Microsoft Standard Wireless Optical Mouse Review
- Product:
- Microsoft Standard Wireless Optical Mouse (company page)
- What's Good:
- Incredible Battery Life. Great Responsiveness. Compatibility. No Wires!
- What's Bad:
- Has a dongle thingy. Some remote-control cars can cause interference.
The mouse you use is one of the most important pieces of your computer because you physically interact with it all the time. This past Christmas, I was given a Microsoft Standard Wireless Optical Mouse as a replacement for my Microsoft Wheelmouse Optical. At first I was skeptical, but in the end I realized the Standard Wireless Optical Mouse is a great product. I was quite happy with my plain old wired mouse and I have heard rumors of wireless mice being unresponsive. Also, I was unsure the wireless mouse would work in Linux. Despite my skepticsm, I tried the mouse out.
The form factor of the Wireless Optical Mouse is similar to the Wheelmouse Optical, and is thus quite comfortable. The buttons are designed slightly differently, but you don’t notice the difference while using the mouse. The Standard Wireless Optical Mouse has a USB receiver that plugs into any standard USB port. Plugging in the receiver is the only installation the mouse requires in both WindowsXP and Linux.
The Standard Wireless Optical Mouse uses RF technology rather than Bluetooth technology. When I started using the mouse, I was suprised to find it is just as responsive as my regular wired mouse. I now use it to play the occasional game of counterstrike and don’t have any problems at all.
The mouse is powered by two AA batteries. My mouse came with two batteries in the package on December 24th. It is now May 20th and I’m still using the same batteries with no signs of weaker signal or decreased responsiveness at all. The mouse turns itself off when it is not being used to increase battery life. Unlike my co-worker, who has a wireless Bluetooth mouse, I have not had to replace my mouse’s batteries.
I’ve had only one problem with my mouse, and that is RF interference caused by a remote-control car. If you plan on working in an area with a lot of RF activity (I think it was 42kHz) then this mouse is not for you. Also, because the mouse is not Bluetooth it does require the receiver to be plugged in via USB. If you have a laptop this is probably not a good solution, but if you have a desktop this is a non-issue.
All in all, I’m quite happy with my mouse and won’t be going back to using a wired mouse. The extra freedom this mouse gives defiantly worth your while.
Comments
sebastian - July 21, 2005 5:42 am
i have recently began getting into the game of linux and its hardware problems, im down to this wireless mouse with my laptop with mandrake 10.1 i need help on this matter. could anyone direct me
Nicu - August 31, 2005 4:08 am
I need help to with this mouse
I have Suee 9.2 and my mouse goes creazy when i move it
what i do????????
Mike Gauthier - August 31, 2005 11:25 pm
Unfortunantely I am unable to provide technical support for mice in Linux. I can say, however, that this particular mouse works perfectly in both Ubuntu 5.04 and Fedora Core 3.
Lowageorge - January 2, 2006 9:23 pm
i would like to know what shuts the mouse off at night when you go to bed and how long will the batteries last. and do you use both batteriws that come with the mouse or just one i am only useing 1 battery at this time
Bobby - January 7, 2006 5:06 pm
Hey guys, i dont know about you but the mouse and keyboard keeps interfering with my wireless router connection, and it keeps disconnecting me from the internet! im going back to futureshop to return it
:(
D - January 25, 2006 10:51 am
Can a USB "adaptor" be used to connect this mouse receiver to the older style of mouse outlet at the back of the computer? I haven't be able to get this mouse to work on my computer. (Using Windows XP Home)
James - January 30, 2006 7:35 am
Dear ,
Its really great. for the last few days I am searching a big online shoppe for this purpose . I don't know much about hardware. I want to buy some PC accessories especially a Wireless Optical Mouse for my system . I know very few good name s in this segment like amazon,
ebay and
BB shopping in UK particularly. Can any one suggest me few more good online shoppe sites .If any one have idea about this pls feel free to discuss this .
Viper - April 5, 2006 2:17 pm
I have a problem with this mouse while using Ubuntu 5.04. It shuts down after the system start. Then, after changing the USB port it works ok. I don't know how to fix it. :/
Maybe somebody can help me?
Michael - September 16, 2006 1:22 pm
Viper,
I've used this mouse on Ubuntu from 4.10 to 6.06 and never had any problems. It appears to Ubuntu as a regular USB mouse.
-Mike
chris - October 13, 2006 6:20 pm
I Ave this mouse and it keeps jumping to the bottom of the screen and automatically clicking the top window that's open, can any1 help?
Chris ..
hakadalmann - October 26, 2006 5:47 pm
hey, i need help. pls email me.
I have the standard wireless optical mouse and the multimedia keyboard with the same desktop reciever. the problem is:
THE DESKTOP RECIEVER SORT OF RESTARTS ALL THE TIME!
Lori - November 22, 2006 2:47 pm
This mouse freezes up on me all the time. If I take the batteries out and replace them, about every 10 minutes, it works fine. Any ideas on what's wrong with it?
MKatt - February 3, 2007 7:53 pm
I just bought the wireless mouse, and after installing it, I noticed that something doesn't work right... what I mean is that I can't click on icon, and folders (ex : opening "My computer", or trying to open any other type of file "abc.mp3") But if I click on different icons in internet explorer, or any other program, it will work, just not on the desktop or any folder. It's prolly a stupid setting problem, but i dont know what it is :|
Al - September 25, 2007 3:23 am
The wireless mouse is reasonable in terms of its comfort. However, one of the things I do not like about the mouse is the fact that I have to press down a lot on the scroll wheel button in order to make use of the autoscroll feature. I do not know if this is just my experience, or if others have similar problems such as this.
Thom Leslie - September 25, 2007 9:07 pm
I am having the same trouble with my microsoft CE05600 WIRELESS MOUSE AS AS CHRIS WROTE ABOUT ON OCT 13 2006. It jumps down and to the left all by itself.eMAIL ME A SOLUTION IF THERE IS ONE to gtleslie@rogers.com ,please
Flávio Carrara - February 23, 2008 5:12 pm
Same problem here. It also scrolls down a page. Gets quite anoying. Does anyone got this fixed? I have tried to change batteries, without sucess. Very strange. I'll be glad if anyone help.