Is this a good laser mouse?

I am just sick of my ball mouse. Takes me about five seconds to click on something due to the crappiness of it. I have a non working optical mouse right now that makes the pc itself, not the sound, beep for about 10-15 sec. when I turn on the computer with it connected. It prevents the PC from starting up too, just black screen. So is this a good optical mouse?
http://www.espgalena.com/cgi-bin/ISStore/store?action=view&RO=chillman1&prod_id=8049
Considering its a Microsoft mouse, I assume quality should be decent at least? A bit cheap, which is why I ask.

Is it really a laser mouse? Doesn't mention it, so I'd assume it was a regular optical mouse.
I've had good luck with Microsoft mice in general, but haven't tried that particular one- I'd guess it's decent though.

http://www.surpluscomputers.com/store/main.aspx?p=ItemDetail&item=ACC10818

Maybe check that one too- $12.99 free shipping?

Mags, it looks almost identical to the one I just bought for my dad for his birthday, but it cost me $40 (less $5 rebate) at Office Depot.

Since it's still new I don't have any idea how long it will last. It was easy to set up and worked right away. The tilt wheel is kinda cute but I don't think I would use it much. I doubt my dad will ever use it.

The shape was a bit different than "normal" mice and might take a bit to get used to. But the big drawback for me personally is only having 3 buttons (with the wheel being the third button). Mine has 5 buttons and I use the extra left side (for the thumb) button on my mouse all the time. It defaults to the back button on you favorite browser and that's what I use it for most. I would avoid buying this mouse for that reason alone. But if having those extra buttons doesn't matter to you then I recommend it.

Thank you for the replies. Wingerr, I may consider that one since a battery operated mouse would be quite a pain. Sorry for the misunderstanding about "Laser" . Thats what we usually call it around here.

Well, all cordless mice will need a battery; some have rechargeables in there.

I'm currently using the Logitech MX1000 laser mouse, and it's been terrific. Not really in the same price range, but the prices on them have dropped fairly nicely since I bought mine.
The big differences I've seen in optical mice is the distance you can be to the surface of the mouse pad or table, and still track properly. With cheaper optical mice, they would have a hard time with surfaces that exhibited any irregularity. The Logitech one actually works while hovering above the surface of the paper, out of physical contact. I also used it from two rooms away with no problem (you might ask how I would do that- I had a CCTV camera pointed at the monitor and I was viewing it through the TV monitor
Battery life with the Li rechargeables have been no problem at all, it goes a good long time before it needs to be put into it's charging cradle. It also has battery status LEDs to give you warning well in advance when it's getting low.
It has all the extra buttons mentioned for auxiliary functions, which is definitely handy.
The only drawback is the size of the receiver, which acts as the charging cradle as well. Works fine for desktop applications, but not too good for my notebook; just doesn't stash well in my bag.

I got a Microsoft notebook mouse, which has a storage bay on the bottom of the mouse for the tiny USB receiver, which works nicely, except it doesn't have as many buttons. No problems tracking though, and the battery life of the single AA is such that it's no pain to swap every now and then.
Only thing I don't like about it is that it has a rubberized surface that extends down to the edge of the bottom, so when I use it on soft surfaces, it ends up dragging. Have to use it on a rigid surface as a result- no such requirement on the Logitech.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=3,CONTENTID=9043

http://www.logitech.com/lang/flash/mx1000/mx1000.swf


sweet!

Logitech user for 10 years. Never let me down. :thumbsup:

I wouldn't use a ball mouse. Optical is the only way to go.

I threw out my old Logitech cordless optical and I wonder why I didn't do it sooner.

I now use a 14 dollar Microsoft wired optical and it works perfectly all the time, on any surface. Just two buttons and a scroll wheel. I don't have any use for more buttons but maybe I just don't know what I'm missing. It's a lot more comfortable for my hand than the old Logitech cordless.

They may have made improvements on the cordless ones since I bought mine, but I wouldn't use one if my life depended on it.

i have 5 buttons and 2 scrolls! lol
left button, right button, leftside button(page back), rightside button(page forward), front scroll(page scroll up & down), back scroll(page scroll left & right), and font scroll button... leftside button(page back) is very handy

Yeah, you'd only miss the extra buttons after using it a while and then switching to a standard mouse. I like using them for the back function and alt-tab to quickly switch between applications. Or use it for copy and paste, if you do a lot of that. The functions can be set up as needed.

If your old Logitech optical was like a Belkin optical mini-mouse that I have, I wouldn't use it either. I don't always have the mouse pad out, and like to use whatever's handy, and the Belkin would tend to skip on irregular surfaces. After getting a Microsoft one, I put the Belkin on the shelf.

I've also had pretty much no problems with Microsoft mice except some instances where the wires developed a break in it, and one freaky sample with an internal pin that wasn't soldered at all.

Probably safe to say the newer Logitechs work much better than the old one you used, so if you ever need to get a new mouse, I wouldn't rule them out based on that.