Apple Pro Mouse (M8690G/A)

Like many other users of recent Apple computers, I lamented the hockey puck mouse that came standard with my system last year. But, also like other Apple users, I was somewhat used to Apple's oddness -- they're rather like Saab, which builds very good cars that always seem to have one or two elements to them that just leave you scratching your head.

So, when the Apple Pro Mouse was introduced recently, I debated purchasing one to complement my iMac. I was doing OK with the hockey puck. I was pretty much used to it. But I also knew that it just wasn't all that good.

So, I spent the money.

Let me tell you, it was worth it. I took the little critter out of its packaging materials and plugged it into the USB port of my keyboard. The little red light went on, and BAM, it worked. No software, no restarting, no hesitation. Nothing.

Aesthetically, the Apple Pro Mouse looks rather like a slug or a dollop of mercury. Whatever Apple has chosen to coat the surface of the device somehow glistens. You half expect to have to catch the mouse as it rolls off the table, as mercury would (though mercury IS poisonous, and the Apple Pro Mouse definitely isn't).

Operationally, it works like a charm. Absolutely no tracking problems. Almost the entire mouse is the "button" -- if that is what you want to call it. Just press down anywhere on the front two thirds of the Apple Pro Mouse, and you've clicked. For those of you heavy-handed types, a controller on the bottom allows you to change the amount of pressure required to "click" the mouse.

But, at least for me, probably the best element of the Apple Pro Mouse is the optical tracking device. I love it most for what it is NOT -- a dirt and grime collecting ball. Sometimes I think that my old hockey puck mouse was designed by Fred Sanford to collect as much trash as possible to gum up the inner workings of that thing. I had to clean it daily, if not more frequently. And it would even leave little "mouse droppings" of some sort of sticky goo on my mouse pad. No more! Everything is now nice and clean.

So, if you have the $59 to spare (yes, this is a lot for a mouse) and you are stuck with a hockey puck, get on line to www.apple.com/store and order yourself one of these little babies. I think you'll be pleased that you did.