The Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse may not really be a rival to the Apple Magic Mouse: after all, they’re designed with different operating systems in mind, and the former sticks firmly with physical buttons. But they’re certainly both striking, and worth considering if you like your PC peripherals to says something about you. What is that? Find out in our Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse review.
The Arc Touch Mouse snaps flat and powers off - handy
At a glance, the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse looks every bit as gorgeous as Apple’s Magic Mouse, and we found it much more comfortable to use. For one, it’s raised substantially higher. Both the left and right mouse buttons pop down reassuringly when pressure is applied, without feeling too clacky or making much of a noise.
The Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse is impressively portable too, as the rubber wrist rest snaps down to create a flat object barely thicker than the AAA batteries it houses – and conveniently powers it off too, to save on the juice.
Buy the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse now
Unfortunately, the flat scroll wheel all but ruins the next-gen feel of the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse. It looks touch sensitive, bu in reality, it feels like there’s a mechanical wheel under its surface. And it’s nasty. Swipe down too excessively and you’ll hear it whirr away excessively for several seconds while friction slows it down, like a cat purring through a megaphone. Not only that, but you can feel it rumbling away too, and it’s more than off-putting. It feels almost wrong, like you can hear the Wizard of Oz muttering behind the curtain. Thankfully, you can turn down the vibration feedback in Windows – but not OS X, unsurprisingly (Though it works just fine on Macs otherwise, with even right clicks working without setup).
We love how elevated the Arc Touch Mouse is, and it's comfortable to grip from on top with your fingers running underneath
We can’t fault the Microsoft Arc Touch mouse for its performance. It glides easily across surfaces, even grippy wooden tables, despite only touching at two points, and doesn’t collapse in on itself with the pressure of day to day use. And the BlueTrack laser tech means it works on just about anything except frosted glass and air.
It’s also worth noting that the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse uses a tiny USB receiver rather than a Bluetooth connection to hook up wirelessly to your computer. While this does lead to better battery life, it’s not great if you use a laptop as a desktop replacement all day, as you may be limited to just a few USB ports anyway.
Who is it for? Despite how easily it snaps up and slips into a laptop bag, we’re not sure we’ll be carrying the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse around on the go. What we would consider however, is using it with our Acer Aspire Revo plugged into the TV in the living room. We can’t get by without using a mouse and keyboard with it quite yet – this is at least affordable and stylish enough to leave out on the coffee table. Any minimalists with a secret home theatre PC (HTPC) in the cupboard out there?
