Of mice and men

I know this is a bit of a dumb-sounding question but bear with me.

I'm migrating from Windows to Mac and, not having yet bought the Mac (an iMac), I've been wondering if I could use just any basic wired mouse with it, rather than Apple's which has had not too good a press.

My guess is that I will be able to, since USB is supposed to be universal. However, I'm not sure if I'd first need to uninstall the Apple mouse. When Mac OSX detects a mouse on a USB port does it perform an automatic install particular to that mouse? (Let's assume a wired type only). In other words, does OSX download any sort of identifier or name from the mouse itself? For instance, if I were to now use a Logitech wired optical mouse on the Mac, would the Mac end up with something like "Logitech optical mouse" in its Mouse properties?

Am just wanting to avoid any potential for ending up with the Mac thinking that it's got two mice installed instead of just one. Does perhaps the action of pulling out the USB lead automatically cause an uninstall of the mouse, whether on Windows or a Mac computer, ie. literally "plug n' play"? I'm also assuming that there'd be no problem in using a slower version USB mouse, eg, USB2, or even USB1, with a new iMac which would be USB3.

One other thing is that I understand that the Apple wired keyboard comes with two USB ports on it. Presumably, I could plug the mouse into one of those ports? I assume that the keyboard would then share or multiplex the keyboard and mouse signals on the one USB connection into the Mac?

The iMac comes with a superb wireless keyboard and mouse. There is no reason to replace them. You can just plug any USB mouse in, but you will lose a number of useful features. It's not recommended to use a different keyboard as the layout differs from normal Windows keyboards.

I think it's pretty much "yes" to everything on that.

As it happens I quite like the Apple Magic Mouse¹, but I've also used Logitech, Microsoft, Labtech and unbranded mouses, USB1 and USB2, plug 'em in (to the Mac or the keyboard) and they just work. Unplug them and they stop, with no fuss or silly error messages. Same with keyboards (though the layout may need to be confirmed when it's detected, OS X makes that easy).

Nor does OS X get confused by multiple simultaneously connected mouses and/or keyboards either (tho' you might, I usually do!). They all just work.

It really is plug and play.



¹ you may have seen reports about the earlier Mighty Mouse, which was rubbish.

Agreed also consider Apples Track Pad as it's a nice bit of kit and I bought one of these to replace the wireless mouse which as the previous poster said is a superb bit if kit.

I'm not sure why you are even considering any other mouse if your going to get a IMac .

A "superb wireless keyboard and mouse"? Hmm, I don't think you'll get many others, including many dyed-in-the-wool Mac enthusiasts, saying that. Just lately, I've read about the vageries of the Apple wired mouse and the latest Apple wireless mouse in various Mac forums and almost everyone seems to be complaining about them - slow, sluggish response, pointer erractically moving, batteries needing replacement after just two months, etc. Ditto with a number of professional blogs on the Web. No thankyou, I'll stick to using the Apple wired keyboard which I can opt for, but will use a wired mouse of a different brand. This morning, just to confirm or not these shortfailings, I visited a local friend of mine who's had an iMac for about a year now. She's no techie but the first question I asked her was about the performance of her Mac keyboard and mouse. She has the wireless version of both. Without any prompting she said the mouse was "just awful".

Of course, what you believe on a personal level to be "acceptable" or "superb" depends on what you've hitherto experienced and been accustomed to. More demanding users, say serious photographers like myself, will demand good precision and utter stability of the pointer, as these are paramount requirements for serious photo-editing work.

Getting back to my basic question, though, you seem to be saying that I'd need to do nothing (no uninstalling). All I'd need do is to unplug the supplied Apple mouse and plug the Logitech one in instead. Right? BTW, I'm not planning on changing the keyboard to a non-Apple one.

[I'm trusting that this topic won't now morphe into an argument instead about the performance of Mac mice].

pointer erractically moving,

I get this occasionally. It is invariably a cat hair under the laser thingy.

I quick blow and it returns to being ergonomically and functionally the best mouse I've used.

In reply to a post by meditator:

Getting back to my basic question, though, you seem to be saying that I'd need to do nothing (no uninstalling). All I'd need do is to unplug the supplied Apple mouse and plug the Logitech one in instead. Right?

In my experience- right.

I'd add that I don't like the wireless keyboard, but for the reason that Apple don't supply one with a numeric keypad (or didn't when I bought the iMac, haven't looked since), and I hate not having that

In reply to a post by time2die:

I'm not sure why you are even considering any other mouse if your going to get a IMac .

It's handy to know that you can just plug in another wired mouse and it will work� especially when you mis-click and turn Bluetooth off

billford, I'm fairly certain that the mouse I saw my imac friend using earlier today is the Mighty Mouse. It was the wireless one with the curvy top contours. I asked if she'd set it up in the Mouse applet in System Preferences and she assured me she had, but that it still performed terribly - no precision for the photo-work she does, the pointer would often wander off to somewhere totally different if the machine were left unused for more than a few minutes, the batteries quickly ran down, etc. I had a go with it myself and it was like dragging the pointer through treacle.

time2die, I'd dearly love to use the Apple mouse that's supplied (I'm going for a customised iMac) but with the probability of its performance being insufficient for my needs I'm taking no chances and will use a bog-standard Logitech wired mouse instead. I suppose I could always try using the Apple one and see how it goes, and if it's unsatisfactory at least I'll be able to switch to the Logitech one. Hence the query about device name and also whether it's pure plug n' play or not.

As much as I've always admired Apple's innovation and 'pushing of the envelope', they don't always get every bit of design correct 100% of the time, you know. And I'd respectfully suggest that the area of their mice has been one such design blip.

In reply to a post by meditator:

I had a go with it myself and it was like dragging the pointer through treacle.

I had that during some evenings last summer� turned out (after much hair-tearing) to be an Airplay speaker overheating on a west-facing windowsill.

I can only assume it was causing the router to somehow hog the CPU on the iMac, but I've no idea how. When I moved the speaker out of the sun it returned to normal

Not saying that's the cause in your case, but it might not be the mouse that's at fault...

Well, billford, whether or not Apple's very latest mice are problematic, there'd be nothing to stop me, I suppose, from getting the latest Apple wireless mouse at a later date, if I so desired.

I would hazard a guess that if you did a survey on what sort of mouse graphics and photo professionals use, irrespective of either Windows or Mac platform, the majority answer would be 'wired'. And I think also that specific models would come up. Even a lot of gamers swear by wired ones.

As for battery life, well photo-editing often requires endless hours of work each day on the computer, and I think photographers would quickly get frustrated at having to regularly replace the battery(s).

Or when you are re-installing the OS. That's the only time I need a wired keyboard/mouse. That's when I wish that Apple would lighten up a little and put at least one USB port on the front of the Mac Mini.

I've used all sorts of mice from original Microsoft and Apple (ugh) ones, through Sun and Silicon Graphics ones, to Logitech and modern Apple ones. The latestbApple mouse rates amongst the best of these. But I'm not trying to persuade you of anything; just be aware that you will be missing out on a deal of functionality.

As for batteries, haven't you heard of rechargeables? Last about a month in my mouse and are changed in a matter of seconds for another ready charged set.

It was the wireless one with the curvy top contours

No, that's the Magic Mouse - a great piece of kit.

I never had any trouble with mice, keyboards or trackpads on macs.
You can install the os and even win 7 on bootcamp using bluetooth mice and keyboards, I just did it.
I can echo the recommendation of the magic trackpad, once you have used it for a week and got used to it it feels very natural and it's a joy to use.
I found the batteries last quite long, I play for hours on online games on the windows partition and I don't think they go through them particularly quickly.
Give the mouse and keyboard a chance if you don't like them then put your own on but I think you will.

If you use a third party mouse, such as a Logitech USB mouse it is probably worth installing USB Overdrive rather than the manufacturers software. USBOD is a fine piece of software that just works.

I have been using an i-mac for just over a year, also using the supplied mouse, and after a few "I fear change" moments, I have found it to be absolutely fine.

I had problems with top roller ball on the supplied mouse and I bought a Macally Pebble mouse, very accurate to use and the laser area does not clog up. It is connected directly to the USB port on the keyboard.
I also have the trackpad device and in-spite of being trained on a Macbook Pro track pad I do not use the standalone one with the Mac Pro - perhaps it is a matter of physical work space for keyboard and mouse.

If you getting a custom iMac then opt for the Magic Trackpad instead. I had the Magic mouse before getting the trackpad, it was fine - but I like the multitouch support that the trackpad gives you - for my photowork I mostly use the trackpad, but for more precise editing I have my old Wacom Tablet.