This isn’t the first Magic Mouse review to land on this blog, but I thought I would add my own thoughts to those of Andrew Mason (thanks again, Andrew!).

I’ve waited a couple of weeks to write this review so I’ve given myself enough time with th Magic Mouse to form a proper opinion on Apple’s latest pointing device. If I had written this review the day I picked the mouse up, this review may have been very different – more on that later.

So, the Magic Mouse.

The first thing everybody notices is the way the thing looks. Make no bones about it, this is one gorgeous mouse. The white plastic and metal colouring fits in perfectly with any Apple-clad desk and the lack of any visible buttons just adds to the effect. A+ to the guy who designed it. You earned your paycheck that day!

Looks are very well and good, but this isn’t a painting to be hung on a wall, its a mouse to be USED. No amount of smooth lines or colour combinations are going to matter if, once plonked on a desk, the thing doesn’t work. So, DOES it work? Well yes. And no.

Allow me to explain. After pairing the device (a cinch by the way) I was required to download a Snow Leopard update to enable all the fancy gesture-y stuff. The big cat did its stuff and rebooted. All was well. Until I moved my new rodent.

At this point I found myself with a pointer slower than a tortoise with gout. Moving the mouse, lifting it and repositioning then moving it again was a necessity if I needed to hit the corners of my 24″ Dell. This couldn’t be right! Firing up the preferences allowed me to push the tracking speed slider all the way to the right, but alas this didn’t make a huge difference. Impressed, I was not.

A swift Google of the problem (after plugging in my tusty MS Intellimouse Explorer – what WOULD Steve say?) showed me that a least I wasn’t alone. Others like me were flooding the forums of MacRumors and the like, clamoring for a fix. This fix presented itself in the form of MouseZoom, available to download for free.
MouseZoom allows you to increase the tracking speed far beyond that allowed by OS X itself. This gave my Magic Mouse new legs, though it still didn’t feel quite right. I hoped I just needed to get used to it, and soldiered on.

With the tracking improved I went off to play with the new gestures. Swiping left and right with two fingers does indeed work as intended, with no risk of swiping the Magic Mouse off the desk, despite what many forum trolls seem to believe. Nearly the entire mouse, by the way, can be used for these gestures. Anything above the Apple logo is touch sensitive so you have plenty of surface to swipe at.

One potential issue caused by the lack of physical buttons is how the right-click works. In order for the Mouse to register the the click as a right-click, your index finger cannot be touching the mouse. To me, this has never been an issue as I don’t rest my finger on any mouse when right-clicking – it even feels uncomfortable – but I can see how it could be a problem for some.

While we’re talking about gestures, I have a question for the people at Apple. Why does the Magic Mouse not currently (officially) support more gestures ? Yes we can add 3 and 4 finger swiping in various directions through third-party apps, but we shouldn’t need to go that route. The hardware can clearly do what is required but the software cripples it. Will we see this added in a future update perhaps?

Of course, after all this typing I find myself sat here contemplating one, simple question. Would I buy the Magic Mouse again? I believe I would, yes. Despite my initial disappointment I’ve grown to quite like my new mouse. Yes, it’s taken two pieces of free third-party software to get me there, but if I was given the choice again, I’d happily give Steve my £55. I mean, come on. He obviously needs the money, he’s been wearing the same sweater and jeans for about 20 years!