Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70201 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Apple
• Model: ZML
• Released on: 2009-10-21

Customer Reviews

Not Quite Magic, But Still An Excellent Mouse
I bought this mouse to replace my wireless Logitech V470 mouse.

The mouse comes in a clear, plastic soapdish with the mouse, some packaging and a small manual. It comes with the required two AA batteries already fitted. My first impression out of the box was how flat it is. It's about one third of the height of my old mouse, which was tiny to start with. After a few hours use though you get used to it and it makes it easier for swiping and scrolling.

To fully activate the mouse and its features you need to download a software update from Apple that requires a restart. The mouse has a small power switch and LED on the base. Once your Mac has restarted you switch on the mouse and it connects automatically via the Bluetooth Setup Assistant. The software update changes the System Preference icon from a Mighty Mouse to the Magic Mouse and adds all the necessary functions for pinching, swiping, scrolling, two-buttons etc.

I wasn't sure from the reviews I read whether it had physical buttons or left and right clicking were done with 'taps' on the surface, like you can on a touchpad. It's the former. The mouse has two physical buttons built in for left and right clicks.

A new option added to OS X with this mouse is scrolling with 'momentum'. Anyone who has used an iPod Touch or iPhone will be familiar with this and, in my opinion, it's the best feature this update adds. It's fantastic. Instead of having to scroll through long PDF's/documents/webpages using the mouse wheel or keyboard you can just flick through the whole lot with a long, quick flick. It's great. It's one of those new features that you get so used to, going back to a machine that doesn't have it instantly seems like a step backwards.

As for the pinch & zoom and left/right swiping, I'm not so convinced. It's tricky to hold the mouse still while doing these. It may get easier with practice and of course future software updates can tweak the features and add new ones. There's also no side or middle-buttons, which I used for Expose.

I was torn between 3 or 4 stars for this and have opted for 4. I'm sure functionality will get better with updates and also when I've had more practice, but on the looks and feel of the mouse alone it deserves 3. Add on the 'momentum' scrolling and it makes for a 4-star product. Yes it is an expensive proposition for what is, after all, just a cordless mouse but it is a very good, innovative product.

It also goes without saying this is a MASSIVE improvement on the Mighty Mouse! No more mucky scroll ball- yay!

Not exactly an upgrade
- Top marks for style, just looks and feels gorgeous, but is it style over improved functionality? the main benefit is that scrolling is the best its ever been on ANY mouse, if you're used to the momentum sliding of the iPhone, then you will instantly appreciate the touch features.. you now have complete control of scrolling.

- Pointer accuracy: is greatly improved over the previous wireless mouse, which was so wishy washy that i just had to revert to using the wired mouse, this mouse though is as accurate, i'd say its actually perfect on my 30".

- No Expose: I think i can get used to this as i've started using the Application Expose from the dock more, as well as Hot Corners, but I can imagine this being a huge issue for some.

No Middle button: I only ever use the middle button for opening weblinks in new tabs, this could prove to be a deal breaker for me going back to the wired mouse, time will tell, it will be hard to give up the superior scrolling though.

- 2 Finger swipe: this is actually a fairly awkward movement, as our fingers aren't really designed that way, works much better on the laptops, but seeing how i hardly every use it, I don't think i'll care, but makes BACK/FORWARD on web pages quick intuitive.

CONCLUSION - Scrolling is important to me in web browsing and applications such as Final Cut where timeline browsing is a major operation, so for this alone the mouse is worth it, I will have to see whether i miss Expose and Middle Click though. A product that gains upgrades at the expense of losing some relatively important ones. For most users this mouse will be a welcome upgrade, but some power users should try one in person before buying.. one thing's for sure it's very very good looking and comfortable!!

A truly magical mouse
The new Apple Magic mouse is exactly what it says magic. It is so much easier to use than the previous mouse which I found to be poor as a wireless mouse, preferring instead the cable version. It is of blue-tooth operation which worked seamlessly with my Apple MacBook. The way that you can skip through pages, using multi-touch, with finger control is very easy and impressive. Highly recommended product.