Ever since I decided to ditch the desktop for the laptop, I was looking for the wireless mouse I will use with my future mobile platform. Since my choice of laptops (ultra-portable) has very limited amount of USB ports (Sony SZ has two) I did not want to permanently occupy one of them with USB receiver for the mouse.
This ruled out majority of mouses out there and left me searching Bluetooth options.
In reality, there were two: Microsoft and Logitech. All the others was not really good ones and all belonged to entry level class. However, both MS Intellimouse and Logitech MX900 are designed for the right-hand users and I happen to use the mouse with my left hand. I am right-handed person but I strongly believe that mouse should be used with left hand as that is more comfortable than the usual way. I eventually bought MX900.
For its own, it is an excellent mouse, which works on practically any surface, even mat-black as my working table. However, it soon became obvious that it was very battery consuming and it having a charging cradle naturally leads me to think it’s a BT mouse aimed to be used in desktop situations.
That’s where wireless Mighty Mouse enters. First, it’s much less battery consuming. Second, it has laser tracking which is miles better than the crappy wired older brother. Third, it was symmetrical, so I could use it with both hands, as I saw fit. All winner points, if it wasnt for the one small thing: Apple decisively says that is works only with MacOSX, preferably 10.4.6 or higher.
Well, crap that!
It’s a Bluetooth mouse – why the hell it should not work with any BT stack, even Windows’s one? I didn’t need any special functions, just: left, right and middle click + wheel scrolling. I asked people in Apple’s London store, but they firmly claimed it works only with Mac because the Mac software runs it. Ludicrous. I was so sure it must be working that I bought it anyway – if it really wasn’t working…well, it would make a nice present.
It turns out that I was right – it does work fine with Windows, with the minimum of functions expected from a mouse these days. The main trick is to supply a Bluetooth PIN code without which it refuses to work. The code is “0000“, as explained on the Apple site and I must say this is the first time that I have seen a HID device requiring one.
So there you go gals & guys: wireless Mighty Mouse does work with Windows.
Impressions
After trying it out for several days, I was somewhat dissapointed. Not by its basic functionalities – no, they were quite fine, 100% as I need them. Mouse is precise, works without jitter I could notice. Wheel scrolling was too fast by default, but after slowing it down from WinXP default of 7 lines per click to 2,it was fine. I easily got used to the fact that there are no buttons, much easier than I thought I would.
The problem is with the hand I’m using.
I used it with my left hand and had big troubles getting used to it. It seems that sensors and whole thing inside of the mouse is geared towards use with the right hand. The left side of the mouse has higher priority than the left side. Let me explain…
When you put fingers on both sides of the mouse, and click, it always does the action assigned to the left side, be it select or context menu. Also, if you click in the middle of the mouse and even 1cm to the right it still performs left-click or select-click, whatever you want to call it. In order to get the opposite action, you need to click on the far right side of the mouse and lift the fingers off the left side. Even if your fingers are not touching the surface but are close to left-side of the mouse, it will still peform left-side click. When using the mouse with the left hand, this is very frustrating.
I guess that there are Mac owners that use the mouse with the left hand and I also thought that Mac software drivers for it must do something to the mouse, otherwise any left-mouse-hand Mac users would be very pissed off. That computer-speaks-to-mouse would also somewhat justify the use of PIN code. But, how to test this? My best shot was to go to Apple store and install the mouse on one of the MacBooks there, if possible – meaning security will not jump on me as soon as I tr to put the CD into one of the comps. :) It proved fruitless though, as I could not install the mouse software (did not know the password for the Apple user) and I couldn’t find a machine with the WMM software already installed.
I’m a bit stuck, but will figure this out, eventually. :)
New Macs come with the drivers for the mighty mouse by default. When you hook it up the system preferences change to give you the additional configs for the mighty mouse. The config allows you to set what actions you want to each button. By default clicking with all fingers down does the ‘primary action’ even if you have primary action set to the right side of the mouse. Hope that clears it up.
For what it’s worth, my Mighty Mouse sits in the drawer (wired version). I gave it a few months and couldn’t take it any more.
Many thanks Radixhound, that’s very good to know. I know where my first stop on the next visit to UK will be :) I have read a lot of negative reviews about the mouse, and a lot of positive ones, before buying. It seems that it’s hit and miss and it’s hard to be indifferent to it. It serves me well, though.
I purchased one for the misses so she could have something that works on both her powerbook and her pc. After trudging through the cumbersome pc bluetooth dongle setup and two reconnects, everything appears to be working. Buttons work fine and the scroll wheel works too. Now if I could find a way to get the pc to read the side button (squeeze).
One thing, getting this little bugger set up … Mac vs PC … Mac FTW. The Windows dongle software (Kensington Bluetooth 2.0) was a real pain in the arse to use and setup.
Thanks for the PIN code info. It was a big help
I just got one and I found the best method for left hand use is to set the left button as secondary, and the right button as primary. In use, use both fingers for primary click and lift the index finger only for secondary (right click). It is a little awkward but after you get used to it, it is no problem.
–James
James, I tried that, but could not get myself to it. Even though I kept two fingers down, I often clicked wrong. Or better said — the result of my action is not what I had in mind.
Thanks for the help! I couldn’t get past that PIN code for almost 15 minutes and ended up having to google “bluetoothh pin mighty mouse”
can any of you get the MAC mighty mouse zoom (magnify) function to work in XP or VISTA?
cheers
I’m running VISTA with a mighty mouse. The normal functions of the mouse work beautifully. The left, right, and middle click are all good. The scroll ball works in all four directions. Even the side buttons work. My question is, “How have the side buttons so conveniently been automatically set to the “BACK” feature, and is there any way to configure these buttons?” I wonder this because VISTA has this new amazing feature that was kind of ripped from Apple, “Switch between windows” feature. All the programs that are open on the taskbar explode into a mini snapshot, where any one window in particular can be brought to the top. I thought that it’d be a great idea for the side buttons to be enabled with that function. Then, the different windows can be scrolled through with the ball, and I could easily browse and select my tasks with an even quicker click of a button. The program for the mighty mouse from Apple for Mac’s is only compatible with Mac OS. I tried other mouse programs and suites made for mouses by Microsoft and Logitech in order to select a custom program to run from the side buttons, but the mouse remains at its default settings that are enabled at the automatic driver installation at the plug in of the mouse. Any Help???
Casey, unless you find non-Apple mouse driver written especially for MM, this is not possible.
I got Mighty mouse to work with Vista!
I use VMWare fusion. The Mighty Mouse worked fine as I let Mac handle the bluetooth connection. However, I needed Windows to manage bluetooth as I needed it for syncing my phone with Outlook. That also meant that the mighty mouse no longer worked.
I started by pairing it with Windows Vista with passkey 0000. The pairing worked (I pressed the mouse button a few times during pairing so it was found). Scroll worked. Howdever, the mouse pointer did not move. After a while I discovered that the mouse did really move, but it was invisible. Only when I used the touchpad, the mouse pointer would move.
I was stuck. I tried a wild chance and put mouse pointer trail on in the control panel .… and … Wow!!! I had a working Mighty Mouse handled only by Vista!
Thanks! Just had to switch from my lovely MacBook to an HP Tablet PC (required for grad school) and couldn’t seem to part with my Mighty Mouse. Thanks to you, no tears have been shed :)