For over 20 years, Apple’s flagship computer line, the Macintosh, shipped with something that started off as unheard of in the personal computer industry: A mouse.  The reason it was unheard of is because Apple also brought the Graphical User Interface into full swing — before, most computers were driven via command-line terminal operating systems.  Apple wanted to simplify things by making computer commands happen just by clicking and dragging using a mouse.  These mice only had one button, and over the span of 21 years, the mice stayed that way.

Which is why Apple’s newest foray into the market of computer accessories is a very odd one.

Apple last week introduced a product called the Mighty Mouse.  A first for the quickly growing company, the new mouse has four functional buttons and a scroll ball.

You read right, a ball.  It lets you scroll up and down, but also to the left and right.  The ball feels spot-on, and you can feel and hear when it’s sending a command to the computer to scroll.  It’s tiny, too, meaning you can cover a large amount of scroll quickly.  It’s very well designed and very usable.

What’s odd about this new mouse is, at first glance, you would guess that it still only had one button, maybe two max.  Cleverly hidden is a touch-sensitive shell that detects whether your fingers are on the left or right side of the mouse.  The mouse does not click when you touch it; instead, when you press down on the shell, you hear and feel a good old-fashioned click from the mouse, and the click registers as on the left, middle, or right side of the mouse depending upon where you have your fingers on the mouse.  So there’s no actual “right-click,” only a right-press.  If you press down on the scroll ball, it doesn’t click down.  Again, the whole top shell does.  So it’s still basically one big button from a mechanical standpoint, but the technology built into it turns it into three buttons.  Interesting thinking.

In practice, the three “area” button takes a little getting used to.  You’ll find that if you press down on the right and left sides at the same time, the mouse registers a left press, so you need to lift a finger off the mouse to perform a right press.

Middle pressing takes a little adjustment as well.  The scroll ball is a bit too easy to move, so you need to press directly downward on it or it might scroll a little bit on the document you’re working with (or web page, if you’re trying to open a new tab with the middle “button.")

Now, there’s one topic I haven’t covered yet, and that’s the side “buttons.” The side buttons actually function as one button when triggered.  To trigger the button, you squeeze the mouse on the gray semicircle side grips.  This is a cool idea in theory, but the execution is poor.  For some users, the buttons aren’t positioned correctly (too high up on the mouse) but I have a rather strange grip that I use on mice that works for the buttons.  Or, it would work, but the buttons have a second flaw that gets in the way.  They take way too much pressure to activate, so I have to adjust my grip on them anyway to be able to use them.  If I have to adjust my grip, it makes them unusable for me.

The mouse uses the standard optical technology that’s been out there for many years now.  The cord is rather short, but given that it plugs straight into my keyboard, I don’t have a problem with the cord length.  Windows users might have a bit of a time trying to get it to plug into their machines.

Overall, Apple’s Mighty Mouse is a fairly good mouse once you get used to its kinks.  The side buttons are a real drag, and the three top “buttons” take some getting used to, so I would recommend that you try before you buy.  It definitely won’t be for everyone.