So I know what you're thinking. You're doing a review on a wireless mouse? A MICROSOFT Wireless mouse? What can I say? I've written about my love for wireless mice before, but with the popularity and ubiquity of touchscreens these days, I'm now more than ever appreciating the brilliance of a mouse. That said, I do have touchscreen devices and a Wacom tablet. However, 90% of my work on my Linux, MacOSX, and Windows boxes is done with a mouse.
I actually didn't need to buy a mouse until I ended up working with three workstations overseas. The last mouse I bought, a Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 I picked up in Best Buy Buffalo four years ago, is still working fine and is still one of my favorite accessories. For all the negative publicity Microsoft gets, they make very good input accessories. From 1998-2004, I tried A4Tech, Logitech, and Genius USB and optical mice and they died after a year. The most resilient mouse I purchased prior to the Microsoft 3000 was an A4Tech 3-wheel USB mouse (now discontinued). The expensive wireless mouse from Logitech, considered the leading manufacturer of mice, died after 11 months.
Things to like about the Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500:
1. Off button - The underside of the mouse has a manual power off button to conserve battery. This is an improvement over the 3000, which only powered down if you removed the batteries or reattached the wireless receiver. Steve Jobs may not like power off buttons, but I like powering down my electronic devices (side note: your iPad and iPod actually perform much better after you power it down once in awhile).
2. Smaller wireless receiver - The design of most wireless devices/chips today, from Bluetooth dongles to wireless chips, is to shrink it or make it almost invisible to the user. I have mixed feelings about this if they are separate components, mostly because I'm careless and absent-minded. However, the 3500's wireless receiver docks into a spring-loaded receptacle underneath the mouse. I found out this design has been around for awhile now (remember, I've stuck to my aged 3000 mouse for years). There's a button that releases the receiver when you're ready to connect it to your desktop or laptop. Frankly, it's these simple innovations that impresses users like me. Now if only I can remember to unplug the receiver from my company laptop every time I use it . . .
3. Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center - Windows gets plenty of flack for their Windows Update but I've had no issues with it myself aside from the occasional Intel HD drivers that confuse my Nvidia Optimus chip. One advantage of running it is getting sweet utilities like the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center. It's available on Windows 7 and the theme is version agnostic though it looks better on a Windows 8 system. The Microsoft Hardware team made a very visual approach to the configuration screen for their mice and they deserve credit for it. The Mouse and Keyboard Center's simple and streamlined design is also functional with easy to understand options for configuring macros for the mouse button. It's clearly made for the young and modern user with links to Facebook and Twitter and several click buttons on the bottom for accessing articles on ergonomic use of input devices. Take a bow hardware team!
4. Works great in Linux - Anyone who visits Unsolicited But Offered regularly knows I won't let an article pass without mentioning Linux. Forget about the politics, the 3500 (like the 3000) works well on openSUSE, Lubuntu, and FreeBSD. It may not be a big deal but Linux support is important to users who want a resilient and functional accessory. And yes, the Xorg settings and KDE mouse configuration settings work fine with the mouse.
In the old days, I was very wary about wireless input devices. Back then, they were buggy and performance was inconsistent and I clung to wired mice religiously. These days, however, the $5 or $10 difference between a wired model and a wireless one is not a deal breaker. The convenience of having a wireless mouse, if you've never used one, can't be overlooked especially if your worktable is already littered with a tablet, Wacom, ereader, and digital camera accessories. I dread the day they discontinue production for wireless mice but hopefully, my Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 and my 3000 are alive until then.
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