What is this?
Microsoft's corded scroll wheel mouse, conceived by contemporary designer Philippe Starck, sports a metallic body with an orange strip separating the two buttons.
Microsoft Optical Mouse by S+ARCK (Orange) ReviewOctober 1st, 2004
Pros: Sleek silvery design; works for lefties; it glows; great mouse wheel.
Cons: Does not contour to hand; accidental clicks are frequent; grip is lacking.
Verdict: At $30, the Optical Mouse by S+arck provides great looks and serves as an interesting discussion piece, but the design clashes with the usability of the mouse.
Designed by the world-famous Philippe Starck, the new Microsoft Optical Mouse by S+arck offers a sleek, minimalist design, highlighted by a brightly colored stripe down the center. However, the usability is rather diminished by the design, and can use some improvements.
Package Content - Microsoft Optical Mouse by S+arck
- 17-page manual
Sci-Fi Looks The S+arck mouse certainly is an attention grabber. At first glance, it doesn’t even look like a mouse, but more like a silver and orange egg. Essentially, there are the two mouse buttons running the full length of the mouse much like Apple’s Pro Mouse. The smooth, silver body matches the silvery finish of our speakers and monitor, and goes great alongside a PowerBook. When viewed from the side, the silver body is interrupted only by the extruding scroll wheel. Down the center is an orange stripe which houses the wheel and four bright LEDs, casting a spiffy looking glow, à la TRON.
Its fully symmetrical design is a plus – it adds to the overall appearance of the mouse while allowing left-handed people to use it as well. The only thing asymmetrical about the mouse’s exterior is the placement of the S+arck logo about two thirds of the way down the length of the mouse on the right side – a finishing signature. Of interesting note is that apart from Starck’s signature, on the outside of the mouse are no stickers, logos, or even Microsoft’s name.
S+arck Performance Accuracy was not an issue on many surfaces we tested it on, as very few skips were encountered, offering precision almost to the quality of the MX500. The tracking speed proved to be slightly faster much to our liking, While remaining easy to control without changing the sensitivity setting in the OS. One minor complaint is that the mouse cannot be configured by Microsoft’s IntelliPoint software, so mapping the middle click to a keyboard shortcut was not an option.
The mouse wheel is by far one of the best mouse wheels we have ever tested. It is whisper quiet, where the scrolling one step is exactly one step on the screen with no hiccups, very accurate. The tension is just as perfect as the accuracy, as it is easy to scroll in either direction, while providing enough resistance to ensure you do not accidentally click the scroll wheel.
Sadly, the rest of the mouse cannot match the beauty of the design or the perfection of the scroll wheel. The mouse itself is very thin, and does not contour to the shape of your hand. The rear point places a pressure in the center of your palm, which can become painful within minutes of usage. Also, the way the mouse was designed requires your hand to be lined up perfectly centered rather than at an angle, which can feel very awkward and potentially cause wrist problems later on.
As for the grips, they are very small and made of the same material as the rest of the mouse, causing it to slip every now and then when picking it up. If Microsoft were to increase the height of the grips, and make them out of rubber or some other kind of material like Logitech’s MX line uses, this would be greatly improved.
As mentioned earlier, the buttons run down the entire center of the mouse. If done right, this can be visually pleasing. Unfortunately, in Microsoft’s case, the problem is that the clickable range of either mouse button extends for two thirds the length of the mouse. Combine this with the fact that there is no click resistance setting, and many users will find that it is too easy to click. When moving the mouse around on the screen, we were plagued with accidental clicks, interrupting workflow.
- R. Scott Clark, Consumer Technology Editor
Where to buy Microsoft Optical Mouse by S+ARCK (Orange)?
User Review(s)
We're currently upgrading our user review system; so we won't be accepting new reviews for now. Optical Mouse by S+ARCK (Orange) Specs
Interface(s)
Original USB
Released date
August 2004
Platforms
Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP
