" ...Apple unveiled Mighty Mouse, the innovative next generation mouse featuring the Scroll Ball that lets you move anywhere inside a document, without lifting a finger. And with touch-sensitive technology concealed under the seamless top shell, you get the programability of a four-button mouse in a single-button design.
Apple Mighty Mouse is intuitive, easy to use and designed to accommodate whether you want to use it as a single or multi-button mouse. It features the scroll ball, an innovative technology that lets you scroll in all directions with ease--vertically, horizontally and diagonally. Apple Mouse makes it easy to access key features of Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger" with up to four programmable buttons for quick, one-click access to Spotlight, Dashboard and Expose.
Price: $49.00"

Apple has an OS compatibility chart for the new mouse showing some features require OS X Tiger.

Reader Reports: (most recent first - if you own one, let me know what you think of it. See bottom of page for links to off-site reviews/articles also.)

(added 8/5/2005)
" Hi Mike, I've been playing with my Mighty Mouse for a couple of days now, and I've discovered a couple of things about it that might be of interest.

1. There is only 1 button! Any click on the top shell is registered by one physical button sensor, placed under the left button position. The click of the right button is determined by the capacitance sensors in the shell working out where your fingers are resting when you click. If the mouse senses a finger on the left side button, it generates a left click. If the finger is on the right it sends a right-click message. If you have fingers resting on both sides of the top shell when you click, it will default to a left click.

2. Despite what Apple claims, the trackball is NOT clickable - there is no switch in the trackball assembly. Try this for yourself - depress the trackball with the tip of a pen cap or something similar without touching the white shell of the mouse and no "click" event is generated. The trackball click event is generated by depressing the trackball AND clicking the shell at the same time. Looks like the same physical button sensor is used for the trackball click as the main button, coupled with some method of working out whether the trackball is pressed down, possibly by sensing capacitance around the trackball to see if it's being covered by a finger.

3. The two side buttons don't have to be "squeezed" together to generate a click, you can press only one side or the other. Once I realised that, the side buttons became much more usable since I now only press the one that falls naturally under my thumb rather that trying to reposition my hand to "squeeze" them both together. It doesn't matter which side you press, they both generate the same mouse event.

All in all I like the Mighty Mouse for its simplicity. The trackball idea is great and a real improvement on scroll wheels, especially for horizontal scrolling. The only problem I've found with it is playing games - because it has only one physical button to click, I find it less responsive that a true multi-button mouse. Trying to move your fingers around the top surface to generate the correct click for a given action is a real problem in a fast-paced game. For now, I'm sticking with my Logitech for games, but for most other things I'll go with Mighty Mouse!
Simon L., UK"

(added 8/5/2005)
" Hello Mike, I was having a slight problem with the side and diagonal scrolling on Apple's new Mighty Mouse, so after checking out others I decided mine was not working right and opened it up
Enjoy, Sailfish
http://homepage.mac.com/hogfish/PhotoAlbum2.html "

See the related articles below for an Ars article on disecting the might mouse also.

(added 8/5/2005)
" Went to my local Apple Store to try it out. They had to bring one to me, as it wasn't set up. Aside from the great choice of a name, the MM is not earth shaking. That said, I can see where a little practice might make the experience more comfortable.Ê

I loved the feel of the scroll button. It felt smooth and fast,to me. The side buttons are another thing. They seem a bit extraneous. A few tweeks to the software, and maybe a few ergonomic changes, and there is a future for this mouth. I also expect a wireless version soon. Price must come down. I can get a marvelous Logitech mouse for $15.
Later, SCB "

(added 8/5/2005)
" I used a mighty mouse at the Apple Soho store and There wereÊ a few limitations for me that will prevent me from purchasing it.Ê
The programmable buttons are not application specific.
The buttons are not programmable to do keystrokes, only clicks or launching applications.
Ê No "chording" i.e. simultaneous left and right clicks to give a particular command.

I use a Kensington 5 button scroll mouse (optical elite) now and for twenty bucks it does almost everything I need it to. I would love horizontal and vertical scrolling, but I'd rather have the full programmability of the Kensington mouseworks software. there seems an excellent opportunity for the third party communityÊ (or Apple) to really make this mouse sing. Lovely hardware, first gen software.
My 2 cents.
Erik Bryan Slavin
Creative Director of RIPFest,
the Raw Impressions Inc. Film Festival "

(added 8/4/2005)
" Hi Mike,
Some gripes about the Mighty Mouse I tested out at the Apple Store today:

It won't register a right-click if you still have your index finger on the left button area. This means, you must lift your index finger off the surface if you want to right click with your middle finger. Very frustrating.

The "3rd button" (which involves squeezing both sides of the mouse at the same time) is very hard to do. I suspect they make you squeeze this hard to avoid it accidentally registering a 3rd button click when you pick up the mouse from the sides. It feels awkward to the hand, so forget about mapping anything to it for gaming.

The "scroll nub" (scroll ball) doesn't provide the tactile feedback of a mechanical scroll wheel. With a normal scroll mouse, you can feel scrolling 3 clicks and know exactly how much it's going to scroll your document. Apple tried to remedy this by putting a speaker inside the mouse which plays clicking noises as you scroll (as someone else here mentioned), but it's very faint, or at least it was in the Apple Store, and you still can't feel the scrolling.

I've been using Logitech mice on my macs for the last few years so I might be spoiled. Still, I think the Mighty Mouse is a welcome change over the old 1-button.
-Mark "

I don't use the logitech software but do like their Mice in general. (I've used them for years on most Macs I have owned - currently using one of their dual LED models I picked up at a "Big Lots" for about $13. I wish I had bought more before they sold out at that price.)

(added 8/4/2005)
" Hi Mike,
Just to let you know, on my dual 2.0 G5, Apple's wireless mouse tracks MUCH faster than Mighty Mouse does with no change of any system settings.
(I asked if adjusting the tracking speed made it acceptable to him and how he liked the other features (buttons, etc.)-Mike)
I have the tracking speed set to maximum, but it still feels a lot slower than Apple's wireless mouse. I do like the scroll ball very much, although I must admit I prefer the Logitech MX1000 laser mouse I purchased about 3 months ago. It's responsive, fast, and has every button/feature you could ask for. I'm sure I'll try the Bluetooth version of Mighty Mouse when it comes out though!
-Robert S. "

(added 8/3/2005)
" Hi Mike after calling around the stores in my area I just picked up the last mouse in SF as of 3pm ;-)
I have been a multi-button Kensington mice for over 5 years now and it's nice that Apple has finally regained their sanity.
First impressions are it's a fine if not life-changing mouse. It could do with being a good deal taller and wider IMHO (the Kensington mice seem to be sized better for those of us with larger hands).
I could talk at length about the buttons but your previous poster (in yesterday's news) captured it all pretty well (including the extra effort needed to press the awkwardly located side buttons). Those side buttons are horribly un-ergonomic due to their location and having to press them both at once!

The software integration is what strikes me as most interesting. With the side buttons activating Expose I might actually begin using it now rather than minimizing everything to the dock to get it out of the way. (See Apple's OS compatibility chart for features list by OS)
On the other-hand the ball-button default to activate Dashboard has already been reprogrammed to activate Spotlight. Dashboard continues to be waste of time IMHO.
cheers, Adam
arc design "

(added 8/3/2005)
" I was one of the first purchasers of the Mighty Mouse (which was not out on display - the salesperson had to go in the back to get one), and I am in love with it! I had never found a traditional multi- button mouse which I liked, and have been using a multi-button trackball for some time. The Mighty Mouse fits my needs perfectly.

I really like the feel and speed of the scroll ball, and the software allows for easy customization. I use the side buttons for Dashboard and the scroll button-push to launch Spotlight.

Give this baby a try at your local Apple store if you can. I bought it sight unseen, and am glad I did.
Don P. "

(added 8/2/2005)" Hi Mike,
Got got the Apple Mighty Mouse from my nearby Apple store.
Shipment had just arrived around 11am and I was the first to get the box since I had to request it and they had to get it straight from the delivery area. There was no signs, marketing posters or units on display - which was surprising not to see them prepare for today's announcement.

The mouse is the same size as the last generation corded mouse. What's surprising is how great the 360 ball feels. I doubted it at first, but when I connected it the tactile feedback was awesome. (see his later comments on this below-Mike)
It isn't evident but it finally has a right click button. The mouse senses where your finger is placed and creates a right click action when you click on the right side of the mouse. The two innocent sides that looked like buttons in old mice, but aren't - are finally buttons now! Again touch sensitive action which you have to program.

Your computer will recognize the mouse and allow you to use the scroll wheel and right click. But unless you install the included software in the packaging, you will not be able to customize it under the Keyboard and Mouse settings.

All in all an excellent Apple product once again. Great innovation and great price - USD49.00 only for this piece of marvel. I did hope they changed the shape of the mouse to something a little big bigger. But they did keep it the same size.

(he later wrote)
I forgot to mention that the included software only works for OS 10.4.2. (Apple has an OS compatibility chart showing -some- features are not supported in previous OS's-Mike) Sneaky marketing to get you to finally upgrade to Tiger I think.

I have to give a correction on my first impression of the mouse. Upon further investigation, the tactile feedback was psychological (at least to me) in nature. There really isn't any tactile feedback.... BUT - Apple has created a built-in speaker to provide audible feedback on the ball and side buttons. When you move the ball or press the side buttons, you hear tiny clicks. You think it's the mechanical sound from actually moving/pressing the button, but it really is coming from a tiny speaker. It seems strange they did that, but it works. It makes me believe that every movement has a sound and, thus corresponding "feedback". Of course pressing on the main left and right button will produce a sound from the mechanical movement - this time. I don't believe the speakers help produce more sound than it already has.

As for the side buttons, I'm afraid you can only program one item. The left and right are one and the same. You can't assign different actions. It's a little difficult to press, actually. I need to press harder at the same time to bring out the action - based on the unit I received.

Also pressing on the ball straight down produces a center button that you can customize.

You know what's funny though. Upon installing the software the right- click button (or rather, secondary button as Apple calls it) is disabled. Left and right buttons are both set as the Primary button. So unless you customize the function, other users might believe the right click doesn't work. Truly they still are stubborn into making it behave like a one button mouse. And rightfully so because while playing around with it, I still find myself pressing the CTL button to bring up the right click function. Perhaps in time.
Regards, Raymond O. "

If any other readers get this mouse, let me know what you think of it.

Related Articles:

• Dissecting Apple's Mighty Mouse (Ars)
• Ars review of the Mighty Mouse.
• PCworld first look at the Mighty Mouse