People with glass desks shouldn’t use mice without a dusty old mousepad–that used to be the rule, at least. Logitech announced two new mice today that work on virtually any surface, even glass. The Performance Mouse MX ($100) and Anywhere Mouse MX ($80) use a new dual-laser technology called DarkField (said in an ominous Dark Knight voice, of course) to track your movements on the shiniest, clear surfaces. Can it be true?
I tested the Performance Mouse MX against the slightly older MX 1100 on PopSci HQ's lone glass tabletop in reception and, well, she speaks the truth:
The DarkField lasers are able to track movements on virtually any surface because they don’t hunt for the surface itself, but tiny imperfections like scratches and dust. When on a glass surface, the lasers create a map of the table based off the reflections of flecks and dings they see.
Both mice will be available sometime this month, when OCD glass tabletop users can pitch one more piece of clutter from their desktops.
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i ran my $20 optical mouse on a mirror and it still worked.
Yeah, but then your wrist is cold from touching the glass. Especially when AC is involved. Not only that, but without something soft to rest your wrist on, it'd hurt after awhile. Does for me when I don't use my mouse pad with its wrist pad.
Kingston Trackballs are the way to go for the CAD drafter. I swear by them.
Kensington*
cool
I prefer left and right hand contour mouse (size large) with wrist pads/mouse pads over track balls. Plus Kensington key board design are the pits. Goldtouch (www. keyovation. com) is a much better key board design than any thing Kensington carries.