“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,” Eric Bangeman reports for Ars Technica.
“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),” Bangeman reports.
MacDailyNews Take: We do not totally agree with Bangeman’s assessment of the two-finger swipe. Unless you use a very light touch, two finger swiping can cause the very light Magic Mouse to slide and therefore can be more of a pain than it’s worth. That said, all other aspects of what just might be the world’s most beautiful looking computer mouse are excellent; the scrolling (vertical and horizontal), the accuracy, and the smoothness of cursor movement. With a few days of use behind us now, we can already recommend Apple’s Magic Mouse highly (our Mighty Mouses have been retired), but unless you can train yourself to two-finger swipe with a very light touch (the mouse is definitely sensitive enough to read lightly applied gestures) just don’t expect to use the two-finger swipe as the mouse can be simply too light and slide too smoothly on surfaces for it to be useful.
Bangeman continues, “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… 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.”
Full review here.
I just ordered the iMac i7 (woohoo!) but I have a feeling that the magic mouse will soon join it’s brethren on eBay within a day or two. I’ll definitely give it a real chance though.
I daresay it will impossible to use another sort of mouse after using the Magic Mouse.
In my opinion Apple blew it with the new iMacs mouse and keyboard. The keyboard felt flimsy and cheap to me and has no heft if you want to hold it in your lap. Also, it looks ridiculously small and out of proportion when sitting in front of the 27 inch. Also the mouse was
too small and I have small hands. I was so disappointed I decided I wasn’t getting the new iMac.
no way to trigger Expose is a glaring faux pas – had i know this up front, i’d have not wasted the money
The 2-finger swipe works just fine for me. You have to use a light touch. Just like the iPhone, you eventually realize that you can use a very light touch to tap out messages.
I love my magic mouse. Check out my review on iMacazine.com
Why not tap to click? Why a physical mouse button?
Works better than my Mighty Mouse. Omnidirectional scrolling in all applications, something the Mighty Mouse would never do for me.
my thumb and pinky naturally rest on each side of the mouse keeping the mouse from moving while swiping. no problems here.
I grabbed one off the shelf at the Apple store then tried one connected to a new iMac. This was 15 or 20 minutes after putting on some hand lotion (it’s winter, ya know). It was impossible to use. The surface is TOO smooth just like the glass trackpads on new MacBooks. I put the mouse back on the shelf.
The 27″ iMac doesn’t seem a lot bigger than the 24″. It’s nice that they went to 16:9 vs 16:10. It was really bothering me that there were those black areas above and below the movies I’d watch at work. And having all of that vertical space to see more lines of code bothered me even more. I won’t be buying a 27″ iMac either.
@ Time Space Light:
“Why not tap to click?”
You’d have to constantly lift your index finger to click. Welcome, CTS.
I’ve been using the Magic Mouse for two weeks now and love it. On my next voyage to the Apple Store, I will definitely get my previous iMac a Magic Mouse, too.
I do miss the hot keys, but maybe Apple can add those in a form similar to hot corners via firmware updates. For now, I am using hot corners. I really want pinching added! I can’t believe they didn’t include this originally since it works so well on trackpads and iPhones already. With the huge resolution on this screen, it makes the text smaller, so I really would like to be able to use the pinch/pull gestures to zoom in and out, rather than the clunky Control key method.
Using the two finger swipe does not move the Magic Mouse at all for me. I mostly have it sitting on a mouse pad, but sometimes use it just on my wood desk.
If you’re moving the mouse with the two finger swipes, you are doing it WAY to heavily handed. Even with the scrolling, the lighter the touch the faster it scrolls.
I feel the magic mouse is the best mouse apple has ever made. I was really weary of the mouse and keyboard that came with my 21.5, but have found them a real joy to use. The mouse works great and the scrolling is so smooth. I do hope that apple adds a third button function. The swipe function is very useful and Im finding myself using it all the time. I did find I have to use a mouse pad so the mouse does move as much when I swipe.
The keyboard is small and thin, but feels real sturdy to me. Im not really sure what Anthony001. If he wants hefty tape some weights to the back of the keyboard that would add some heft.
TO MASTER the “two finger swipe” (no, my MOM did not master the two finger swipe) just curl your two fingers and use the mid-section of the mouse. No accidental click-age.
Third button, please.
MDN MW “years”, as in “I’ve been using three buttons for too many years to give it up now”.
No Expose.. basically makes this a pretty paperweight.
Jeez, this board is full of trolls today. I have a hunch that at least some of you have not even tried it out, yet you feel equipped to pass judgment.
What a lot of you Luddites don’t understand is that Apple can update the new Magic Mouse with – get ready – software updates. Just by learning from customer feedback, Apple can make further enhancements, and that’s exciting. Try doing that with a scroll wheel.
The other thing is that let’s face it, folks: we’re tifosi (Google that). Railbirds. Whiners. We’re not like the rest of the people buying Macs. We expect the moon and the stars, nitpick everything, and think we know more than Steve Jobs. If we did, we would be Steve Jobs, but instead, we’re a bunch of losers with a mortgage and an old car. Go to the mirror, boy. See what you see? It ain’t Steve Jobs.
So enough of your whining. If you’re going to buy a Magic Mouse, be patient. Otherwise, enjoy your Microsoft mouse.
Have a nice day, frigtards.
You have to give the Magic Mouse a few days to get all the gestures down smoothly. I was disappointed with many aspects of the mouse at first but now I am hooked and hate using older mice. Hold the mouse while you swipe. It doesn’t feel normal because you’ve never done it before. Like I said, give it a few days and you’ll never go back.
I bet Microsoft will introduce a new mouse called
“Microsoft InHellimouse”
I have been happily using a Microsoft Intellimouse for years – perfect ergonomically for me. So good I that I cannot believe it is a MS product.
I loved the Magic Mouse concept when it was announced. I really like the Magic Mouse in practice, too, but it is also a little too light for me and a little too small for my hand. I think it is just a learning curve, though. It will take a few months (MM at home, MSIM at work) to see if one wins out over the other.
Spike,
I don’t know what kind of Mac were you using that came with three buttons, but as far as the Mac community is concerned, single-button mouse was the norm until OS X showed up (supporting optional two-button mice), and until the new MagicMouse provided the first device with secondary click support as a standard. Never was a three-button mouse included or even available as an option.
Even in the Windows world, with the exception of very few hardware makers, vast majority today has a two-button mouse, with a scroll wheel (sometimes the wheel is clickable).
…”and until the new MagicMouse provided the first device with secondary click”…
Make that Mighty Mouse…
Anthony007,
The tiny Apple keyboard can be swapped out for the full-size Apple keyboard at no cost. The same with the Magic Mouse for the Mighty Mouse (Apple Mouse now). Neither are wireless anymore, but it can be done. And it’s hardly a reason to not buy a computer like that. Especially when other keyboards and mice are easy to locate, both online and in stores.
Each to their own. I use a Macally icekey and a Logitech MX400 with my Mac Pro after the original keyboard and Mighty Mouse pooped out. Couldn’t be more pleased with the performance and price. Cheers…
Having tried this at an Apple Store, I can honestly say I found the two finger swipe incredibly easy. No problems here, and for that reason I went ahead and bought one. And since I rarely if ever use Expose (although I do now use the Dock icon Expose thingy in Snow Leopard), this also does not bother me.