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Apple vs. Microsoft Multi-Touch Mouse Comparison

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the touch-me-baby dept.

blee37 writes "This is a side-by-side comparison of the Apple and Microsoft multi-touch mice. It includes video demonstrations of using the mice in applications, first-person shooters and 3D manipulation. It also has new photos of the internals of all the mice."

11 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. Touch screens and the like by sopssa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Problem with this, like with many other touch screen like devices, is that you don't get physical feedback when you're clicking or scrolling or doing anything. There's a reason why you actually need to push the mouse button a little bit so it clicks. Not much, but it actually feels like a click. Keyboard presses need to be the same way too - you need the feedback.

    Another example is the scroll in mouses. My Logitech MX Revolution mouse has both seamless and non-seamless mode that you can activate for different apps. Seamless mode was activated by default for IE and I had to take it off, because mouse scroll also needs to "tick" and feel back when you're scrolling. The Apple video shows that you can scroll faster by moving your finger rapidly - guess what, you can do that with a normal scroll too, just by rapidly firing the scroller to either direction (the logitech software actually releases the tick for a bit so it works even better)

    Other thing to consider is how quickly the touch area gets dirty and less functional. I sometimes like to eat a great three story cheese bacon hamburger filled with majonese, chipotle ketchup and delicious cheese with deep fried french fries, topped with a cold beer and chocolate ice cream with strawberries and chocolate dipping. Lets face it, the touch area is going to get dirty. Will it function the same way after that and can you clean it as easily?

    1. Re:Touch screens and the like by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A Philips screwdriver and 15 minutes of your life will suffice to clean the inside of your mouse too.

    2. Re:Touch screens and the like by PizzaAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      However that isn't the point. Let me try to explain this in the way of an analogy:

      Lets imagine you're in the middle of a epic World of Warcraft raid. You're starting to get hungry, but it's still fun. Your option is to either quit the game and go make food in the kitchen. Second option is to quickly skype for a pizza delivery guy to bring you a large pizza with some mountain dew. Like in GP's case, I think what you're going to do is obvious. 15 minutes later and you hear the doorbell ring and after a short while your mom walking down the stairs with your delicious large hawaiian pan pizza. While grabbing the first slice, an alliance guy jumps out of nowhere and starts hammering you with fireballs. That scares you so much that the pizza flies from your hands straight to your 30" LCD monitor. While trying to catch the pizza slice in air, you knock over the mountain dew bottle over your new multi-touch mouse.

      The point here being, new technology isn't always a good answer for everything.

    3. Re:Touch screens and the like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      A Philips screwdriver and 15 minutes of your life will suffice to clean the inside of your mouse too.

      Unless it's an Apple mouse, which is sealed for all eternity and cannot be user-serviced.

    4. Re:Touch screens and the like by Anubis+IV · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You DO realize that all of those text message records (except for the blindfolded one) were done on traditional number pads before touchscreen virtual keyboards even existed on phones, right? As in, typing a "c" would mean pressing the 1 button three times, rather than just hitting the "c" button on the virtual keyboard. The records are completely irrelevant when talking about modern smart phones with full QWERTY keyboards.

      I'm not in love with my iPhone's keyboard (tactile feedback would be nice), nor am I particularly gifted at using it (I don't have a texting plan and send e-mails rarely), but I'd place myself around 25-30 wpm. With practice, I'd imagine I could easily pass 40wpm. I'm not going to suggest that most people can type as quickly with an iPhone as with a normal keyboard (I certainly don't), but the records you're waving around as a counter-argument to his claims are entirely irrelevant and deserve to be pointed out as such.

  2. R&D vs. Actual Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't think anyone is denying that Microsoft R&D can churn out some interesting concepts from time to time, but there's a big difference between shipping an actual product with most of the details worked out, and merely mocking up a few prototypes that are nowhere close to being ready for actual sale. I'd be curious to see what prototypes Apple came up with before shipping the Magic Mouse. That'd be a more interesting comparison.

  3. Doll by Das+Auge · · Score: 5, Funny

    Show me on the doll where Microsoft and Apple multi-touched you inappropriately.

  4. Lifting fingers... by amaupin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So with my current mouse I can rest my finger on the mouse button, and press down when I want to click.

    With these new mice, when I want to click I have to lift my finger up from the surface of the mouse and then press down (if the video in the article is indicative of how it functions). I think constantly lifting my finger would become tiring.

    1. Re:Lifting fingers... by DontBlameCanada · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think constantly lifting my finger would become tiring.

      Someone definitely needs to get more physical exercise, me thinks.

  5. Re:Multi-touch "I'm a mac vs. pc commercial" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I'm a mac" (Justin Long touches himself)
    "I'm a PC" (John Hodgeman touches himself)

    I live in San Francisco and in the local version of the commercial they are touching each other.

  6. What??? by sean.peters · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dude, without any kind of tactile feedback, you have to look at the keyboard, instead of looking at the text you're typing. How can that not be a problem? Reasonable people can disagree over whether that means tactile feedback is "nice-to-have" or "critical", but let's not pretend the issue doesn't even exist.