[Dgysy]

I picked up a Kensington Studio mouse this evening, for those who may be interested in its function and appearance these are my impressions:

Firsr asthetically it does not go with a Powermac as it is silver and white, it matches better with an iMac and its white keyboard.

It feels light and kind of "cheap", it's click is tinny and does not feel as good in the hand as the Apple Pro mouse.

The scroll pad works but is kind of jerky, all in all I'm not impressed with this mouse and expected more.

[Max8319]

<a href="http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=005950" target="_blank">check this thread out</a> for further discussion

i have a similar impression of the mouse. i did not find it ergonomic at all. it's a box with the corners rounded; no ergonomics at all; it's like they didn't even try

i'm glad that i went to compusa and tried out their display model. it's a shame cause it looks real good. to bad they forgot to think about ergonomics

[Macola]

If you really want ergonomics, throw away those mice and get a good (optical) trackball <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> Too bad Kensington doesn't make any optical trackballs.

[Roxie]

That's a shame. The photo on the back of MacWorld or was that in MacAddict a few months back... really made this mouse look like a stunner and had not a hint of white showing. Now to find out it it doesn't even work well makes me even more disappointed.

[GORDYmac]

Yeah, my first impressions were a little deflated too. The MacWorld photo really was awesome, I preordered 3 minutes after seeing it.

However, it is a great mouse. The sides are rubberized, and the fit is perfect for my hands. Coming from the Kensington Pro Optical mouse and the Apple Pro mouse, I like this one much better.

However, I am pissed that the photoshopped image on the MacWorld cover was so misleading. I'll wait until I see the actual product from now on. My bad...

EDIT: Also, the scroll pad's sensitivity can be adjusted via MouseWorks. After I adjusted my mouse settings there, it has worked perfectly.

<small>[ 07-18-2002, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: GORDYmac ]</small>

[KidRed]

I think the mouse matches fine. My only issue is that you really have to move your finger to scroll and after browsing these forums for a few hours, your finger tends to get stiff. I don't agree with the cheap comment, but my issue now is that it's grabbing on my desk and not gliding smoothly. I remember reading something about a mouse pad/surface for optical mice so I'm here searching for that info.

[Roxie]

I think new generic mouse drivers from Kensington just came out yesterday. I'd be interested in if they are of any improvement.

I hear this http://www.fUncindustries.com/ is about the best mouse pad going. Ugly as hell but folks seem to swear by it. I have not had a chance to use it.

[MichiganRich]

my two cents...

I recommended one to a friend at work based on Kensington's sterling reputation, and now I wish I would have kept my mouth shut. We're retouchers at a photo studio and the company we work for was buying him a new mouse and keyboard. The Kensington Studio Mouse *does* feel cheap, and the white on the sides is grubby-looking after only two weeks of use. It doesn't fit comfortably into the hand, either for him or myself. The touch-sensitive scroll wheel isn't sensitive enough. Outlining an image in Photoshop with it made my fingers ache. I'm really not hard to please, but this one is unimpressive, considering Kensington's rep.

[coolmac]

Want a great mouse?
Get either the corded or cordless Logitech (MX500 & MX700) optical mouse, I have the cordless version that comes with a rechargeable base, it looks great, feels great and best of all works great.

It has two turbo scroll buttons that do the same as the Studio Mouse' scroll but much more sophisticated and works great.

I started this thread (changed my name from dygysy) and I've used the Apple Pro mouse, Michrosoft IE Intelimouse, Kensington Studio, and now the Logitech MX700 and the Logitech is head and shoulders above the rest of them.

[TimmyDee51]

The Logitech mice are nice, but they look like something you would pick up at Best Buy for your PC, not something I want to put on my desk with my Mac that I dropped a buttload of cash for. This may sound snobbish, but I want a mouse that looks nice with my computer. I got my parents a Logitech mouse for Christmas last year and they are well constructed and work as advertised, but it looks kind of funny. Are there mice out there that have two buttons and actually match or come close to matching Apple's industrial design while at the same time working well? Please tell me there are.

[coolmac]

The Logitech mice are nice, but they look like something you would pick up at Best Buy for your PC, not something I want to put on my desk with my Mac that I dropped a buttload of cash for. This may sound snobbish, but I want a mouse that looks nice with my computer. I got my parents a Logitech mouse for Christmas last year and they are well constructed and work as advertised, but it looks kind of funny. Are there mice out there that have two buttons and actually match or come close to matching Apple's industrial design while at the same time working well? Please tell me there are. [/QUOTE]

Which Mac do you have?
If you have an iMac I agree, the Logitech mice would look out of place, but if you have a Powermac it will look great together, it practically matches the Powermac keyboard exactly.

[TimmyDee51]

Really? I do have a MDD PowerMac so I guess I'll have to see it in person. The pictures on the web make them look like some terrible AlienWare piece of hardware for "extreme" gamers. Guess I misjudged them.

[KidRed]

What's a MDD powermac?

I have the studiomouse but gave it to my PB and I'm back to my old intellimouse. The studimouse looks great and is cool, but the white sides do get grubby easily, the scrolling hurts yoyr finger after a while and the cursor click don't respond very quickly. versiontracker said to set chording to the fastest to get the clicks recognize immediately. But alas, it's not as comfortable as my intelimouse. So, the saerch continues....maybe the logitech....

[TimmyDee51]

An MDD PowerMac is the new set of G4s (Mirrored Drive Door -- Apple's name for them). I've been looking into Logitechs and I think I'm going to go for one. I think it's the MX300. I don't want much more than two buttons and a scroll wheel, so this looks like the way to go.

[-Q-]

KidRed hit my complaints right on the nose. After a few months of use, my Studiomouse looks rather gross with the two big smudges of dirt on each side. While it looks nice next to my iBook, it doesn't seem to hold up well over time from a looks perspective.

Also, as KR mentioned, it doesn't seem to respond immediately when I click sometimes. And that gets really frustrating when I'm try to select a specfic line of code in Dreamweaver and only get half of what i want b/c the Studiomouse took a second to register the click...

I've always been a fan of Kensington's products, but the Studiomouse hasn't lived up to it's Macworld picture or the overal Kensington reputation...

[KidRed]

Originally posted by -Q-:
KidRed hit my complaints right on the nose. After a few months of use, my Studiomouse looks rather gross with the two big smudges of dirt on each side. While it looks nice next to my iBook, it doesn't seem to hold up well over time from a looks perspective.

Also, as KR mentioned, it doesn't seem to respond immediately when I click sometimes. And that gets really frustrating when I'm try to select a specfic line of code in Dreamweaver and only get half of what i want b/c the Studiomouse took a second to register the click...

I've always been a fan of Kensington's products, but the Studiomouse hasn't lived up to it's Macworld picture or the overal Kensington reputation...

I just got the Logitech MX as noted above, but i got the 300 instead. I was looking at the MX 500 but didn't know if it would fit comfortably in my hand while doing tedious photoshop stuff. Also, it had all these extra buttons that i didn't think would work or be programmable with X, but I may have been worng. The 300 comes with an application switcher button and yes, it's programable in X. The 500 had I think and page up and down buttons, and back and forward buttons, both for the internet but i didn't think they'd work in X. When I loaded their control panel, it states about programming all the features in X, so I'm a little sad I didn't take the cahnce and get the 500.

I must say, I'm impressed and it's silver and black, does'nt look too bad. Also of note, the 500 & 700 don't have buttons, technically, the plastic just curves over and is suspended, so you're pressing on the raised portion of a long single peice of plastic, kinda Apple-ish in concept.

[KidRed]

Originally posted by TimmyDee51:
An MDD PowerMac is the new set of G4s (Mirrored Drive Door -- Apple's name for them). I've been looking into Logitechs and I think I'm going to go for one. I think it's the MX300. I don't want much more than two buttons and a scroll wheel, so this looks like the way to go.

oh duh. I totally forgot about that, lol

[-Q-]

Based on the feedback here and talking with some co-workers who use it, I just picked up a Logitech MX 500. Overall first impression is that it's nice.

Some observations:

• Fits nicely in the hand. Don't think I'll have any problems using it for extended periods.
• Tracks nicely on the desk. Doesn't seem to skip or jump at all.
• I love the application switcher button.
• Not a big fan of the software. I prefer Kensington's MouseWorks and it's feature of having application-specific key commands. Don't see a way to do that with the Logitech.
• The page up/down buttons are very handy.
• Definitely doesn't compliment my iBook nearly as well as the Studiomouse did.

Overall, from first impressions I think this is a better mouse than the Studiomouse. I may change my mind after a few weeks of use, but initial impressions is good...