Buy Now...

Firstly let me prove a Microsoft statement to be true “If you do not already have a mouse, you can connect and receive before installation so you can use your mouse during IntelliPoint setup” I recently had a new PC that had no operating system in fact I connected a keyboard and the Wireless Optical mouse and inserted the Windows XP operating system CD. It booted from the CD and as soon as the Windows install stated I was able to use the mouse. In fact it was a couple of days before I installed the 37MB of software that is the Wireless Optical Mouse software.

The new version of IntelliPoint changes the default use for the normal scroll to next window from x lines down the page, but you have a choice of 19 different tasks to assign. The side to side movement could be very useful for the visually impaired using a large font as a touch either left or right will scroll in that direction. Perhaps however the biggest use will be for spreadsheets where there could be hundreds of columns to move across.

This is certainly a gadget and one that could well catch on, however as with most new tools you must train yourself to use it. As far as documents go I tend to use a font size that a line fills the screen. I can certainly see the spreadsheet advantage and perhaps for large graphical objects where you are working on only a portion of the image and to touch the scroll wheel either left of right would mean quicker movement.

The mouse runs on two AA batteries, the time between battery changes has been greatly increased to a stated figure of around six months of average use. However there is a far more interesting new feature in that it will work with only one battery inserted. I have used it in this configuration. Of course you won’t get six months from a single battery but it could be useful when the shops are shut and you can only find a single battery.

In use it works well but at present it is a conscious effort to make use of the sideways movement and until it becomes a natural use ‘the jury must still be out’. The expected street price is £39.99.

Link http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productlist.aspx?type=Mouse#