Looking for a new mouse

LancerChronics on 2/10/2011 at 17:51

So, as the title says, I'm looking for a new mouse. Thing is I have some very specific things I'm looking for, and have no idea where to start looking. I've tried Fry's, but on any given day, about 75% of their mice seem to be sold out. It's like they never restock.

I currently have a Kensington ci75m : (http://blogs.tech-recipes.com/shamanstears/files/2007/10/ci75m-1.png) shown here.
I love this mouse and it has done well for me for years. Favorite things about this mouse: low, almost flat profile and it's hidden usb cord that lets it turn off it's wireless for use on planes. Dislike: sucks up batteries, and I use a desktop now.

Lately, I've been wishing I had some extra buttons on my mouse, preferably 1 or two near the thumb.

So I'm trying to find a low profile corded mouse with 4 to 5 buttons. Preferably not the "ambidextrous" ones that have the 5th button at the pinky, but that's not a major issue. I haven't had any luck so far, so figured I'd tap into the forum's knowledge and randomized expertise. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky?

What I've seen that I do not want is a mouse where there's a thumb "pocket", an indent on the left side of the mouse that is two inches tall and cuts in. Those mice are too high for me usually.

Heck if the mouse is cordless (which seems to be the direction all new mice are heading) I wouldn't mind so long as it was low profile and more than 3 buttons.

Thanks!

lost_soul on 2/10/2011 at 18:23

I've been using a Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 for the better part of a decade and I don't have any complaints about it. It is your standard scroll-wheel mouse, but with two extra buttons on the thumb side. I probably won't replace it until it dies. This is on a mouse pad that I've had since the Pentium 100 days.

LancerChronics on 2/10/2011 at 18:48

Definitely has a lower profile than most of the ones I've seen.
It really is hard to find anything with 5 buttons that's as low as my mouse (it's like .75 inches).

Been looking at newegg for other ideas.
Thx for the suggestion!

As a side note: does anyone know the data transfer rate from a mouse to computer (through a cord)? I bought a USB extender for a $1. It has a data transfer rate of 400 Mbps. Was wondering if that might slow down my gaming response...

june gloom on 2/10/2011 at 18:59

Quote Posted by lost_soul

lost_soul, defined

lost_soul on 2/10/2011 at 20:00

When it comes to input devices, it is all about the latency, not the data transfer speed. There are different USB protocols for dealing with file transfers and pointing devices, where pointing devices get top priority if on a hub with drives.

I don't really recommend using a USB extension cable. I used to use one and sometimes it would work, but sometimes it wouldn't. The main problem there is impedance. A signal gets weaker as it travels along a cable.

On the other hand, I've used this mouse on a USB 1.1 machine (slow USB) and it worked just fine. Try it! It isn't like a hard drive, where extending the cable too far could cause data corruption.

Al_B on 2/10/2011 at 21:36

Quote Posted by LancerChronics

As a side note: does anyone know the data transfer rate from a mouse to computer (through a cord)? I bought a USB extender for a $1. It has a data transfer rate of 400 Mbps. Was wondering if that might slow down my gaming response...

I believe that mice use low speed USB interrupt transfers (although gaming mice may be different) which would limit the data to a massive 8000 bytes per second + protocol overhead. In other words, don't worry about the transfer rate. The USB spec limits cable length to 3m for low speed devices so it's probably best if you keep the total length of your extender + mouse cord to around that but you'll probably get away with it being a little longer.