Mouse Tracking Technologies

Mechanical mice - Mechanical mice were the first ones used on computers, & can still be found on the market, despite the advances of tracking technologies. These mice feature a hard ball on the underside that rolls as the mouse is moved, & rollers inside the mouse permit the physical motion to be translated to the pointer on the screen. Some "ball mice" are a bit more advanced & replace the internal rollers with optical sensors, but the same principle applies.

Mechanical mice require occasional maintenance to keep the ball & rollers free of lint & other debris, & with numerous moving parts there is always a feasible for issues. The use of a mouse pad is recommended for these mice as they not only provide a tidy surface to work on, but also provide the needed resistance for the ball to roll smoothly.

The precision of mechanical mice is not lovely, & although they may be fine for typical desktop work, they were never up to the task of detailed graphics work or serious game playing.

Optical mice - Optical mice replace the whole ball/roller assembly of mechanical mice with a beam of a light & an optical sensor. The beam of light shines down on the surface below the mouse & the sensor makes use of the light to track the movement. The images included with the listing for this optical mouse (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HTM-39GWT&cat=MOU) provide a glimpse at the bottom of the mouse, where the light & sensor can be seen.

Optical mice have several advantages over mechanical mice. There are no moving parts to break or otherwise cause issues. The necessity for maintenance is greatly reduced as the bottoms have no openings or rollers to collect lint. Although mice usually are not heavy, the elimination of the ball & roller mechanism allows an optical mouse to be much lighter than a comparable mechanical mouse. The precision of optical mice is also much greater than mechanical mice, & the resolution can go from the low hundreds to the high hundreds (as measured in dpi, dots per inch).

Another advantage is that the necessity for a mouse pad may be eliminated with an optical mouse, as they do best while tracking on any smooth, flat surface. A tidy desktop is usually lovely, but those looking to take the precision of optical mice to the highest level may opt for a performance "mousing surface". There is several precision mousing surface manufacturers, such as X-ray Pads (http://www.xraypad.com/) & FUNC Industries (http://www.func.net/) that design pads to appeal to game players & others who demand the best performance.

Laser mice - Laser expertise is the latest & greatest in computer mice tracking, & takes the advantages of optical to a brand spanking new level. Most of the attributes of a laser mouse have been described in the optical mouse section, except for. In lieu of a wide beam of light, it makes use of a narrow beam of laser light.

The Logitech MX1000 laser mouse may be the mouse for you in case you are looking for extreme precision. According to Logitech, the laser expertise used in the MX1000 provides up to "20x more sensitivity to surface detail--or tracking power--than optical."