Review: Apple Magic Mouse vs Apple Mighty Mouse

First off, thank you to my friends Apol and Ghia for getting this for me on my 22nd birthday. Thaaanks! =)

On with the review! After time rolls by and despite Apple announcing this product a few weeks, it finally has shipped and has become in stock in Apple stores! If you've read other reviews online, the majority haven't really compared it to the former Mighty Mouse.

First off, look at the image above: talk about ecofriendly packaging but also how it's so clean and efficient! No bubble wrapping, blister packages... just the product under a plastic case with its brief description on the bottom.

I need to first commend Apple for their not just their new design on the mouse [more on that later] but how they've become environmentally friendly and basically more cost effective. [Think about when they are shipping this: less packaging means more Magic Mice they can fit per shipment meaning reduced costs of shipping overall]

The Magic Mouse freshly out of its casing.

This is all the contents underneath the mouse itself: warranty info and instructions. The AA batteries are already installed and ready to be switched on.

Design: In short, Apple's design for its new mouse is unmistakable. You just know that Apple and its designers made this smooth buttonless aluminum bottom plastic top mouse. It has a very low profile [more on that shortly] and is just slick to look at.

Even upside down it looks great! haha That bit of thick plastic adds that reflective silhouette and again it's pretty gorgeous for an everyday item.

The bottom features two black plastic sliders as I guess I'd call em that helps move it across surfaces smoothly. It has an on/off switch, the laser eye itself, and the battery door to switch AA batteries.

So far, the tracking on this mouse works just fine although it is reported that it does not function on glass surfaces. Battery is expected to last for 4 months so we'll see since on my Might Mouse, a new fresh pair of AA I'd get through in a month!

Now that the design portion is completed, onto the comparison of usage to the older Mighty Mouse!

Cosmetically, the Mighty Mouse is like a pebble in which your whole hand feels it. As for the Magic Mouse, it's more like a pringle in which just your fingers feel the mouse. While the Mighty Mouse has a trackball that moves 360 degrees, the Magic Mouse replaced that with touch sensitive controls that's pretty much the same as its older brother.

The profile shot of the Pringle vs. the Pebble.

What I do miss from the Mighty Mouse is its actual buttons or at least the functions of them. With the Mighty Mouse, I programmed the side buttons to activate my Expose´ allowing me to view all windows at once and if I click the center button down, I can view my desktop.

For the Magic Mouse, the gestures on the touch sensitive surface is limited [hopefully for now]. It still offers 360 degrees scolling, left and right click, as well as gestures to go back/forward on a web page or Preview. And that's it. No other gestures and that's where I hope it will support future gestures to accommodate the expose´ and desktop features. For now though, I just set up Hot Corners to activate that feature. I did read on a rumor blog roll that it will support up to three fingers on the surface. :crosses fingers:

As of now, that is my biggest gripe since I see this part as a down-grade from Mighty Mouse. I would rather perform these features by mouse and not by F3 and F8.

But on the plus side is that the Magic Mouse just feels more natural. It's low profile allows that and while others express their difficulty because of the low profile, it's probably because they are seated incorrectly [probably sitting too high!]. Sit level to your table and I'm pretty sure it will feel much more natural.

As I grip the Mighty Mouse, it just feels so bulky now and even slow to use as I move it across the table. It's definitely not as smooth as the Magic as it moves across the table lightly.

Using the scroll feature is just as seamless as if you're using a laptop. If on any other mouse you'd start to scroll up/down to navigate a web page or document, the Magic Mouse feels the same as using a trackpad--it is responsive and so far I have no complaints of not feeling a scrolling ball or wheel. Its touch sensitive surface is actually big than I thought. It pretty much works edge to edge and works all the way to 3/4 of mouse's body. Plus, it has that scrolling feature with momentum--if you scroll fast, it will continue to scroll up/down and slowly come to a stop [ala iPhone's Safari].

Maybe because it's new but those new black plastic tabs are helping it move smoother than its older brother.

So let's try to break down the recommendation for this mouse...

- A buttonless mouse
- 360 scrolling feature with momentum scrolling
- Gestures to go back and forward on web pages
- Smooth moving across the surface
- Beautiful slim profile and design
- $69

Wait what?! $69 for a mouse?!

So here's my thing: If you don't have a mouse already for your Macbook [Pro], then I'd consider it. Still, I'd look into my options [Logitech I heard has great alternatives that equally cost as much but with programmable buttons] and others. But if you're sold already on the [amazing] and actual comfortable design in my opinion, then by all means get it.

What if you have the current bluetooth [Mighty] mouse?

Well, the Magic Mouse is not really a major upgrade to the Mighty Mouse. The easy answer [if you have money] is get it--it's NEW! But the smarter part of you will reason out and realize that what you have is working so it's all good for now.

Plus, I got this as a gift. =)

For me in general, I actually love this mouse and will hope that new gestures are in the works to allow me to get back expose´and show desktop directly from the mouse.

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For more information, you can find the Magic Mouse on its product page here.