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The keyboard looks horrifying, too.

If you want something a bit more compact, you could always use something like the palm-sized Logitech diNovo Mini keyboard. I use one with an old Mac laptop I've relegated to handling internet media, and on the whole I'm pretty happy with it.

But my main reservation about this gadget is that it won't replace my (much-hated) LG HDD recorder for live-to-air stuff. I might need to spend some time looking at MythTV for this, but there seems to be a lot to learn here. Last time I looked at it, I only had a partially-supported analogue TV card, which didn't make the job any easier, and I ended up just throwing the card in the bin.

Any gamer who thinks they can beat me while using a laptop is in for one hell of a spanking.

ORLY? I'll take that bet:

• MSI GT725 17" laptop w/ Radeon 4850
• Logitech G9 mouse
• D-Link DGL-4500 router

Yeah, so that's my e-peen... where's yours, Mr. "One-Hell-Of-A-Spanking"? ;)

Damn, the link I gave was for the wired version. Should have been this one.

They still do wired mice?

For programming, use vim and stay away from the mouse. For general use, though, I'd go with one of these: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/166&cl=us,en

Damn, the link I gave was for the wired version. Should have been this one.

Back to the topic, for the attention-deprived, a plug for my recommendation: Logitech Trackman Wheel. It's not actually manufactured any more, but is still available through any number of sources. And it's so robust, it'll last forever.

I'm not an Elite programmer I guess... I like to use my mouse to scroll through documents, click to exactly the point I want to edit in the source, and navigate the class explorer thingy. To the OP: honestly, best bet is to just try a few mice and see which one feels right. I like the mouse to have a good weight to it and feel solid during any use. The scroll wheel is also very important to me. After you've used a mouse with a good scroll wheel (weighted, multi-mode), you'll never go back. Also, there should be 2 3rd mouse buttons (one separate from the scroll wheel), because I absolutely hate clicking the scroll wheel to hit the 3rd mouse button. It feels clumsy, and half the time I scroll in some direction by accident. If you have a 5 button mouse, then I like to tie the 4th & 5th buttons to copy/paste. I travel alot for personal reasons, so for my own laptop I use this mouse. It is probably one of the better mice I have used, but it is targetted at laptop use, so YMMV.

I personally use a Logitech MX Revolution http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/130&cl=US,EN I highly recommend the Hard plate mouse pad too made by RocketFish, I use the "Control" side of the pad. If it gets dirty, you can simply wash it off. http://www.rocketfishproducts.com/pc-67-3-rocketfish-gaming-mouse-pad-black.aspx The mouse doesn't require batteries, has a recharge stand and the battery life is wonderful. I can go at least 1-2 weeks at 8 hours of coding each without having to worry about putting it on the charger. If I do have to charge it, no more than 15-20 minutes for a full charge and I'm ready again. I haven't had any issues with any operating system either, no scuffing issues, etc...

To be honest though you might just take a look at trackballs, I know they aren't as popular as they used to be but I like using them when I code mainly because my desk becomes covered with paper trash, empty chips bags, and cans of beer in short order and I run out of room for the mouse to move around in.

I happen to love this mouse. have two of them, one for the office and one for home.

I've converted a friend of mine as well. He now has 3 for office, home and travel.

Don't be put off by the gamer-mouse facade, it's a workhorse... for a mouse anyway.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/187&cl=US,EN

My mother-in-law bought this for me when I switched from a desktop to a laptop. I thought it was ridiculous, especially since she spent 70 bucks on it. 2 years later and I hate having any other mouse in my hand. Good weight, fits well with my hand (hope you're not a lefty), plays well with Mac, doesn't eat batteries, has bindable keys, etc.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/165&cl=us,en

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/2987&cl=us,en
the mouse I use for programming is an older variant of this one. I've been quite happy with it. scroll wheel has nice feedback for flipping thru code, it's heavy and has a nice solid feel.

I am in no way affiliated with logitech, I just like their stuff.

I'm not about to try to play Starcraft 2 using only motion controls. I need a keyboard. A *REAL* keyboard (not even a Chat Pad that has all of the right buttons).

What about a Wiimote with a keyboard? The Wiimote isn't restricted to motion controls. There are pointer controls too which would at least be worlds better than dual analog for a game like Starcraft...

well .. I for one don't. I own this one and the double sized delete key WAS a factor.

Laugh as much as you want, but my keyboard is the input device I use the most, and I'm pretty sure this is true for a lot of /.'ers. I find it always mind boggling that people will pay incredible sums for their mices, but will get $9,99 keyboards with the argument that "it's just a keyboard, you know". A keyboard should be as ergonomic as possible, unless all you ever do is click links in your browser.

When friends give me a list of notebooks with similar specs and ask me to tell them which one to buy, my answer is always to open notepad or whatever is installed, type a few sentences and buy the one that felt best, even if it doesn't have the best specs or the best price of the lot. Incidentally, the chance that that they WILL use the delete key is quite high, and a big one you can hit easily with your pinky without looking for it is, in lack of any other word, awesome.

I'm sure I'm not the only person on slashdot to own this fine keyboard, with it's double-sized delete key. Although, the escape key is standard sized.

Something like this Logitech device? I've never tried one myself, but they look interesting. Although the backlights on that particular device that "let you easily locate the right key in low-light conditions or lights-out play" raises a warning flag for me.

The mouse you are refering to is the Logitech MX Air. You can check it out at http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/3443&cl=US,EN

My dad has been a long time fan of Apple and is a proud owner of a Macbook Pro (brand new, March last year). Before that he had a PowerBook G4.
The G4 and the bluetooth Apple mouse he got with it died about the same time. He never really liked the Apple mouse. It felt cheap and clackety and didn't fit his hand right. He does like having that second mouse button.

It was around that time I wanted to buy a present for my dad and looked into getting a mouse that was bluetooth and kinda fit the Mac theme and didn't take up a USB slot. So I got my dad a white V470 bluetooth mouse. It was even advertised in the store as being Mac friendly.
That mouse was horrible. It never gave the correct amount of battery charge and you pretty much couldn't tell if it was turned on or not. I kept swapping out batteries on it and it greatly annoyed my dad who just wanted to get on with his work. I never figured out if it was a fault with the mouse or the Macbook but it never remembered it's pairing. Everytime the Macbook was booted up, the mouse had to be manually paired again as if it was a new mouse. I recommend that no one here ever look twice at a V470. My dad ended up using a cheap little Taiwanese corded mouse with flashy LEDs I got for free from some store offer.

A couple of months later my dad's original Apple Bluetooth Keyboard also died. So we decided to look into getting a wireless combo deal. This time, we didn't try for bluetooth. We looked at RF. We went for the Microsoft Wireless Laser Keyboard 6000 V2.0. It was on a heavily discounted offer price and initially we were just focused on the big chunky mouse.
Turns out to be a really nice product. It's a big full-size keyboard, nice rubbery wrist rest and came with some extra function keys that are perfect for my dad. There's zoom-in and zoom-out buttons on the side that work globally and are especially useful for websites with small writing. No more hunting for the options in Firefox or Safari. The OS also recognized the big pair of volume controls above the function keys making it much easier to change volume.
The chunky mouse is perfect for my dad. My only gripe is that for some reason, the polling or DPI isn't handled correctly and so the mouse pointer moves half the speed it usually does for a given setting. So right now, the pointer speed is maxed out in the system preferences and it's just a tad too slow....but my dad has gotten used to it now. Again, I have no idea if this a fault in the mouse or the Macbook.

Wow, 2 months? I bought my Logitech wireless mouse for my new laptop last year in July (one of these: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/5484&cl=au,en), I had to change the battery just two weeks ago! And that is for my primary laptop that I use 2-8 hours every day!

I was actually very surprised the very first time I bought one of those Logitech (non-bluetooth) RF mice for my other pc (media centre box so only used on the TV), it occurred to me about 18 months after buying it that I had NEVER changed it's 2xAA batteries, so I did anyway just incase they decided to spring a little acid leak!

Have a look at something like this:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/5484&cl=au,en

The USB dongle extends from the USB port approximately 3mm, so in my experience it is not noticeable.

Oh and no special drivers are required for it either.

It has a middle button. It's behind the scroll wheel. Clicking the scroll wheel changes the gear behavior so they couldn't make that the middle button like normal. But there is a functioning middle button on this mouse.

You just have to tell the logitech software to use it as such is all.

The mouse is awesome.

How's that work for Linux users, is there software available for that in Linux?

Being the jerk that I am I decided to call Logitech to ask if their VX Nano mouse works with Ubuntu Linux, as the webpage says only Windows Vista:
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/3271&cl=US,EN

The rep told me that the mouse might work, but there are no drivers. I ask him if "might work" means that I should buy the mouse or not, and he said don't buy it. I asked if Logitech has any mice that work with Ubuntu Linux, and said "unfortunately not".

So, as nice as the Logitech VX Nano is, I'll be buying a Microsoft Notebook Presenter 800 (The Microsoft rep was very helpful on the phone).

I'd say your assertion depends on the surface and mouse - my LED optical mouse fails to read either on my glass covered kitchen table or my black computer desk. My newer laser optical mouse fails to read on the glass table but handles the black desk just fine.

From my experience, Bluetooth tends to eat more power than proprietary standards, but proprietary is less compatible than other standards. Bluetooth did come up with a low power spec recently, but I doubt there are any devices out that use it. I get about a week of use on my proprietary Bluetooth Logitech mouse (but incidentally, I have the same non-bluetooth mouse on another computer and it gets about the same). My proprietary and newer Logitech laser mouse gets about 5-6 months on two AAA batteries (the package said it could last a year).

Uhm yeah make that the VX Nano. Damnit.

I second the vote for Logitech's proprietary cordless mice. I got me a Logitech VX Revolution for my Asus netbook, and it has excellent battery life, great precision and an almost invisible receiver. The size of the receiver was what initially sold me on this mouse, since anything protruding from a netbook is bound to break sooner rather than later.

My Logitech V450 Nano Laser Mouse works very well. http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/4335&cl=US,EN I've been using it for going on 3 months now, and haven't had to change the batteries yet. It runs on 2 AA. Battery meter in their optional software says it's still at 85%. I play several hours of WoW every day when I get off work, plus use it for several hours playing Call of Duty 4 each week. It responds really well, better than my previous usb wired mouse I had.

I never got to like the Mighty Mouse. However, if anybody wants an actual positive recommendation (!), mine is for the Logitech Cordless Trackman Wheel. As far as I know, it only has 2 cons: it is a bit big to carry around with a laptop and it is probably useless to a left-hander. Oh, and the fact that Logitech have stopped marketing them, though they are still readily available.

That aside, the device is a rugged thing. I've had mine for several years, and it shows absolutely no indication of wear. Since you don't need to pick the thing up and move it around, it needs very little desk space. It works perfectly on Linux with the standard USB interface or with a PS/2 adapter if you prefer. I used to get some pain in my wrist and arm after long sessions at the computer with ordinary mice, but that is a thing of the past now.

Since the OP referred specifically to power usage, I have to say I don't know how much power the USB transmitter drains (since I use mine with a desktop machine it's a non-issue) but I think I have replaced the battery in the actual mouse only once or twice at most.

I am Mac sysadmin. I admin about 50 Macs in a design agency. The Apple Mac Mighty Mouse is usually the first thing that the designers throw out (bad form factor, cramps in the hands, poor right click functionality, the scroll ball gums up far too often and is difficult to clean, the cord is far too short etc) and the wireless mouse compounds all of that with terribly poor battery life and bad response times. The only way it'll be useful is if you use rechargeable batteries.

Do yourself a favour: get a Logitech RF wireless, whichever one suites your tastes. They have fantastic battery life (8 months on my Logitech LX7 ) and Logitech almost certainly has one that will fit in your hands. Personally, I love the hard rubber grip on the sides of their mice.

The downside is that you need a USB receiver for them.

Get Bluetooth if you have it built in. Even if you don't have it built in (which having a Mac you do) get Bluetooth. It beats having a dongle for every damned device you want to plug in (keyboard, game control, mouse, headset) the Bluetooth one can do all of it.

DO NOT get a fucking Apple Mighty Mouse. I've had a couple, great idea in theory, but not a good mouse in practice. Right click sucks. It works at first and stops working over time. If you completely remove your index finger from the mouse and click with your middle finger you can usually get a right click, or if you take out the batteries and put them back it works again. It's not worth it. The ball always gets fucked up over time, you can fix it and it will work again for a while, then fix it again, and again, and eventually, not anymore.

Get this Logitech, reviewed it, you can find my review in that link, and I did chastise Logitech a bit, but when compared the other Bluetooth mice I've used that's the best.

The USB wireless mice do have one advantage. They work immediately on boot up no problem on every OS. With Bluetooth I've found that to be the case with Linux. On Mac I have to either hit the connect button while booting with the Logitech (the Mighty Mouse actually did better at this - go figure) or fidget with the buttons and hope the Mac pics up on it after a while. With Windows, well, very mixed experience there, especially when it forgets the mouse should exist.

On my Macbook Pro I always carried a mini bluetooth keyboard and a mouse in my bag, and I left a bluetooth keyboard and mouse on my work desk, used Synergy at home. I had at least 3 each keyboards and mice paired with it, they all worked great every time. I even paired a bluetooth headset with it, but that seemed to be problematic. Audio quality would degrade with time, and the applications were stupid, if the headset wasn't present it wouldn't automatically switch back to the built in or external mic/speakers. Not to mention I paired a Motorola Q, a Blackberry and an iPhone. The Q was awesome with it, surprising since it sucked all around otherwise. The Blackberry was functional, but not that great. There was no point with the iPhone. I don't even see why it's pairable.

Linux on the other hand, I've paired everything above and a PS3 Sixaxxis, the Mac I could only get that to work via USB.

I like Bluetooth, I'm pushing Logitech to support it a bit better, and I can't wait for the day the dongle dies. The electronic dongle, not my dongle.

May I suggest a mouse that I have been using for the past 1.5 years? The Logitech VX Revolution. It is one of the best (if not the best) notebook mice around right now. http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/165&cl=US,EN

A Logitech Harmony sounds like what you're looking for. Unfortunately, it's not cheap due to its features that aren't what you described.

In a world of $25 cell phones, you'd think someone would have figured this out how to make something like this cheap already.

While the idea is great in theory, the implementation leaves a lot to be desired.
Sure, if you only want to control popular components and don't try to do anything "fancy", the Harmony is probably the best remote for you. Otherwise, you're in for frustration.

Logitech operates the Harmony as a service. Programming it can only be done online, the configuration is stored online (no local backups) and you have firmware updates pushed to you when changing configuration.

The problem is that Logitech often breaks existing functionality without so much as a "by your leave", disables working features on a whim (falsely claiming they were undocumented, even though the printed manual clearly referred to them), and requires that more "advanced" programming is done only by tech support.

For example, if you want to program a Pronto code that is not in the Logitech database (e.g., for discrete codes that are not on the original remote) or to play a bit with timings, you have to ask support to do it for you. And now that they limited phone support to 3 months, an operation that should take 5 minutes tops can take days.

Here's another gem: macros ("sequences") are limited to 5 steps for no good reason.

For some fun light reading, check some of the threads in the Logitech forum, like this one

About a year ago, I tried programming a Harmony for my parents, who live in a country where the more popular AV components are specifically customized for the local market and are rarely available elsewhere. The back-and-forth with tech support was extremely frustrating and I had to jump through hoops to overcome the programming limitations (can you say "auto-switching SCART connections"?).

These generally get pretty good reviews (it's not a smartphone, but it's programmable...):

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/devices/377&cl=us,en

This should put an end that that. Then all you need is one of these and you will never have to leave your game.

In my case it was a rare consequence of over-zealous spinning the ball on my Logitech TrackMan Wheel mouse. Because I have a large widescreen setup, I have to set the cursor acceleration quite high, so this kind of fuckup is perfectly possible if (as you correctly say) I'm not careful. The device is so damn good, though, I am content to live with this quirk.

If it's full size you want, they have that, too.

Is this what you are looking for? Small, keyboard and mouse in one, backlit, and bluetooth.

I bought myself one of these a while ago to use for my laptop: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/190&cl=US,EN

The Logitech Alto. Basically it's a stand for your laptop with a keyboard and usb hub (powered, cord sold separately) for use with any laptop (provided you have USB ports).

The Logitech MX Revolution has bluetooth. I actually have the MX 5500 desktop (keyboard + mouse) which are both bluetooth and comes with a USB to bluetooth converter which can be used for other bluetooth devices as well. I'm very happy with both the keyboard and mouse and use them for programming.

The GP could also try using an desktop that does that. E17 will let you scroll any window at all, it doesn't need to be in focus. I can't say for sure about kde or gnome. I could have sworn that OS X did it to, but I just tried it and it doesn't.

As for mice: I can't stand wireless mice, I tried one once and the weight of the battery made me feel twinges of pain in my joints after a week of use. Ugh! My all time favorite is just a simple Logitech optical mouse. The first thing I do with one of these mice is take it apart and remove the tensioner spring on the scroll wheel. It takes a little getting used to scrolling just one click without a click and to press the button without moving the scroll wheel, but the feel is nice, it doesn't jar my fingers and is very comfortable to use.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/166&cl=US,EN

This thing is fantastic -- imagine not having to move your arm and wrist in order to move the cursor. I'm kind of surprised that I haven't seen more people using them, although they do take a couple of days to get used to. However, once you're accustomed to it there is no going back.

I don't have an opposable thumb, you insensitive clod!

(Actually, I don't! I broke it three years ago.)

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/156&cl=us,en

Probably the most underrated ergonomic mouse in my opinion. Inexpensive, reasonably sturdy, large trackball, can be used with both hands. I have tried quite a few of the mice mentioned there, but nothing comes close to the comfort and accuracy of this. Also I find that my control is better when I manipulate the trackball with my index and middle finger rather than my thumb.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/166&cl=US,EN

This thing is fantastic -- imagine not having to move your arm and wrist in order to move the cursor. I'm kind of surprised that I haven't seen more people using them, although they do take a couple of days to get used to. However, once you're accustomed to it there is no going back.

Best keyboard of all time is the old version of the G15 from Logitech, which has functionally been replaced with the new G11. You don't get the display but I barely used it anyway. I love all the macro keys on the left side for World of Warcraft, which make a really nice comp for pvp and pve in that you can easily combine them with the CTRL button, the CTRL SHIFT or SHIFT (which is a little more awkward than the ctrl and ctrl shift for some reason).

As for mice, I have to say that my Sidewinder from Microsoft represents some irony in the fact that it works nicely and does not impede me in any way.

It really depends.

At work I use a Microsoft Trackball Explorer which is probably one of the best trackball mice ever made, and are nearly impossible to find nowadays.
I know a few people that use the Logitech Cordless Trackman Optical and love it, but it didn't feel confortable enough for my own use.

At home, I use a Logitech G9 mouse and a Ideazon Fang for gaming sessions, but for everything else I tend to just rely on keyboard shortcuts to navigate around my desktop.

Yes. the G13 can do multiple keystroke macros with ease and much more.

What about about a damn bluetooth trackball already!?? But if Logitech ever does make a bluetooth trackball let me be the first to whine about it not having wireless power too!

They can have my Logitech Trackman Marble FX when they pry it out of my cold, dead fingers.

AppleTV: it's the best way to browse music on a HiFi system which has an HD TV attached to it

Most geeks probably prefer listening to music instead of browsing it. In fact, most households' HDTV is probably occupied with something besides "browsing" music. Arguably, the best way to browse music is headless but with a fancy remote. Save the HDTV for doing something useful.

Oh really?

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/189&cl=us,en
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/156&cl=us,en

Not that it matters - finger-operated trackballs suck anyway, because you have to pick up your thumb and other fingers off the buttons to roll the ball. Which means every time you need to click, it takes that extra split-second or so to find the damn buttons again.

Thumb-operated trackballs are much better, but apparently they're too much of a niche product to release a new model of, seeing as how the last one produced by either Logitech or Microsoft first came out about 7 years ago.

Oh really?

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/189&cl=us,en
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/156&cl=us,en

Not that it matters - finger-operated trackballs suck anyway, because you have to pick up your thumb and other fingers off the buttons to roll the ball. Which means every time you need to click, it takes that extra split-second or so to find the damn buttons again.

Thumb-operated trackballs are much better, but apparently they're too much of a niche product to release a new model of, seeing as how the last one produced by either Logitech or Microsoft first came out about 7 years ago.