I have experimenting with various input devices over the past month.
- The Logitech MX mouse: a leftover from my old PC. Large to fill the palm of your hand completely, this device has worked for me very well over the past years. If there is one drawback it is the materials it is made off. This fake-velvet plastic actually wears off after long use, making the piece of hardware that you touch all day, every day of the year look and feel dirty.
- The Apple Magic Mouse. I actually had to get used to this device for a few days. Unlike the Logitech mouse, it is small. You move it with your thumb and index finger. The surface is made of glass enabling you to manipulate the cursor and zoom just like you can do on a track pad. I love the clean material (glass), no more sticky plastic on your fingers. Sometimes though, the scrolling can be a bit unpredictable in PowerPoint, oops I just went 2 pages up.
- The Apple Magic Trackpad is a standalone version of the trackpad that is usually found in laptops. It has a nice large surface, and nice click. For a casual computer user, this would be the one I recommend. For the professional designer (me included), I still prefer a mouse to manipulate and drag shapes across the screen.
After a month, I end up working with the Magic Mouse most of the time. I still need to find a solution for that unpredictable scrolling somehow.
5 comments
- importing images
- Changing object layer order (move to back, move to front, etc.)
I have mapped [CMD]+[SHIFT]+[v] to a mouse button to bring-up the import image dialog (quicker than the keyboard shortcut since I don't have to let go of the mouse);
Changing layer order I now do by tilting the scroll wheel - left for back one level and right for forward one level. Quicker than finding the menu option, and I can never remember the keyboard shortcut (!)
One thing: On the Mac at least, the Logitech driver is very poor, so I use Steermouse instead - which is fantastic.
Steermouse also allows you to assign "per application" button functionality to other mice - including Apple's own.
My top features:
Rechargeable battery that seems to last forever on a single charge;
Mouse buttons can be programmed to perform just about any task - and can vary depending on the application you're in at the time;
Very precise and controllable scrolling.