Hump Day Hardware: Mice

I've talked about two of the major tools for interacting with your computer, graphics tablets and keyboards. Today we're going to talk about mice.

Those of you who read the post on tablets will know that I rarely use a mouse. If you have joined us to CorelDRAW Unleashed Boot Camp, you've never seen me pick up a mouse. While I rarely use one, it is something that is a requirement on a computer. If there is a driver problem with your tablet, you need a way to point long enough to get things working again. Some of you may even prefer to work with a mouse, though I find it hard to understand. I guess you just haven't spent much time with a tablet.

One problem I've always had with mice is that they tend to wear out too quickly. Part of the problem was the old mice with the ball in them would get dirty or would mechanically break down. Most of the newer mice have a laser in them for tracking movement so there is nothing to mechanically wear out or get gunked up.

A pet name that I've given to mice over the years is "soap on a rope" or "brick on a string". I can't even use those names any more since many of the mice are cordless. I do recommend you keep a corded mouse handy in case the cordless mouse stops working! It can stay in a closet, but make sure you have one somewhere as you'll never know when it might come in handy.

Since I'm not a big mouse user, I did some research to try and figure out the best mouse available. This research led to the Logitech MX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse. It lists for $99.99 and sells for $84 on Amazon. If you want to save even more, Amazon sells a refurbished version for under $60. You'll find that it fits your hand nicely and has a ton of buttons, wheels and other useful features. If you need one for a laptop, look to the Logitech VX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks.

I still believe you should be using a Wacom tablet the majority of the time when you are creating graphics. But for those times when you must have a mouse, the Logitech listed here is a darned good one.