Review: Microsoft Rechargeable Wireless Laser Mouse 7000

Don Bradbury takes this all-singing, all-dancing computer mouse through its paces

Product	Microsoft Rechargeable Wireless Laser Mouse 7000
Company	Microsoft
Web	www.microsoft.com
Price	Around £50
We like	Overall facility; good ergonomics; up to 30ft wireless operation; rechargeable power source.
We don't like	Upper side panel mounting of the two thumb buttons, right handed use only.
Rating	9/10
Requirements

While the ubiquitous computer mouse has advanced in design by leaps and bounds over recent years, Microsoft clearly thought it was about time that some modern developments in electronics and ergonomics, as well as software design, should be allowed to enhance the performance of this most useful of PC add-ons.

Current operating systems such as Windows Vista bring all manner of tricks to the screen; Flip-3D in Windows Vista, image magnification, horizontal as well as vertical scrolling and so on. These can, with a little ingenuity, be incorporated into mouse design, and this 2.4GHz Wireless Laser Mouse 7000 brings it all literally to the right hand (though unfortunately not the left).

And while we're about it, why not use a rechargeable power source in the little beast, plus a wireless connection to make life easier and cheaper for the desk-bound computer user? The Laser Mouse 7000 includes one AAA NiMH battery in the pack, which you house in the base of the mouse, and this is rechargeable via a power unit that's plugged into the mains. Onto this you simply pop the mouse while you're not working when the green LED suggests that now would be a good time to power up the battery. Seven hours for a full recharge, says the manual, but most won't let it go that flat. There's also a power switch on the base of the mouse, the use of which - though easily forgettable - can conserve the power in the battery while you're not using it.

You can extend (or indeed reduce) this battery life by adjusting the IntelliPoint software between power consumption and mouse performance because the Laser sensor's precision is variable to suit the application and your preference. We found the default settings suitable. Being rechargeable, of course, makes the length of the battery's life rather less critical than if you were having to pop new Alkalines in there every week; it's just the annoyance factor, really, when you forget to recharge it. Best is just to make a habit of standing the mouse on it's charger while you're otherwise engaged; even overnight.

After software installation, mouse setup is finalised by plugging in the USB transceiver. It's smaller than the typical USB stick, but we wonder if it's quite as tiny as it might have been. We've seen wireless transceivers that were smaller. But this transceiver will work nicely out of a USB hub, so it doesn't have to be in one of the machine's own ports - perhaps important if you use a notebook.

Indeed the range of the 7000's wireless connection is such that we could operate the mouse at extreme range (even through brick walls). Impressive, especially if you have a PowerPoint show, or something similar, to put on the screen. The green LED on the top of the transceiver indicates activity, and that's all there is to see.

The mouse itself has five top or side mounted buttons, and on the flat base there are the laser sensor, the on/off button, the power connectors, and the battery housing. Overall, though oddly shaped by conventional standards, we found the 7000 quite comfortable, although we thought operating the front and rear thumb buttons was a little awkward single handed. You soon get used to it, but we'd prefer to have had them mounted nearer the base, perhaps, to make single hand use easier, one on each side near the rear. As it is, until you get used to it, pressing them tends to tip the mouse over rather too easily. And with both of these thumb buttons being black, like the mouse casing, it makes them difficult to see and differentiate between. Of course you're meant to become so accustomed with their use that seeing them isn't necessary. However, the power and facility of all these buttons lies in the software, so let's take a look.

IntelliPoint

Software installation from the CD takes a few minutes, and you need to concentrate while you select from the menu the exact type of pointing device you're installing. There are lots of them on this single CD. For example, there are two different types of Laser Mouse 7000 listed, so just watch that; the one we're looking at here is not the first of the 7000s in the list.

This version of the IntelliPoint software for the 7000 mouse is hugely customisable. For instance, the smooth rolling (ie non-clicking) wheel button is set to Flip-3D by default (for application in Windows Vista) but you can set it to any one of 38 different options, from Precision Booster to Close, from Magnify to Minimize, from Ctrl to Macro, each being set to suit your preference and, of course, the application.

Despite the provision of two multi-language user leaflets, there was no room found for a user manual in either. For that you have to access the Microsoft Mouse/Mouse Help file in the installation folder. While you become accustomed to using the 7000, reference to this help file is more or less essential. At launch you can get by with the default settings, but some, such as the magnify facility on the front thumb button we found we were constantly engaging, so that had to go until we gained familiarity. We set it to Forward and Back for Web browser page shifting with these two buttons.

The mouse scroll wheel doubles for both vertical and horizontal scrolling - for those applications that support horizontal scrolling - and it's fabulous in a big spreadsheet, for example, to be able to just tilt (press to either side) the scroll wheel and be able to scroll across the sheet without having to locate and drag the scroll bars.

Program-specific settings can also be made. In Windows Vista, when you open a program using the Run as administrator command, you're denied access to application-specific mouse button settings; the mouse uses the global mouse button assignments instead. So to enable application-specific mouse button settings, you have to open the application without administrator credentials, or log on to Windows as an administrator. A bit of a pain but worth the effort by those with specific tasks in mind.

Gaming options

The Laser Mouse 7000 offers some options that are specific to gamers. Among these are Macro Editor for creating or editing macros in IntelliPoint, Quick Turn for turning through 180 degrees in a game, Precision Booster for adjusting pointer speed in a game or application, and Gaming Toggle which is used for recording a key sequence.

Digital Ink can be used for annotating PowerPoint slides, as another example, and the Keystroke setting lets you assign a keyboard shortcut to a mouse button. Usefully, the Start option lets you open a program, web page, or file when assigned to a mouse button.

The 7000's general ergonomics were impressive. The double-click test window, for instance, showed that a surprisingly wide range of double-click speeds were acceptable at the default setting; plus, of course, it was user-variable.

ClickLock was available to lock a click while you highlight or drag without having to hold the button down, and it's hold period was user variable as you'd expect, but even the uses of the ubiquitous left and right mouse buttons were user-adjustable to that wide range of uses. One button at least has to be left assigned to the simple click facility, again as you'd expect.

In conclusion

A notebook's trackpad will remain active while the Laser Mouse 7000 is in service, though even that can be switched off via IntelliPoint if you prefer, and all in all, the general and specific options you get from this device are quite astounding. We were, in general, impressed, though it took us some time to get used to those two thumb buttons, especially the front one which seemed to fall rather too easily to hand (well, thumb actually).

The Microsoft Rechargeable Wireless Laser Mouse 7000 is not exactly cheap at around £50, but if you are the sort who prides himself on comprehensively controlling the computing beast via a mouse, this one should keep you happy for many a year.

 

Don Bradbury