7 ms·

Can't really agree with the Magic Mouse 2 being a "miss". I understand the controversy with the charging port being under the mouse, but it's done on purpose: A

by bbx 7y ago

Can't really agree with the Magic Mouse 2 being a "miss". I understand the controversy with the charging port being under the mouse, but it's done on purpose: Apple wants to prevent users from leaving the mouse connected with a USB cable all the time. Maybe there was a better solution to this issue, but the truth is that it's not actually an issue and not a blunder either. I've had this mouse for years and simply recharge it every few months overnight. Scrolling without a wheel took a bit of learning, but in the end, being able to seamlessly move vertically and horizontally with a single finger is highly useful in design or music software. I haven't seen a mouse that could handle it as well as the Magic Mouse.

kylesellas 7y ago
I was wondering if that was the decision. it is well known that apple products should not constantly stayed plugged in and I think putting the charging cable in this location allowed for the battery on the mouse to stay consistent over time.
- asark 7y ago
  If it'd been on the edge I'd have probably used it plugged in all the time, because I've been trained by years and years of shitty battery-powered peripherals to plug them in any time I possibly can. Turns out it's totally fine and the battery lasts ~forever, and since I couldn't plug it in I didn't stress about it.
- d35007 7y ago
  > it is well known that apple products should not constantly stayed plugged in I've never heard this before. What's the explanation? Is it related to battery health? Why does it only apply to Apple products?
Wowfunhappy 7y ago
> I understand the controversy with the charging port being under the mouse, but it's done on purpose: Apple wants to prevent users from leaving the mouse connected with a USB cable all the time. Here's a better solution: good old rechargeable AA batteries. Keep a spare set sitting in a charger, and you'll never need to wait for your device to recharge. If you're concerned about users falling back on disposables, bundle two sets of rechargeable AA's and a charger. Apple used to sell branded versions of these items. I hate built-in rechargeable batteries for peripherals like mice, keyboards, and game controllers.
- overcast 7y ago
  Any even better solution, use a wired mouse and keyboard. Why do I need to deal with batteries for something that doesn't move more than a few inches from its destination? We've banned wireless peripherabls in our organization, because they cause more issues then they are worth. "My mouse is jumping all over the screen", "my mouse no longer works", "my keyboard is typing things I'm not typing!". 9/10 it's low battery, the other 1/10 is someone has paired accidentally with your machine.
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    I don't like wired mice for the same reason I wouldn't want to use a wired Wii Remote. I use my mouse by physically moving it around my desk, and I find the tug of a physical cable to be distracting. I can't say I've ever had tracking issues with the Magic Mouse either. I certainly don't have any with the wireless Logitech G305 I use now, which was designed for gaming and feels particularly precise and responsive. If we were talking about keyboards, I'd be more sympathetic to your viewpoint. Although even then, I like the clean look of my wireless keyboard, even if it means I have to swap batteries once every couple months.
  - HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
    As an engineer who works with smaller parts, my desk and work areas have a constant influx of parts and pieces- and the keyboard and mouse I use take up a lot of space- like two square feet- and being able to move them, rest them on top of stuff, and use the mouse on my leg as necessary is really useful, and I really don't want to go back to wired peripherals. Similarly, I really like Thunderbolt docks and the like because it helps me cut down on the semi-permanent wire clutter on my desk.
- bobzankz 7y ago
  I personally love my apple mouse, they did a great job with it
- JustSomeNobody 7y ago
  How about a Qi certified mouse and mouse pad?
mojuba 7y ago
The problem with belly-up charging is that it's ridiculous quite literally. Maybe usable, but ridiculous, that is all. I think a docking/charging station for the mouse would be more elegant and nice to have, though more expensive too of course.
- dpkonofa 7y ago
  Even a docking station would suffer from the same problem because people would just put the mouse onto the dock every time they were done using it. Also, I don't think contact charging is as fast as cable charging. The point is to only charge it when you absolutely need to.
  - mojuba 7y ago
    > people would just put the mouse onto the dock every time they were done using it That's still so much better than using with the cable attached (if it was possible), or the belly-up charging.
  - wffurr 7y ago
    ... but why does that matter?
glvn 7y ago
Part of the reason the Magic Mouse was a miss in my mind was that the Magic Trackpad was so much better. For how awkward the magic mouse was at first, the magic trackpad felt natural at first touch. I remember getting one at work, this was the only time I liked a product at work so much that I immediately picked one up before coming home.
- bdcravens 7y ago
  There’s also a ton of general mice that work great.
- kstrauser 7y ago
  I love my Magic Trackpad up until it starting killing my wrists. A Magic Mouse let me be pain-free again.
mcot2 7y ago
Ergonomically it is a disaster. I can’t think of a single product that embodies design over function more than this mouse. All of Apples mouse designs have been absolute train wreaks since the horrible “puck” mouse on the original iMac.
- Chris_Chambers 7y ago
  Melodramatic much? Not to mention completely wrong. The mouse is ergonomically perfect. The charging port on the bottom is the only “problem” and isn’t a problem at all unless you’re a poor person who can’t afford two mice to have a fully charged one ready to swap to at all times. If you’re that poor then you shouldn’t be buying Apple products anyway.
- bocklund 7y ago
  The Mighty Mouse wasn't so bad. The ball would get dirty and need to be cleaned occasionally, but you could kind of clean it without taking it apart (flip it upside down and rub it on paper), but you could also take the mouse apart to clean it more thoroughly.
  - pier25 7y ago
    The ball in my Mighty Mouse died after 6 months of use. I tried cleaning the ball but it didn't fix it. Opening the mouse broke it because it wasn't really designed to be opened. Terrible experience for a pretty expensive mouse. I have a 10 year old Logitech mouse that still works perfectly fine.
formercoder 7y ago
Having switched to PC recently one of the few things I miss is the amazing magic mouse / mac drivers combo.
sjwright 7y ago
The Magic Mouse 2 is junk but not because of the location of the charge port or the touch scroll. It's because it got the fundamentals of good mice so bad—an unergonomic shape and abysmally high foot friction. There are obviously going to be people who love it, but for me it's embarrassingly bad compared to options made by Razer and others. Yet their trackpad is the best in the entire industry. I've switched to the Magic Trackpad on my desktop and it's brilliant. The impetus to change was concern for some occasional RSI-like pain in my left-click finger, but now that I've been using it for a couple of years, I don't miss the traditional mouse at all.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  I used to use the original Magic Mouse at work, which used AA batteries instead of a stupid lighting port to recharge. I came to appreciate the Magic Mouse quite a bit. I found it perfectly comfortable, and having what is effectively a super long scroll wheel is great. I also appreciated the easy horizontal scrolling, and the ability to switch spaces with swipe gestures. I switched only because I discovered how nice the tracking quality of gaming mice is.
  - HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
    Same here. I still don't have a good solution to horizontal scrolling (shift doesn't work in Excel).
    - gxx 7y ago
      The Macbook trackpad has by far the best horizontal scrolling of any pointing device. I could not live without it. (If anyone knows a better solution please tell me. I'm always looking for new options.) It's great for spreadsheets. I even use the Macbook trackpad for 3D CAD. I used to use a spaceball and mouse, but the trackpad plus modifier keys is more convenient because it keeps the hands to the keyboard.
      - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
save_ferris 7y ago
I developed terrible tendinitis in my fingers using the Magic Mouse within a few weeks of purchasing one, I've never had a peripheral cause me so much pain in my career.
- eden_hazard 7y ago
  Are you still experiencing pain? I had terrible tendonitis from playing too much chess using crappy trackpads in college lol. Took using https://www.amazon.com/Evoluent-VM4R-VerticalMouse-Ergonomic-Connection/dp/B00427TAIK/ https://www.amazon.com/Evoluent-VM4R-VerticalMouse-Ergonomic... this for a few years to fix my hands. Now I'm fine using the macbook trackpad all day.
- TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
  I had that happen with the original Microsoft Ergonomic Mouse. The Magic Mouse has been fine. In fact it's my favourite mouse design ever, and I absolutely love the touch surface. The bottom charging is kludgey, and there was probably a more elegant solution. But you only need to charge the mouse once ever couple of months, so it's not a huge problem. However, I would guess my hands are not the same size as your hands. You don't have to be a design genius to understand there's a ton of variation in hand size, and one-size-fits-all products don't. A genius product would be a resizable mouse with an auto-resizing guide to help you pick the right size and curve for your hand size and grip style.
pier25 7y ago
> Apple wants to prevent users from leaving the mouse connected with a USB cable all the time. Why should that be a problem?
- droptablemain 7y ago
  Because how dare the end-user do anything Apple does not approve of?
- stevens32 7y ago
  My guess is to prevent images of it out in the wild looking like a non-magical normal mouse with wires
- askafriend 7y ago
  Because that will wreck the battery capacity. Li-Ion batteries aren’t designed for that use-case. Also the Magic Mouse has fast charging. You’ll get a full day of battery in 2min. With a full charge, you’ll get 2+ months of usage. Do the math. You’ll most likely charge this thing less than 20 times in it’s entire life. That’s why the battery port design is both really smart and elegant. Unfortunately people don’t take the time to understand the purpose of design choices and jump to the easiest meme that reinforces their beliefs.
  - adtac 7y ago
    Is it not possible to disable battery usage completely using circuitry if connected by wire? Draw and use all power from the cable? What impact could that possibly have on the battery? I imagine it'd be similar to keeping a mouse unused.
  - FireBeyond 7y ago
    >Also the Magic Mouse has fast charging. You’ll get a full day of battery in 2min. > With a full charge, you’ll get 2 months of usage. > Do the math. You’ll most likely charge this thing less than 20 times in it’s entire life. These things don't make sense as a whole. Why put a fast charger in (to get your day's worth of charging) if your use case is "charge it to full, get 2 months", so you "likely charge this thing less than 20 times in its life"? Most likely, you'll go to one extreme or the other, and I think the "less than 20 in its life" is entirely optimistic, and based on a use case that the design doesn't represent.
JustSomeNobody 7y ago
> Apple wants to prevent users from leaving the mouse connected with a USB cable all the time. This happens a lot with Apple. Good, bad or otherwise, they constantly solve customer issues when the customer isn't really having an issue.
claviska 7y ago
I love the Magic Mouse. What’s amazing is how long the batteries in Apple’s wireless mouse and keyboard peripherals last on a single charge.
aczerepinski 7y ago
I work remote and visit my office ~ twice per month. Nearly every time I show up to my desk, the mouse is dead, and I have to work without a mouse while it charges. IMO the Razer mouse I use at home is better in every respect.
karmakaze 7y ago
Apple demonstrated that this was an incomplete design effort by releasing the rechargable track pad that can be left plugged in.

by bbx 7y ago

kylesellas 7y ago

I was wondering if that was the decision. it is well known that apple products should not constantly stayed plugged in and I think putting the charging cable in this location allowed for the battery on the mouse to stay consistent over time.

asark 7y ago
If it'd been on the edge I'd have probably used it plugged in all the time, because I've been trained by years and years of shitty battery-powered peripherals to plug them in any time I possibly can. Turns out it's totally fine and the battery lasts ~forever, and since I couldn't plug it in I didn't stress about it.
d35007 7y ago
> it is well known that apple products should not constantly stayed plugged in I've never heard this before. What's the explanation? Is it related to battery health? Why does it only apply to Apple products?

Wowfunhappy 7y ago

> I understand the controversy with the charging port being under the mouse, but it's done on purpose: Apple wants to prevent users from leaving the mouse connected with a USB cable all the time. Here's a better solution: good old rechargeable AA batteries. Keep a spare set sitting in a charger, and you'll never need to wait for your device to recharge. If you're concerned about users falling back on disposables, bundle two sets of rechargeable AA's and a charger. Apple used to sell branded versions of these items. I hate built-in rechargeable batteries for peripherals like mice, keyboards, and game controllers.

overcast 7y ago
Any even better solution, use a wired mouse and keyboard. Why do I need to deal with batteries for something that doesn't move more than a few inches from its destination? We've banned wireless peripherabls in our organization, because they cause more issues then they are worth. "My mouse is jumping all over the screen", "my mouse no longer works", "my keyboard is typing things I'm not typing!". 9/10 it's low battery, the other 1/10 is someone has paired accidentally with your machine.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  I don't like wired mice for the same reason I wouldn't want to use a wired Wii Remote. I use my mouse by physically moving it around my desk, and I find the tug of a physical cable to be distracting. I can't say I've ever had tracking issues with the Magic Mouse either. I certainly don't have any with the wireless Logitech G305 I use now, which was designed for gaming and feels particularly precise and responsive. If we were talking about keyboards, I'd be more sympathetic to your viewpoint. Although even then, I like the clean look of my wireless keyboard, even if it means I have to swap batteries once every couple months.
- HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
  As an engineer who works with smaller parts, my desk and work areas have a constant influx of parts and pieces- and the keyboard and mouse I use take up a lot of space- like two square feet- and being able to move them, rest them on top of stuff, and use the mouse on my leg as necessary is really useful, and I really don't want to go back to wired peripherals. Similarly, I really like Thunderbolt docks and the like because it helps me cut down on the semi-permanent wire clutter on my desk.
bobzankz 7y ago
I personally love my apple mouse, they did a great job with it
JustSomeNobody 7y ago
How about a Qi certified mouse and mouse pad?

mojuba 7y ago

The problem with belly-up charging is that it's ridiculous quite literally. Maybe usable, but ridiculous, that is all. I think a docking/charging station for the mouse would be more elegant and nice to have, though more expensive too of course.

dpkonofa 7y ago
Even a docking station would suffer from the same problem because people would just put the mouse onto the dock every time they were done using it. Also, I don't think contact charging is as fast as cable charging. The point is to only charge it when you absolutely need to.
- mojuba 7y ago
  > people would just put the mouse onto the dock every time they were done using it That's still so much better than using with the cable attached (if it was possible), or the belly-up charging.
- wffurr 7y ago
  ... but why does that matter?

glvn 7y ago

Part of the reason the Magic Mouse was a miss in my mind was that the Magic Trackpad was so much better. For how awkward the magic mouse was at first, the magic trackpad felt natural at first touch. I remember getting one at work, this was the only time I liked a product at work so much that I immediately picked one up before coming home.

bdcravens 7y ago
There’s also a ton of general mice that work great.
kstrauser 7y ago
I love my Magic Trackpad up until it starting killing my wrists. A Magic Mouse let me be pain-free again.

mcot2 7y ago

Ergonomically it is a disaster. I can’t think of a single product that embodies design over function more than this mouse. All of Apples mouse designs have been absolute train wreaks since the horrible “puck” mouse on the original iMac.

Chris_Chambers 7y ago
Melodramatic much? Not to mention completely wrong. The mouse is ergonomically perfect. The charging port on the bottom is the only “problem” and isn’t a problem at all unless you’re a poor person who can’t afford two mice to have a fully charged one ready to swap to at all times. If you’re that poor then you shouldn’t be buying Apple products anyway.
bocklund 7y ago
The Mighty Mouse wasn't so bad. The ball would get dirty and need to be cleaned occasionally, but you could kind of clean it without taking it apart (flip it upside down and rub it on paper), but you could also take the mouse apart to clean it more thoroughly.
- pier25 7y ago
  The ball in my Mighty Mouse died after 6 months of use. I tried cleaning the ball but it didn't fix it. Opening the mouse broke it because it wasn't really designed to be opened. Terrible experience for a pretty expensive mouse. I have a 10 year old Logitech mouse that still works perfectly fine.

formercoder 7y ago

Having switched to PC recently one of the few things I miss is the amazing magic mouse / mac drivers combo.

sjwright 7y ago

The Magic Mouse 2 is junk but not because of the location of the charge port or the touch scroll. It's because it got the fundamentals of good mice so bad—an unergonomic shape and abysmally high foot friction. There are obviously going to be people who love it, but for me it's embarrassingly bad compared to options made by Razer and others. Yet their trackpad is the best in the entire industry. I've switched to the Magic Trackpad on my desktop and it's brilliant. The impetus to change was concern for some occasional RSI-like pain in my left-click finger, but now that I've been using it for a couple of years, I don't miss the traditional mouse at all.

Wowfunhappy 7y ago
I used to use the original Magic Mouse at work, which used AA batteries instead of a stupid lighting port to recharge. I came to appreciate the Magic Mouse quite a bit. I found it perfectly comfortable, and having what is effectively a super long scroll wheel is great. I also appreciated the easy horizontal scrolling, and the ability to switch spaces with swipe gestures. I switched only because I discovered how nice the tracking quality of gaming mice is.
- HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
  Same here. I still don't have a good solution to horizontal scrolling (shift doesn't work in Excel).
  - gxx 7y ago
    The Macbook trackpad has by far the best horizontal scrolling of any pointing device. I could not live without it. (If anyone knows a better solution please tell me. I'm always looking for new options.) It's great for spreadsheets. I even use the Macbook trackpad for 3D CAD. I used to use a spaceball and mouse, but the trackpad plus modifier keys is more convenient because it keeps the hands to the keyboard.
    - Wowfunhappy 7y ago

save_ferris 7y ago

I developed terrible tendinitis in my fingers using the Magic Mouse within a few weeks of purchasing one, I've never had a peripheral cause me so much pain in my career.

eden_hazard 7y ago
Are you still experiencing pain? I had terrible tendonitis from playing too much chess using crappy trackpads in college lol. Took using https://www.amazon.com/Evoluent-VM4R-VerticalMouse-Ergonomic-Connection/dp/B00427TAIK/ https://www.amazon.com/Evoluent-VM4R-VerticalMouse-Ergonomic... this for a few years to fix my hands. Now I'm fine using the macbook trackpad all day.
TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
I had that happen with the original Microsoft Ergonomic Mouse. The Magic Mouse has been fine. In fact it's my favourite mouse design ever, and I absolutely love the touch surface. The bottom charging is kludgey, and there was probably a more elegant solution. But you only need to charge the mouse once ever couple of months, so it's not a huge problem. However, I would guess my hands are not the same size as your hands. You don't have to be a design genius to understand there's a ton of variation in hand size, and one-size-fits-all products don't. A genius product would be a resizable mouse with an auto-resizing guide to help you pick the right size and curve for your hand size and grip style.

pier25 7y ago

> Apple wants to prevent users from leaving the mouse connected with a USB cable all the time. Why should that be a problem?

droptablemain 7y ago
Because how dare the end-user do anything Apple does not approve of?
stevens32 7y ago
My guess is to prevent images of it out in the wild looking like a non-magical normal mouse with wires
askafriend 7y ago
Because that will wreck the battery capacity. Li-Ion batteries aren’t designed for that use-case. Also the Magic Mouse has fast charging. You’ll get a full day of battery in 2min. With a full charge, you’ll get 2+ months of usage. Do the math. You’ll most likely charge this thing less than 20 times in it’s entire life. That’s why the battery port design is both really smart and elegant. Unfortunately people don’t take the time to understand the purpose of design choices and jump to the easiest meme that reinforces their beliefs.
- adtac 7y ago
  Is it not possible to disable battery usage completely using circuitry if connected by wire? Draw and use all power from the cable? What impact could that possibly have on the battery? I imagine it'd be similar to keeping a mouse unused.
- FireBeyond 7y ago
  >Also the Magic Mouse has fast charging. You’ll get a full day of battery in 2min. > With a full charge, you’ll get 2 months of usage. > Do the math. You’ll most likely charge this thing less than 20 times in it’s entire life. These things don't make sense as a whole. Why put a fast charger in (to get your day's worth of charging) if your use case is "charge it to full, get 2 months", so you "likely charge this thing less than 20 times in its life"? Most likely, you'll go to one extreme or the other, and I think the "less than 20 in its life" is entirely optimistic, and based on a use case that the design doesn't represent.

JustSomeNobody 7y ago

> Apple wants to prevent users from leaving the mouse connected with a USB cable all the time. This happens a lot with Apple. Good, bad or otherwise, they constantly solve customer issues when the customer isn't really having an issue.

claviska 7y ago

I love the Magic Mouse. What’s amazing is how long the batteries in Apple’s wireless mouse and keyboard peripherals last on a single charge.

aczerepinski 7y ago

I work remote and visit my office ~ twice per month. Nearly every time I show up to my desk, the mouse is dead, and I have to work without a mouse while it charges. IMO the Razer mouse I use at home is better in every respect.

karmakaze 7y ago

Apple demonstrated that this was an incomplete design effort by releasing the rechargable track pad that can be left plugged in.