November 16, 2023, 5:26 p.m. |
Reading time: 5 minutes
The author of this text is an Apple fan – but he would never buy a product from the iPhone manufacturer.
There’s an iPhone in my pocket, an Apple Watch on my wrist and this text is written on a MacBook – I’m an Apple fanboy and very happy with the products from the apple company. But the mouse that is connected to the MacBook is not an Apple mouse. Nobody wants to spend an 8-hour working day at the computer with Apple mice. The reason: They are the worst product the company has brought to market in recent years.
Because while the manufacturer’s other failures (Apple Pippin, Apple QuickTake) have now disappeared into obscurity, these rodents are still lurking on countless desks and making life difficult for their owners.
Apple just can’t do mice
The problem: Apple simply can’t make good mice. The reason for this seems to be Apple’s tendency to prioritize the design of the mice over their function. The company has already impressively demonstrated several times that Apple’s minimalist design language always clashes with the ergonomic requirements of a computer mouse.
It doesn’t hurt if a piece of hardware looks good (although the design of Apple’s mice can still be debated). But especially with a mouse that you have in your hand almost constantly and for hours when working with the computer, ergonomics should also play a role. But Apple seems to be more willing to accept that its customers have tendonitis, as long as the mouse looks good on the desk.
Example 1: The “Hockey Puck”
The fact that Apple seems to be fundamentally at war with the computer rodents was already apparent at the end of the 90s. Together with the iMac G3, the simply titled Apple USB Mouse came onto the market, which also bears the nickname “Hockey Puck”.
It’s easy to see why: The mouse is small, circular and only has a single button. To “right click” you had to hold down the CMD key on the keyboard – a keyboard shortcut that still works today. In addition to the lack of a right mouse button, the “hockey puck” was also far too small, didn’t provide the hand with proper support and caused cramps.
The Apple USB Mouse is nicknamed the “Hockey Puck”. Photo: Getty Images
The “Hockey Puck” lasted two years until Apple replaced the mouse with the Apple Mouse. Now clearly elongated and with a strikingly transparent design, this mouse was also an eye-catcher. But what was still missing was a right-click button – and you also looked in vain for a scroll wheel. Apple only delivered this with the Mighty Mouse.
It is the mouse from Apple, which most people probably know from work and whose shortcomings we have all learned about – if the employer uses Apple computers. Between 2005 and 2009 it was delivered with every new iMac and remained on sale as a cheaper variant of the successor Magic Mouse until 2016. So in total it was on the market for 11 years!
Photo: Thomas Porwol
During this time, this mouse also revealed some serious weak points. The shape was still an elongated oval, which offered little support to the hand and made prolonged use a torture. The scroll wheel was just a ball that could be rotated in all directions. Not only was it much too small, it tended to become so dirty after just a few months of use that it no longer worked properly.
If a Mighty Mouse had been around for a few years, chances were good that the scrollball would no longer work at all. Apple had finally given the Mighty Mouse a right click. However, the pressure point was so vague that you were never quite sure whether you had clicked right or left.
Also read: The real reason why Apple puts these stickers on the iPhone
Example 3: The magic of charging
And then there is the current mouse from Apple: the Magic Mouse 2. Even flatter than its predecessors, it has neither cables nor buttons. It’s basically a single touch surface just waiting to be accidentally pressed. But what is probably Apple’s best design trick for the Magic Mouse 2 cannot be described, you have to see it:
Apple’s Magic Mouse 2 has the charging port on the bottom. It couldn’t be stupider. Photo: TECHBOOK
Exactly: The Lightning connector, which is used to charge the mouse battery, is located on the bottom of the mouse. So if you want to load it, you have no choice but to turn the mouse to the side. Charging and using the mouse at the same time is simply not possible.
Okay, the Magic Mouse doesn’t need to be charged every day; it can even last for several weeks on a single charge. But the way this mouse is loaded is exemplary of the absurd design decisions that regularly accompany Apple mice.
Apple’s best mouse isn’t a mouse – it’s a trackpad
But Apple hasn’t completely failed when it comes to input devices for computers. Because there is still the Magic Trackpad. A large version of the touchpad known from MacBooks and the best option if you want a pointing device from Apple.
Thanks to high precision, practical multi-touch gestures and generous dimensions, Apple has managed to create an input device that you actually want to use. To do this, the company simply didn’t have to build a mouse.