Released last 2009 on October 20th, Apple surprised us with the innovative mouse that is all touch and no buttons. At first glance all I ever thought was how cool this thing was especially with it’s sleek design, but when I bought to go with my MacBook, I was determined to see if the Magic Mouse had the stuff to live up to its name.

Look and Feel

The design of the Magic Mouse makes it look as the “Excalibur” of the Apple products, making every click, drag, scroll seem a new magical experience. The look of having just a plain white glassy surface and its aluminum body gives us a glimpse of the future what the gadgets would look like. When using it, the feel seems to be a new kind of experience. Since there aren’t any buttons, we get used to its sensors as we rely on it for the click, drag, and scroll. Overall, this simply looks a bad-a** mouse.

New Features

Although it would seem to do like any other mouse does, its appearance tells us of its new capabilities.

With new design come new features, namely:

-Swipe
-Screen Zoom
-Screen Pan

Swipe – This feature can really be helpful in navigating through web pages since it easily navigates back and forth through the pages you’ve visited. Also when using iPhoto, you can use this to view through your photos with ease.

Screen Zoom – Basically, holding the “control” key then scrolling up would activate the zoom. To zoom out simply hold the “control” key and zoom out.

Screen Pan – While in the Screen Zoom mode, you easily move from on point to another with just scrolling left to right, top to bottom without holding the “control” key.

Other features like the 360 scroll are still there and the two button click from its predecessor “The Mighty Mouse”.

Using It

After purchasing the Magic Mouse, I was off to the office and began using it with my MacBook. At first, it required me a software update since I was using Leopard OS X 10.5.6. It required me to upgrade to Leopard OS X 10.5.8 and the WirelessMouse update that can be downloaded from the Apple Site. After the updates, it was quite a new experience when I used it because the way you rested your hands on your mouse seems to be much different from the hutched back style of the typical mouse so it took some time to get used to. Luckily for me the transition wasn’t that difficult after a couple of days. Although some people reviewed that it was difficult since we all got used to the hutched back type. But luckily you can afford to buy an ergonomic enhancing product for those who still love the Magic Mouse called the MMFixed, which will cost about 10 bucks. But as the days went on I was happy with how it worked for me since I use the Screen Zoom mode when I read important documents and the Swipe feature when browsing the net. Its 360 scroll also helps when I get into spreadsheets and web pages that have larger displays than my screen. Finally by still having the two-button click, it’s definitely a big help from holding the control then clicking to get the secondary menu. All in all it seems to accommodate all my daily tasks.

Conclusion

Apple’s Magic Mouse is definitely a keeper for a price of only 69 dollars. Basically it’s a new experience using the cursor since the trackball. Some people will love it and some might grow into it. If you’re an Apple fanatic then this is a must buy for you, otherwise you might just spent 20 bucks for an ordinary mouse. But nevertheless the Apple Magic Mouse is truly a step towards to the world without buttons.

Rating: 9