Mac Musings

Of Mice and Keyboards

Dan Knight - 2005.05.25 - Tip Jar

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: New 2008 iMac 2GB $42 / iMac Intel Core2 DUO & MacBook Pro 2GB $36 - 1GB $20. MacPro 8 Core Memory 4GB kit $154 / 2GB kit $94 -- Free shipping available.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.

OWC: Mercury Elite FW800/FW400/USB2/eSATA up to 2.0TB TOP-RATED Solutions offer High Performance, Reliable storage for all your data storage needs. 500GB $159.99, 750GB $199.99, 1.0TB from $299.99

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

New MacPro Memory 800Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $88 / 4GB $138 / 8GB $274 - Click to Maximize your Macs...

One of the best things about the Mac mini is that it doesn't come with a cheap mouse and keyboard - and cheap is what Apple's mouse and keyboard are these days.

In the era of Apple's round mouse and the compact iMac keyboard, the first peripherals we bought for any new Mac - iMac or Power Mac - were a decent mouse and keyboard. If you're going to be spending hours at the computer, you deserve quality input devices.

Keyboard

If you spend a lot of time typing, get a keyboard that has a good feel to it. If you spend a lot of time mousing, find a mouse that feels good in your hand and gives you the buttons you need.

In the old days, Apple made some of the finest keyboards in the industry. The Apple Extended Keyboard is the stuff of legends, and Matias has done a good job resurrecting that quality with their Tactile Pro USB Keyboard (see Has the Best Keyboard Apple Ever Made Been Resurrected?).

I'm not saying Apple or Matias make the best keyboard ever, only that they are among the best. Others can debate that to their heart's content - as they've been doing in The Best Mac Keyboard? I Beg to Differ and other Miscellaneous Ramblings columns.

Whatever the best keyboard for the Mac, it isn't the mushy one Apple shipped with my eMacs. My four-year-old PowerBook G4 has a better keyboard, and I'm none too fond of it.

Keyboard choice is subjective. Perhaps you like a stiff action. Perhaps you like something that only needs a soft touch. Regardless, it's the kind of thing you want to try before you buy.

I never buy a keyboard without going to CompUSA, Office Max, or Office Depot, getting a feel for almost every keyboard in the place, revisiting some favorites, and then settling yet again on the same Logitech keyboard.

It's a personal choice, but I really love the feel of the Logitech Cordless Keyboard. I don't really care one way or the other whether it's wireless. It's nice to be able to sit back with the keyboard in my lap and not have to worry about cables catching, but it's certainly not a make-or-break feature.

This keyboard has some nice features: a scroll wheel, a volume knob, a dedicated mute button, and a sleep/power button. The pair of AA batteries lasts a long, long time, and the only thing I really don't care for is that it's a black keyboard and hard to read in low light.

The same keyboard is available in a USB version as the Logitech Elite Keyboard.

Mouse

Mice are another subjective area. Some people like trackpads. Some people love trackballs. Most of us prefer mice, and most Mac owners buying a mouse are looking for something with more than Apple's single button.

Logitech Cordless MX700 MouseAgain, I go to the store, grab the mice, move them around, pick them up, get a feel for them. I've seen some nice new mice with side-scrolling, and again I settle on a Logitech product. The Cordless MX700 Mouse fits my hand very nicely, has a scroll wheel, and even has a pair of thumb buttons. I've got two of them now - one at home, one at the apartment - as well as one Cordless MouseMan Optical, the model that preceded it. (Southpaws are already aware that lots of mice are right-handed. This is one of them.)

One nice feature of the MX700 - it comes with rechargeable batteries and a charger base. I get about a week's use before it dies, and in a pinch I can throw in alkaline or NiMH AA batteries.

Logitech Control Center

Logitech's Control Center software (OS X only) not only lets you program all the special keys on the keyboard and mouse, it also lets you know battery status of both peripherals.

One more nice thing - I can use these with my ancient 450 MHz Dell, which also came with a cheap mouse and keyboard.

It's a shame that this mouse and the Logitech MX Duo (which pairs the mouse and keyboard) are discontinued. That said, there are plenty of other good mice and keyboards to choose from.

There is no right and wrong. It's subjective. There is only what works well for you and what doesn't. If you spend a lot of time at the computer, spend a little time finding the right mouse and keyboard. LEM

Links

Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986, sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Mac Musings

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, PowerBook, MacBook, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.