I know many people will now be rushing to buy a Magic Mouse. (O;
I need to replace my Logitech mouse and am thinking about the unmagical Apple Mouse with the scroll ball. Howver, I have read some comments that say that the scroll ball isn't durable.
Any stories to tell about a long-term relationship with the Apple Mouse and the scroll ball?
Mighty Mouse users, let me hear from you!
Yes, that little ball needs lots of maintenance it seems. It doesn't take too long that it needs cleaning otherwise you can only scroll maybe up or maybe down. We just use it defective most of the time cause we can't be bothered to clean it anymore. As for the side buttons, I never liked them much either....
Thanks, jmlachance. I've been finding many posts on the Internet that say the same thing about the Mighty Mouse: nice to use, needs frequent maintenance.
The recommended procedure is to turn the mouse upside-down and roll the ball against a clean cloth, slightly moistened with water. If your mouse is still dodgy, modify that procedure by using alcohol instead of water on your cloth, followed by two quick puffs from a can of compressed air directly under the ball, one from front, and one from the rear, i.e. insert the tip of the "straw" from the compressed air into the tiny space between the case and the ball and "poof" just lightly. Make sure you hold the can upright and tilt the mouse, or else you'll end up spraying liquid propellant that's reallllllly cold all over the place. I've been using the same Mighty Mouse for about two years now and it's still fine, and no, I don't use the side buttons at all. I do set the scroll-button-press to the application switcher, and I see a lot of people use it to toggle Exposé. It took me a while to find the "sweet spot" on the right-click of the Mighty Mouse, and I found that annoying at first, but my hand has reprogrammed itself with use - now my other scroll-wheel mice seem so limited!
Here's some advice I rarely follow, but freely give - do your computer a favour and wash your hands before using it. Even if you do, you should do a monthly cleaning of your keyboard following roughly the same pattern as the mouse - turn it upside down (you can do this to a laptop too, just don't turn it upside down and use a very slightly moistened cloth) and wipe the keys with very mild soapy water, followed by some quick puffs from the good-ole compressed air can, up and down the rows of keys. Most keyboard and mice failures are dirt-related, and with these new ultra-cheap keyboard mechanisms we're seeing from all manufacturers, a little dirt or hair can seriously foul up their operation.
Happy Mac'ing
Dan
Quote from: Dan Millar
I've been using the same Mighty Mouse for about two years now and it's still fine
Two years - that's good. I was afraid that it was much less durable after reading some posts.
Quote
Here's some advice I rarely follow, but freely give - do your computer a favour and wash your hands before using it.
Optical-tracking mice don't need much maintenance, but until the Magic Mouse, all scroll-wheel mechanisms have been the same technology: four tiny wheels that track the ball's movement and easily become clogged with dust, dead skin, and water food people leave on their hands. It makes sense that a small scroll-wheel (or ball) will have as much trouble of this sort.
What I like about the Mighty Mouse is that it scrolls farther than mice with a larger scroll wheel and it is easier on the hand as a result.
For those who would like to use their Apple Mighty Mouse (it can't be called that anymore, by the way, because Apple lost the legal challenge to use the name [http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple_loses_mighty_mouse_trademark_fight/]) with M-Windows, the mouse does indeed offer a left and a right click:
* no fingers on mouse: left click
* one finger on left: left click
* one finger on right: right click (context menu)
* one finger on left and one finger on right: left click
Here are some images of the rodent's innards:
http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2005/08/dissect.ars