|
|
|
|
||
        |
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
3 Smileys - 1 Smiley Poor, 5 Smileys Excellent
Platforms: Mac OS, Windows 98/ME/2000
Optical Mouse Envy or "Is That An Optical Mouse In Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?"
Recently, I had the opportunity to review one of Contour Design's entries, the MiniPro Mouse. Contour Design also makes the UniMouse, UniRiser, and other Mac products. The MiniPro is small (3 1/2"L x 1"H x 1 7/8"W) and includes a "Pack n' Go" carrying case to prevent damage to the mouse and cord while traveling. Also included are color-coordinated buttons to match most iMacs, G4s, and iBooks (blue, tangerine, purple, lime, and graphite -- strawberry is notably missing). The mouse sports 2 buttons in a nonstandard "over and under" configuration, rather than the more common "left and right" orientation.
Installation Initial installation of the MiniPro was easy. The mouse makes use of the existing Mouse control panel and responds to its settings for tracking speed and double-click timing. It's a simple matter to unplug your previous mouse (probably the "hockey puck" mouse!) and substitute the MiniPro in its place. But in order to get functionality for the second button, you must download the Contour Overdrive control panel from their web site -- the driver was not included with the mouse. After plugging in the mouse, the installation booklet states, "Mac Users: at this point your mouse should be functioning. [It was.] For added functionality, download and install USB Overdrive from our web site..." It then went on to explain to Windows users how they could simply select the proper HID driver already installed with Win98/ME/2000. I found this Windows bias odd given the design of the mouse -- it was obviously designed to complement the iMac, given the colored button covers and the ribbed "ice" design.
The Overdrive control panel is not the full version of USB Overdrive, but a customized version that was written solely for the MiniPro -- it will not enhance the performance of other USB devices. Contour does not state whether the MiniPro is compatible with the full version of Overdrive. Not including the driver software with the mouse is a mistake, in my opinion -- there are still people that don't have Internet access. Since the size of the mouse and the carrying case imply that it is aimed at laptop users, it is negligent to assume that laptop users who purchase the mouse will have immediate access to Contour's download site. Configuring the Overdrive control panel is fairly straightforward, if you have configured mice before either on a Mac or in Windows, you shouldn't have a problem. You assign functions to the major ("left" or largest) and minor ("right" or smaller) buttons. The software includes options for a middle button although the MiniPro does not have one. Since I am used to using my right button on my Macally mouse as a context menu button, I configured the MiniPro similarly (Control key and mouse click = context menus).
Blind Mice? Having used several multi-button mice in the past, I was intrigued with the arrangement of the buttons on the MiniPro. And I found that having the second button above the main button (closer to the palm of your hand) turned out to be an acceptable change from the left/right arrangement. It meant that I could click using just my index finger -- manual dexterity isn't my strong suit and I didn't miss the right button. In fact, I kind of like the MiniPro arrangement, after using it for most of a month. The second button is smaller and raised, so you can feel it easily without looking at the mouse. And of course it would work well for left-handed folks without having to reverse the functions of the buttons. The first problem I encountered, however, was tracking. My pointer skittered across the screen and wound up teleporting from one area of the screen to another. I inspected the mouse and found a curly bit of plastic in the optical hole on the bottom. Assuming this was the problem, I removed it, but there was no improvement. My mouse pad (from "A Bug's Life") proved to be the problem. After some experimentation, I realized it was the colors on the mouse pad that were causing the problem. Optical mice generally use a red LED to "bounce" light off of the surface under the mouse, and this information is interpreted to move the pointer. Just as some colors of ink or paper do not copy well in copiers (which also work on reflected light), I surmise that some colors or patterns do not work well under the MiniPro. To test this, I tried several different surfaces under the mouse. My December issue of MacAddict caused similar "teleporting" of the pointer - it has large blue and white areas similar to the blue of the Flik character on my "Bug's Life" mouse pad. A highly reflective metal tray worked fine, however. Even a plain white sheet of typing paper worked well. The mouse works best on a simple desktop, it seems, without a mouse pad. So if you just adore your mouse pad, be aware of this! The only problem with this is that the mouse pad also dampens the sound from the mouse. The plastic of the mouse scrapes lightly across the desktop, causing a sound that is only mildly distracting at first.
USB - Theory vs. Practice Although the promise of USB devices is that they will work on both Mac and Windows systems, the reality is that you still need the proper driver and some devices just work better on one system than another. As an example, I have a coworker that has a PC at the office with a USB scanner. While I have little trouble swapping in my USB scanner on my Mac, he cannot seem to "hot swap" the USB scanner on his PC -- he must restart after connecting the scanner. Similarly, the cord on the MiniPro is just too short (32") to reach the back of most PC units and still be usable without a hub. It was plenty long enough to connect to the iMac keyboard, however. And I experienced no USB conflicts with the mouse while hot swapping in a Zip drive, a USB floppy drive, etc. A problem I experienced after using the mouse for about a week was with the mouse button -- it began double clicking when it was only clicked once, other times it did not seem to register the initial click of a click-and-drag operation, leaving the item I was trying to drag in the original place, but highlighting it. I experimented with the Overdrive control panel, trying to tame this behavior and had some success by forcing the mouse to pass the event as a "mouse click" rather than using the "Pass to Mac OS" option. I say "some success" because I still experienced some problems when I single clicked Windowshade controls -- the window would minimize and immediately reappear. I was able to stop this by switching mouse button covers - the graphite cover that shipped on the mouse seemed to work fine for a time, until it, too, began yielding odd behavior. When I switched back to the blue one that I had been using, it still caused problems. My only explanation is that the covers became loose from usage and didn't "hold" the underlying switch cover as tightly as they did at first.
Summary
However, if the button problems I had are any indication, the mouse's button covers may not hold up to heavy use before becoming loose. In all fairness, though, I use my Mac heavily, and the mouse gets quite a workout. If the button problem were solved (perhaps by attaching a permanent button in a neutral color like graphite), this mouse would probably become my every day mouse and would rate a 4.5 or 5 Smiley rating [Editor's Note: According to Contour Design, Kevin's experience with the mouse button is very unusual. We have sent back the MiniPRO Mouse for inspection and have received a new mouse. If you have already purchased a MiniPRO Mouse and have a similar problem, let us and Contour Design know. Look for an update on the status of this situation in next issue's Connect! column.] I like the optical features and don't miss having to clean the ball and wheels in my standard mouse. The mouse's size is comfortable, pointer tracking is good and the second button (which is permanently attached) gave me no trouble at all. But in its current incarnation, I can only give it 3 Smileys.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Title
Have
you looked with envy at the new Macs, wishing you had one of the cool,
optical mice that come standard with them? Optical mice are starting to
show up from several manufacturers; from Apple to Microsoft and everyone
in between.
The
mouse seems like a good choice for PC laptop and PowerBook or iBook owners
who might use a mouse occasionally. The cord length is about right and
the mouse's ability to track on most surfaces (including your thigh in
jeans!) make it a good "on the go" choice. 
