opposed to getting another Model M keyboard (see my Unicomp thread). There are quite a few available, the Cherry G80 and Das Keyboard being examples. They all look good, but are quite a bit more expensive than rubber dome keyboards. Maybe you could look at something like that if you want a good quality keyboard.

Can't say I know much about new rubber dome keyboard as I haven't really used any recently, except for a Dell one, which I'd say is decent.

A lot of modern mice do seem to have strange shapes. I'm not sure if these are just for the sake of it, or if they do serve some purpose, but I'm quite happy with a conventional shape.

[Demon Cleaner]

I only use the standard Cherry keyboards, they are very good, and cost about 10£. They're called Cherry G83-6105 or RS 6000.

[Harrison]

For a pretty standard mouse I always pick Microsoft mice. You really can't go wrong with them. M$ have been making some of the best general purpose mice for many years now, that are robust, nice to use, and just work. Something they are finally slowly applying to the rest of their business.

Their IntelliMouse Optical USB mice are what I use for most systems.

If you wanted the best mouse however I highly recommend the Logitech gaming mice. Specifically the G500 Gaming mouse. I use this on my main system and it is a brilliant device. It is a high end gaming mouse though so does have more buttons and features that a standard mouse, but they are useful for more than gaming. The one you might think is a gimmick is the weight system. It comes with a set of weights you can put into a tray inside the mouse, to make it heavier or lighter. I like mice to have a bit of weight to them so this is nice for me. It also has a great scroll wheel with a small button just above it. Click the button and the metal scroll wheel becomes free and you can spin it to continue scrolling until you stop it. Click the button and it locks it into a more traditional wheel you have to move to scroll. Works well. It also has a sensitivity control on the side indicated by some LEDs that is useful for different software and games.

As I said the G500 is a hardcore gaming mouse, but I didn't pick it specifically for gaming. It fits the had very nicely and the features are all useful. But if you don't want all that then the Microsoft mice are worth it.

[Stephen Coates]

My Wheel Mouse Optical finally got worn out a few months back, so lacking any other wheel mouse, I dug out my old PS/2 IntelliMouse (from 1999), and repaired it. The problem was merely a damaged cable.

However, I would prefer to get a more modern mouse.

I just looked at Microsoft's website, and all I could say was WTF?

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/mice