Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse review

The microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse is a very small, two-button mouse with a scrolling wheel. Measuring barely 5cm wide, 7.5cm deep and around 4cm high, you can easily slip it into a pocket or a travelling case and barely even notice it.

The mouse is symmetrical, which means that left-handers and right-handers alike can use it. And, as it's so small, there are two soft plastic panels on the side that help you to grip it properly. It's also fairly solidly built and it should be able to take a few knocks when you are on the move.

Some people might prefer a larger mouse that fits their hand a bit more comfortably, but if your main priority is portability then the Notebook mouse should most certainly fit the bill.

Turning the cables

The USB cable used to connect it to your Mac, though, is fairly short. Some people use their laptop as their main desktop computer, so the short cable might be a problem if you want to plug the mouse into a USB hub on your desk. However, most people will have the mouse connected directly to their laptop, so this triviality shouldn't be too much of a problem.

One thing to note is that there's no software provided with this mouse. It will work automatically with a Mac OS X 10.1 or later, as this has support for two-button mice built-in. But Mac OS 9 users need additional software in order to use the second button and the scrolling wheel properly.

There's a workaround available, but it's not officially supported by Microsoft, so you might want to think twice before trying it. Most of Microsoft's other mouse products include a piece of software called Intellipoint, which can be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site (www.microsoft.com/mac). Officially, Microsoft says that the Notebook mouse doesn't work with Intellipoint, but we installed the program on a Mac that was running OS 9.2 and it worked fine, and it allowed us to use the Notebook mouse with no problems.

Caution to the wind

If you're not sure about using the Intellipoint software with OS 9, then you may be better off considering a rival product, such as the Micro Mouse from Swann Communications, which does have proper OS 9 software.

Apart from that, the Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse is an ideal solution for iBook or PowerBook users who would rather use a mouse than the trackpad.