Customer Reviews

Kensington 64322 Studio USB Mouse Designed for Mac (PC/Mac)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

I have two of these mice, one I have owned for 3 years.
I have come to know this product very well...so let's get to it.

The design is great, shape and color are fantastic.
The Sensor scroll works supurbly! I never had an issue with it. All it takes is very light pressure and it scrolls..works fantastic. I had to get used to the pad at first because it's really different then the standard wheel. But once you get the feel for it, I think you'll enjoy it. Below the sensor scroll is an oval button that allows you to switch from horizonal scrolling to vertical scrolling, I have used this more then I thought. And it shows Kensington didn't skimp out on this feature.

I rest my finger on the sensor itself as I browse, as i do with a scroll wheel. And sometimes if my finger hits the scroll areas of the sensor, it scrolls when i dont want it to. You have to get the feel for it. The little bugger is quite sensitive to touch.
Once your used to it, I think most people will be fine, but it's worth noting.

The mouse has a very low profile, which is awesome for laptop users. I can put this thing in my laptop case with no problems, and it's a full sized mouse!! The thin design, plus the flat sensor scroll make this a great regular sized mouse for protability.
I hate those teeny-tiny mice they sell for laptops, and carrying around other full size mice require a seperate bag to clip onto your laptop case...very combersome. So I really appriciate the body design of this mouse.

Now I have two of these, one is a replacement and I'll explaign why. The white part of the mouse has a thin grip coating on it. After time, it "will" get dirty, especially the thumb side. It will even wear away. Which makes it look darn ugly and takes away from the good looks of this mouse, BUT! It's not as bad as you think. Under the coating is a very smooth shiny white plastic. You can easily scratch away the coating and your mouse will look new again. I actually liked it better, but Kensington should just remove that coating. Even Better News, before I tried scratching off the coating, I called Kensington about it. They sent me a whole new replacement mouse!! And this one came with a better USB plug + an extention cable! I haven't used the extention but I can see it being useful if your cords go behind your desk.

The replacement mouse works just as well as the previous one..I have had the replacement a year now. The snesor works the same. And all the buttons work great! Although, recently this one has started to drop the usb connection. Requireing me to unplug and replug the mouse in to get it to work. It's defective, and it happens sometimes. I have the feeling Kensington will replace it with no problem since they replaced my old one for just cosmetic problems..so I'm not worried. Other than that, I really like this mouse.

The old one, which I gave to a family member still works 100% with no problem!

So aside from some cosmetic issues and one defective unit. The mouse is really nice.

I think this mouse will appeal to anyone who wants a low profile regular sized mouse for laptops. Whos interested in having a unique scroll technology, and an overall good looking product.

Does the sensor scroll work better than a wheel?
Not really, but it's very interesting..and it does work. And it does provide a few noteworthy features normally not found with a scroll wheel. The button to switch scrolling panes and it's flat design, so you don't have a scroll wheel adding hieght to the mouse.
Another added benefit to the sensor is you don't have to deal with ANNOYING clicking scroll wheels! Clicking scroll wheels suck! The noise & the feel of them.
So I really enjoy the silence and smoothness of Kensington's sensor scroll technology.

Kensington's mouseworks software is ok, the only real feature it adds is an onscreen directional scroll, so you can use mouse movement to scroll all over the place without using the sensor. Some people may like it, but I find it annoying.

I have used these mice with my Mac G4 and my Dell laptop, works great on both systems with exactly the same features and programabiliy.

Would I reccomend this to others? Yes.
Would I buy this for someone as a gift? Yes.

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.

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.

Bob Zeidler

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.

This mouse was originally purchased for an iMac many years back, and it still works GREAT! I have tried many other wireless mice just because of the location of the USB to where I was actually using it... every time those mice self-destructed, I've gone back to this mouse. Truly, I have no idea why I even both with other mice. I LOVE the touch scroll! It takes some getting used to at first, but then makes you wonder what you were doing the entire time before it. I find it funny that this mouse, which was designed for MAC OS X, works on my Vista and XP computers way better than anything else. Yes, the mouse does show dirt rather easily, but if you keep up with cleaning it no worries. My USB cable beginning to show its age, and I am happy to see that there is now a wireless version available!

I've owned this mouse for a few years now, and have never had a problem with it. As some people said before, the scroll pad can be a bit strange at first, but it becomes second nature quickly. The software is excellent and works well. It lacks the myriad of buttons that new mouses have, but in the same sense, it's also quite simple to set up and use.

Great mouse, great look. Takes some getting used to if you are accustomed to using the scrolling wheel, but once you get used to it, its cool.

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.

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.