Don't you just hate cleaning your balls? (Microsoft Intellimouse Optical)

Member Name: sandemp

Product:	Microsoft Intellimouse Optical
Date:	09/02/05 (174 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No ball, Comfortable, Very durable

Disadvantages: Length of lead

All that fluff and gunk that gets stuck to the rollers and stops your mouse from working properly, that needs to be cleaned off regularly. Well what did you think I was talking about?

Well after getting annoyed with the bog standard mouse supplied with Ernie, trusty computer for about the hundredth time, I thought there has got to be something better. And indeed there was, in the shape of an optical mouse, which instead of using a ball to track movement uses a laser.

So we had a look around the shops, and Dixons happened to be selling the Microsoft Optical Intellimouse at half price. Now, I bought this mouse going on for two years ago for £24.99, and it appears to still be available for the same price, although the design has changed slightly.


~~~Installing the mouse~~~

The mouse is very easy to install, especially if you are using Windows XP, as the drivers are already on your computer. Simply, connect the lead into a spare USB port and Windows will automatically, detect and install the mouse. If you don't have a USB port going spare, then Microsoft have kindly supplied a PS/2 adapter.

An installation CD was also supplied, but I haven't used it, seeing as Windows did all the work for me.

~~~The styling~~~

Well there's not much you can say about a Mouse's looks is there. My mouse is a light grey colour with darker grey sides. However the new look, is grey with silver detailing. The first thing you will really notice about the mouse is the red light, that comes on as soon as you switch the computer on, it gets quite comforting, as you know it's connected properly.

This is not a cordless mouse, but the cord is huge, which I find annoying, it's of such a length that it's hard to keep the wire out of the way.

~~~Using the mouse~~~

The mouse is very comfortable to use and extremely responsive. It seems to fit perfectly into my hand, but is a little large for younger children to use. The buttons are placed perfectly, so that even though I'm left handed, I have no trouble pressing them. The wheel is also intuitive to use, and scrolls through pages effortlessly. One function I really like is that when you press the wheel down, moving the mouse will then allow you to move pages left, right, up and down.

Although Microsoft claim the mouse can be used on any surface, I have found that it doesn't work particularly well on shiny surfaces (I had one mouse mat that it hated). But it does work on a wooden surface, or dare I say it on my knee.

~~~Maintenance~~~

The mouse is extremely easy to maintain, a simple wipe with a damp cloth is all it takes. There is absolutely no need to take it apart as there is with ball mice. This is what I love so much about it, all I had to was plug it in, and use it, nothing else.

~~~System Requirements~~~

The mouse is also very forgiving on what operating systems it works with, and it works on the following OS

Windows : 95/98, 2000, ME, XP, NT workstation 4.0 SP3 or later
MAC : OS 8.6 or later

~~~Price and availability~~~

The new style optical intellimouse can be purchased from various on-line stores starting at £24.79 (excluding delivery) from savastore.com

~~~Final Words~~~

I love this mouse so much, that whenever I've bought a new computer, I've dumped the supplied mouse and used this instead. It's extremely durable, having lasted something like two years, and exceptionally easy to maintain. I would never, ever go back to using a ball mouse, not even if you paid me.

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