The major talking point about the Arc Mouse is the unique shape. How to use mame for os x. When open, a symmetrical smooth boomerang curve that looks poised and ready to leap. When closed, a crouching low-to-the-ground turtle disguised as a mouse. The shape works very well in the hand, and the hollow bottom provides a great place to wrap the non button fingers around for a good grip. The two main buttons fall easily to hand, and click softly, sounding almost exactly like a BMW turn signal. The rubberized scroll wheel, while easy to use, is only of the basic variety, and a bit “clicky” and cheap sounding for my tastes. Microsoft D5D-00124 Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 - MS Blue Track - Flip 3D Button - USB - Tilt Wheel - PC Mac - Black by Microsoft $27.20 $ 27 20 + $8.75 shipping. In a quiet environment, it’s downright obnoxious to fellow library patrons. There are no whiz-bang scroll wheel features, just vertical scroll and wheel click. Given the overall design, it would be great to see a nicely machined aluminum wheel with a bit more heft – like the one used by the equally new for. The top of the Arc Mouse is finished in an extremely high-quality glossy paint with a glass-smooth finish. My red sample was absolutely flawless, and has faint metallic flecks in it as well. Such a shiny finish would seem to imply a lack of scratch resistance, but in my two weeks of travel on trains, planes and in cramped hotel quarters, I’ve seen no hints of blemish. The Arc Mouse, while symmetrical, appears at first not to be lefty-friendly, as there is only one side button for right handers. However, the placement of this side button renders it completely useless. It’s at least 15mm too far towards the front of the mouse to be accessible by thumb. In fact, the only way to side click is to hold the Arc Mouse “claw” style with index and middle fingers curved, but then normal clicking is not comfortable and scroll wheeling is impossible. Lefties, on the other hand, (sorry, bad pun), have no such difficulty and can easily use this side button with their ring finger. I’m sure this was not Microsoft’s intention, and so I have to say this side button is a major design flaw on an otherwise well designed product. First Impressions of the Arc The Arc Mouse is packaged almost like cosmetics – in a beautiful, see-through plastic box. The mouse itself is a glistening, glossy sight to behold, and artfully opens up to futuristic semicircular shape, quite appropriately, an arc. Unfolding the Arc Mouse reveals a tiny USB dongle hidden in a crevice on the underside of the folding “wing” which becomes the mouse palm rest. Both the underside and the sides of the mouse, and the exposed surfaces of the wireless dongle are finished in a rubberized paint, in my case, a matte dark red. Alkaline batteries are included, but, in a nod to the internet saavy consumer, no driver CD is included in the package. This cost-cutting is very unfortunate if you saved the unboxing for a long road trip and don’t have immediate access to the internet to download the drivers. Overall, build quality is top-notch and if the Arc Mouse’s performance lives up to its looks, Microsoft will have a winner on its hands.
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