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Kensington 64322 Optical Studio Mouse

Kensington 64322 Optical Studio Mouse

List Price: $99.99
Your Price: $36.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not Wortth the Price
Review: As a longtime Mac fan I recently purchased Kensington's much-hyped StudioMouse "designed especially for Mac OS X."

Anyway, I basically wanted a nice, optical, corded, two button mouse with a scroll wheel.

I like the three button design (OS X is the first Mac OS that makes having a right-click option really useful) but I LOATHE the "touch scroll" in the middle. Give me a good, old-fashioned rubberized scroll wheel any day. The touch screen is flakey to the core and doesn't work if you've clicked ON (or even near) a scroll bar, plus it's near impossible to control the degree of scrolling, even with Kensington's MouseWorks software. I find myself scrolling the "old fashioned way" (clicking into the scroll bar and manipulating the up/down arrows with the mouse) 99.9% of the time.

There are much better mice on the market, for a lot less. Don't buy into Kensington's "designed for Mac" bull.

Though, I will say that one positive is that the mouse worked fine, straight out of the box (left and right click, plus scrolling feature, all operable in OS 10.1.5 with no software installed--only the third mini button did nothing). The MouseWorks 2.0 software (doesn't come with, must be downloaded) for OS X works great but is only necessary if you want configure clicks to different functions.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Slick Compliment to the G4
Review: I bought this to go with my new PowerBook. I've owned lots of Logitech and Microsoft mice over the years - ball, optical, corded, cordless, wired, wireless - you name it. I currently prefer Logiech cordless optical mice, but I was intrigued by the scroll strip on this device after hearing the hype about how it was designed for Mac OS X, decided to try it (plus it looks cool).

I loaded the driver software; when my computer restarted, I was treated to a series of warnings that the driver software was about to compromise my system security. I elected to use it anyway, which was pointless, since each time I attempted to open the software I got a message that said my "Kensington Mouse background application" wasn't running, or something to that effect. The mouse was partly functional using the standard Mac drivers, but I couldn't adjust parameters like double-click and tracking speed satisfactorily, nor could I custom program the buttons or make use of the third click button.

Well, it was off to Kensington's web site. I found new a new driver, downloaded and installed it, and now I can't find any sign of any Kensington drivers or utilities. The error messages are gone, but so's the icon for the utility, so I still can't program my mouse. My advice, get a Logitech or MS Mouse.

I can't really rate the mouse from a hardware performance standpoint, since I can't program it to work the way I want it too.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Made for OS X - NOT!
Review: I bought this to go with my new PowerBook. I've owned lots of Logitech and Microsoft mice over the years - ball, optical, corded, cordless, wired, wireless - you name it. I currently prefer Logiech cordless optical mice, but I was intrigued by the scroll strip on this device after hearing the hype about how it was designed for Mac OS X, decided to try it (plus it looks cool).

I loaded the driver software; when my computer restarted, I was treated to a series of warnings that the driver software was about to compromise my system security. I elected to use it anyway, which was pointless, since each time I attempted to open the software I got a message that said my "Kensington Mouse background application" wasn't running, or something to that effect. The mouse was partly functional using the standard Mac drivers, but I couldn't adjust parameters like double-click and tracking speed satisfactorily, nor could I custom program the buttons or make use of the third click button.

Well, it was off to Kensington's web site. I found new a new driver, downloaded and installed it, and now I can't find any sign of any Kensington drivers or utilities. The error messages are gone, but so's the icon for the utility, so I still can't program my mouse. My advice, get a Logitech or MS Mouse.

I can't really rate the mouse from a hardware performance standpoint, since I can't program it to work the way I want it too.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Slick Compliment to the G4
Review: Like many others, I waited for this mouse based on the marketing hype. It is quite nice to look at, but the real test is on actual use. The appearance, shape and feel is very nice, it is tapered and almost flat which is ergonomically great for small hands, however I find its squared-off base digs in after long use. I still prefer this over other brand name mice particularly those with "humped" backs which make my hand quite tired. This is my preferred mouse of the many I tried for fit and use.

I have no absolutely no problems with Mouseworks and its use in OS X (Jaguar) the current version is available on Kensington.com.

The "scrolling" takes some getting use to; it is not a wheel but a touch pad.

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because for the amount of money, Kensington could at least have put a better cord on it. Its sticky casing catches on anything in its way, the edge of the keyboard tray for instance. I'm forever pulling the mouse back which is maddening especially when performing detailed mousing in Photoshop. The cheap cord makes for a great case for the wireless Studio Mouse. If only it was affordable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Go ahead, Mac user. Spoil yourself. You're worth it.
Review: Some time back, I commented on the Kensington Optical Pro mouse, rating it highly despite the fact that some Windows users complained about driver software. I had no such problems; the MouseWorks software worked jusf fine for me, and the mouse did everything expected of it.

Except for a few minor quibbles, that is: The styling left a little to be desired. (It reminded me too much of a similar Microsoft product, hardly something that a Mac user would appreciate.) There were actually a few too many buttons which, despite their easy programmability, represented "overkill" for a Mac user. The ergonomic feel, after a while, was a little too clunky. And the blue/gray color scheme didn't go all that well with my PowerBook G4 Titanium laptop.

Then, some weeks ago, on the back cover of a recent issue of MacWorld, I saw a "preview" ad for this Kensington StudioMouse, and said "That's what I've been waiting for!" I lusted for it for a number of weeks, awaiting its availability. Now I've got it, and it's the best I've ever used, hands down. It isn't even close; this mouse, in my opinion, has no real competition.

Ergonomically, the feel is perfect; far better, in fact, than the Optical Pro mouse it replaces. The shape is better, the size is smaller (the Optical Pro mouse was just a little too large for me), and the rubberized sides provide a "slip-free" grip (also a problem with the rather slippery Optical Pro mouse). The silver and white color scheme is a perfect match for my PowerBook G4. And the button "feel" is far more positive, giving a nice "click" when actuated. Moreover, since I had earlier updated the MouseWorks software, from the Kensington website, to the current issue level provided with this StudioMouse, it worked immediately, and as advertised, in "plug and play" mode without needing to load the software contained on the CD-ROM provided with the mouse.

Mouse-wise, I think I'm set now. (Interestingly, while Apple continues to lead the industry in the industrial design of computers, I can't say that I'm impressed with their current mouse offerings. They are quite "plain Jane" compared with this beauty.)

Finally, while the StudioMouse is advertised as "exclusively for the Mac," and the supporting literature states the same claim, the CD-ROM includes software and drivers for Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. This is no guarantee that all the Mac-applicable features such as the pan/zoom button will work under Windows. But I think I'll give it a try on the Windows 2000 machine that I almost never use. This StudioMouse is THAT much better than the usual cheap-looking/feeling peripherals that seem to dominate the Windows world.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very nice.
Review: This is a nice feeling, nice looking mouse. A lot of people complain about the scroll pad, but I like it. It scrolls smoothly down pages. What isn't mentioned is if you click the button under the scroll pad, it switches it so you can scroll a page from side to side. The software that comes with the mouse is great. I am using a mac, running OS X 10.3.4 and have experianced no problems. It is a perfect replacement for my broken Microsoft Intellepoint mouse.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This mouse is the best
Review: This mouse is the best, It's a laser mouse so no cleaning is necessary, the programable buttons are great for gaming and the scroll button isn't gust cool is is great!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: scroll button needs a lot of work
Review: This mouse looks cool and it performs well in every area but one: scrolling. The wheel-less button is very difficult to control with any precision and it requires a suprising amount of pressure to activate. If you don't do a lot of scrolling then I'd recommend this mouse, but if this is a feature you use repeatedly then I'd give it a pass and wait for Kensington to come up with a better scrolling button.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: scroll button needs a lot of work
Review: This mouse looks cool and it performs well in every area but one: scrolling. The wheel-less button is very difficult to control with any precision and it requires a suprising amount of pressure to activate. If you don't do a lot of scrolling then I'd recommend this mouse, but if this is a feature you use repeatedly then I'd give it a pass and wait for Kensington to come up with a better scrolling button.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Inconsistent results
Review: Used on a Mac OS X machine running 10.2.6. I found the other reviews really interesting because of their inconsistency. Many had trouble with the scroll pad, yet that part worked perfectly for me. The right clicking was also perfect. Where I had problems was in basic (left) clicking. I don't think it was an RF problem. I tried both channels, and as I said above, most of the functions worked fine.

Half the time it was as if the mouse (or perhaps the receiver cradle) would not detect a mouse up event. I'd click, and the system acted as if I was holding the mouse down. If I then quickly moved the pointer, usually the mouse up would get acknowledged.

The other half of the problem was mouse clicks not being registered at all if I clicked too fast. However, "too fast" for the Studio Mouse was no problem for any other mouse I?ve ever used. I had to force my self to hold the button in the down position a little longer than is natural for me. So what that gave me was a tiny timing window between "too fast" of a click and the system deciding I was holding the mouse button down. Argh! The last place you want to deal with thinking precisely about how fast you do something is with basic mouse input. The mouse ceases to be an extension of my mind and body.

There's probably something amiss in the mouse driver for the Mac OS. I suspect a conflict of some sort because it does seem to work fine for some, but I don't have a lot of extensions in my system. Unfortunately. I find I have little desire to spend the time and effort to track down a problem with something as basic as mouse clicks. Sorry Kensington, but it's back to the wired Intellimouse for me on the Mac.

All is not lost. The Studio Mouse drivers for Windows seem to not have these problems, so I'll be bringing it to work where I'm forced to use PCs, and I have a situation of a fairly long distance between my mouse area and the PC case. I bought it for the Mac, though, so that's why the 2 stars.


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