Earlier today , Logitech foretell a new business line of mouse called , with sufficient bravado , Revolution . Comprising a full - sizing home model , theMX , and a small ( though still sizeable ) portable model , theVX , the Revolution line aims to , as the company so modestly put it , “ transform the experience of finding and manipulate the huge amount of digital content on a person ’s figurer or on the Web . ”
Now , I ’m loosely not one to get excited about input devices . Sure , after your CPU and display , they ’re the part of your computer you use the most , and your choice of input signal twist can mean the departure between comfortable use and carpal tunnel syndrome , between productivity and plodding . But to really beexcitedabout a shiner ? Let ’s just say it takes more than smartly - give voice PR - speak to get me raving .
But after using one of these mouse , the VX , for several weeks — one of the perks of working at Macworld is that we often get review units before products hit store shelves — I’m intimately convinced . Although the mice have a number of unique features , the one that ’s dramatically change my mousing for the better is Logitech ’s newfangled MicroGear Precision Scroll Wheel . Unlike most scroll wheels , which are made of rubber or plastic , the Revolution mice use an alloy wheel that ’s importantly heavier . But more important than what it ’s made of is how itspins . As you ’d expect , the faster you spin the bicycle , the quicker you scroll — and this new wheel scrolls even quicker than traditional mannequin , lease you vanish through pages with ease . But therealinnovation here is that the weight down wheel has a “ freewheel ” mode where a gentle flick of your finger spins the wheel freely , coming to lie only after its impulse dies ( approximately seven indorsement ) or you manually stop it .
What ’s the big deal ? I performed a unsubdivided experiment using a protracted Word papers : With a standard curl wheel , it rent me over 60 “ scrolls , ” ratchet along , to get from the start of the document to Page 25 ; so much effort that in real - world oeuvre , I ’d prefer to reach for the keyboard or use the windowpane ’s scroll bar instead . With the Logitech computer mouse ’s freewheel , it took me just three spins . Or regard a more common task for me : When browsing theMacworldforums , using a stock whorl roulette wheel to navigate a 100 - mail service ribbon is more problem than it ’s deserving . With the Logitech mouse , a prompt pic whisks me down the Sir Frederick Handley Page at a amazingly fast speed ; when I see what I ’m front for , I place my finger on the bike to stop it and the scroll stops straight off . And scroll through a with child iTunes Library is also much light with this new steering wheel . But the solicitation of the feature is obvious even when working with a much myopic document or reckon a much shorter Web page — a single spin , or else of many scroll - wheel rotation , moves you through the entire document .
Logitech got the feel good , too . The amount of strength it takes to spin the wheel is minimal ; the cycle is — and I ’m almost embarrassed to write this , as it sound hokey when talking about a mouse — a pleasure to employ . ( take down that the VX and MX oeuvre slenderly other than ; I ’ve been using the VX while one of my colleagues is testing the maxwell . ) In fact , on those occasions over the past couple week when I ’ve had to use a mouse with a traditional scroll wheel , it ’s feel klunky and limit — like going from a high - end road bike to aBig Wheel . In my day - to - daytime electronic computer use , which is true far too extensive , this “ freewheel ” roll wheel has been the big mousing improvement since the advent of the scroll wheel itself .
Sound like an informercial ? I can see you that neither I norMacworldis receiving so much as a dime bag for my manifest ebullience . The the true is that although I ’m an editor at a tech publishing , I ’m also a figurer user , just like you , and sometimes a young technology comes along that ’s worth getting aroused about . We ’ll be performing objective reviews of these mice — their trailing , comfort , software , and so on — in the near futurity , but one matter is clear to me : Logitech is on to something here . ( And I ’m left wonder , “ Why did n’t anyone recollect of this before ? ” )
[ Dan Frakes is aMacworldsenior editor who wishes hisKensington Expert Mousetrackball had a “ freewheel ” ringlet ring . ]
