Hey!

I bought a new notebook and I'm looking for a good wireless mouse. I know it sounds a bit strange, but I really want a very simple one: Two buttons, scroll wheel, nothing fancy; maybe black. It should be pretty cheap, too.

I'm rather confused. I don't understand at all why there are wireless mice that are not bluetooth. What for? Isn't the little USB thing annoying? And the Apple mouse is good, but rather expensive. What to do? Where to look? Any recommendations?

Thanks!
Pete

[P]

Is it a Macbook? I've found that the Magic Mouse is a quite nice laptop mouse, but if it's a Wintel laptop, you might want to look elsewhere. The Logitech V470 at least looks good, and Logitech usually has good quality hardware.

Yeah, it's not a MacBook - Wintel... The Logitech V470 seems ok. I wonder though, still: Where's the difference between wireless and bluetooth, if there is any...? And what's the fuss about 'laser' or not or accurate resolutions? Is that so important? I need a mouse for all day stuff (and then, sometimes, perhaps Photoshop Elements and maybe a bit games, but not much). I dunno, still looking...

Thanks!
Pete

[ibook_steve]

Bluetooth is a standard that adds security features to a PAN (personal area network). You can read about the differences between Bluetooth and standard wireless connections on Wikipedia (Bluetooth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Yes, BT is nice because if it's built-in, you don't need a dongle.

Isn't pretty much every mouse a laser mouse these days? Anyway, a laser will give you much more accurate mousing than a standard LED mouse because laser light is focused, whereas LED light will disperse a little bit. The mouse looks at the light reflected off the surface you're mousing on to figure out if you've moved the mouse and how far, essentially taking snapshots of the reflections. The more snapshots and the more precise the point of reflected light, the better resolution and accuracy you'll get.

I like Logitech, too.

Steve

[P]

Logitech tends to use a proprietary wireless protocol instead of Bluetooth for mice and especially mice + keyboard combos that are intended for desktops. Not all desktops have Bluetooth, and they probably save some licensing money that way.

Thanks for the replies! Still wondering... I think about getting the Logitech actually, it looks ok... I'm open for more good recommendations! Curious... (or perhaps, I thought, mice might not be so totally different after all and that's why people just buy one and are probably happy, hmm...). Pete

Follow-up: I actually bought the Logitech V470 several weeks ago and gained some experience ever since. In short: I think it is everything it is supposed to be, it's reliable, precise, it feels good and looks elegant, there are no problems and the price point (30€) was ok for me. I read reviews for a while and found that it usually came in first in many Bluetooth mice reviews, second if the Magic Mouse was reviewed as well (which, however, is much more expensive, gains more features with newer OS X versions and consumes lots of energy).
Buy if you don't know yet!

[anthology123]

I have used both BT mice (Mighty and Magic Mouse) and Mice that use dongles, like Logitech and Microsoft.
The one pro aspect of the dongle wireless mice are that I have used both brands and I didn't have to change the battery for 1 year or even more.
The BT mice on the other hand, didn't last for more than 3 months, and those used the expensive lithium batteries as opposed to the dongle mice, that
used regular alkaline batteries. I used both types of mice the same way over the course of 2 years Logitech uses a very small dongle now, that does not protrude much, too.