YAYAY!! Finally! Got a Pro Mouse!

[The Macster]

Well you know how I was looking for a Pro Mouse for ages to go with my G3, as I wanted an optical mouse rather than the old ball-driven ADB II, and love the looks of the gorgeous Pro Mouse and think the dark-coloured one would go especially well with the dark blue Studio Display? Well I finally got one!!

Took a bit of legwork though - I asked on Freecycle several times, but no one offered me anything, not even one of those nice-looking but horrid to use hockey puck ones (I just asked for an Apple USB mouse). I didn't just give up though, oh no! The only other option that seemed to be available was paying the £10-£15 that they seem to go for on eBay, but that is a crazy price for an old mouse, especially when the entire computer cost less than that! So how did I get a Pro Mouse for free, you ask? In fact, I didn't get it for free, I got paid to have it...so here's what I did: I went along to eBay, bid on a Pro Keyboard and Pro Mouse set, won them for £17.50 including postage, and then re-sold the Pro Keyboard by itself for £27 buy-it-now (including postage charge). Net of eBay/PayPal/postage fees, there's even a small profit of a few quid in there, as well as the Pro Mouse for me to keep!

And is the Pro Mouse beautiful or what? Every other mouse I've ever seen has just been an entirely functional device, but this is just gorgeous, a work of art if a mouse could be such a thing! At first I thought it didn't have any buttons, but then I realised that it has a clever little thing underneath where it clicks when you press it down! It even works under Windows (though I don't think I could get used to using Windows without a right-click and a scroll wheel) - tracks a little slower than my normal mouse for some reason though, I had to turn the speed up two notches to make it the same. Even the USB connector is really well designed - normally they're just a cheap bit of plastic! And it's really cool the way that it looks completely transparent around the edges from the top, but when you look underneath it is clearly not transparent all the way through - how do they make that effect I wonder? I'm really looking forward to getting this hooked up to my G3 I would quite liked to have kept the keyboard for it too, but spending £20 on a set for a free G3 isn't really justifiable, and also I'm not sure if holding Option to boot OS9 would work without built-in USB or not (there seem to be conflicting reports on the web). Also I have the Extended II already, which is the best Apple keyboard to use, even if the Pro does look nicer. One thing I would quite like as well is the Pro Speakers (the little round ones that came with the Cube), but they're expensive

One thing that I'm wondering though is why do Apple not make these any more? The Mighty Mouse looks horrible in comparison, just cheap white plastic like PC mice, as well as being ridiculously overpriced and reportedly susceptible to breaking. It just doesn't looks special or beautiful like the Pro does. Why couldn't they just have made the white Pro Mouse but with the extra buttons of the Mighty fitted?

Oh, and I'm aware that there is some problem with the Pro whereby the USB cable can break or something? Is there a special way to treat it to ensure that this doesn't happen?

 

[QuadSix50]

Yeah, I'm not much of a fan of the Mighty Mouse, but once you get used to it it's not that bad. That said, I would only use it if it came with my Mac. I wouldn't go out and buy one. For that I would get myself a nice Logitech or MS mouse.

When I bought my iMac G5, I opted for the wireless BT keyboard and mouse. While it is only a one-button mouse, I love the wireless aspect of it. However, it does feel a little heavier than your usual wired mouse and I can't use it or the keyboard properly under Ubuntu when I boot into it on the iMac.

That said, the black Pro Mouse is beautiful. Congratulations on your acquisition.

 

[Quadraman]

The Pro mouse is great. I love the laser light. The darn thing tracks on any surface without hesitating. Much better than a roller ball mouse.

 

[John8520]

The darn thing tracks on any surface without hesitating. Much better than a roller ball mouse.

Except glass desks/tables.

But yeah, pro mice are quite nice. We used to have a black one with our iMac, but unfortunately the cable frayed and it died. As far as I know, its an inevitable problem, just take good care of it. I currently have a white pro mouse as well, that I never use. I can not stand the fact that it doesn't have a right click and a scroll wheel. One button is not always enough for everyone!

 

[iamdigitalman]

very nice. When I was doing a job over at my old HS, one of the iMacs had a black pro mouse, and I fell in love with it. I've been trying to track one down, as well as a black pro keyboard to replace the AppleDesign ADB one, but no luck.

Acually, I have a white pro mouse I got for $20 when CompUSA was blowing them out for the mighty mouse. It was a floor model. However, that thing is deffinantly cheaper built than the black one, as it no longer works. The grey ring that holds it all together fell off, and the whole thing fell apart. My attempts to fix it have been unsucessful. The optical sensor still works, and it still clicks without the clear acrillic shell, so it is functional, I just don't use it. $20 Logitech 2 button scroll. You would be surprised how often the wheel and right button come in handy. I may just get a mighty mouse...

-digital

 

[The Macster]

I may just get a mighty mouse...

I don't really see the point in the Mighty Mouse, as I said before - they're not at all beautiful or special like the Pro is, yet they're still extremely expensive (£35!). And also a lot of the reviews on the Apple website say that the scroll ball thing quickly gets clogged up with dirt and stops working, but to be able to clean it you have to completely dismantle it ie hardware gurus only! For what they cost you're probably better off with a non-Apple mouse if you really want more than one button, as long as you can bring yourself to use non-Apple bits with a Mac (I think it would feel kind of wrong to me!).

 

[Patrickool93]

To clean it you wet a Q-Tp and roll the ball around w/ it. Worked for me...

 

[Blessed Cheesemaker]

Oh, and I'm aware that there is some problem with the Pro whereby the USB cable can break or something? Is there a special way to treat it to ensure that this doesn't happen?

I forget the exact google terms, but if you search using some combo of apple & mouse & repair, you will see the problem. IIRC, the wires on the inside can get torn (?) due to some kind of design flaw, apparently corrected with the newer mice. I would just treat it very gently, and maybe experiment with a "sacrificial mouse" just in case...

The black pro mouse does look a heck of a lot better!

 

[The Macster]

the wires on the inside can get torn (?) due to some kind of design flaw

I assume this is the page you're thinking of, or something very similar, but what I can't really understand is how the wire on the inside gets damaged, especially given that there's is a seal where the wire comes out of the mouse - unless you pulled really hard on the cable or something like that, I don't see how anything could happen to the part of the cable that is sealed inside. Another beautiful but flawed design from Apple I suppose: the Studio Displays that are too heavy for the telescopic adjuster to support them so the stand breaks and they get stuck in the lowest position, the YoYo adapters that burn out or the cable frays...it seems whenever they go for something really innovative it never quite works properly :'(

 

[wally]

...what I can't really understand is how the wire on the inside gets damaged, especially given that there's is a seal where the wire comes out of the mouse - unless you pulled really hard on the cable or something like that, I don't see how anything could happen to the part of the cable that is sealed inside...

Even if the wires never receive a hard pull causing a failure by tension, they will always be flexing as you move the mouse. The more abrupt the bending or deformation, the more work hardening damage is done with each movement. Also the larger the diameter of an individual strand, the more force of compression and stretch is experienced at the inner and outer surfaces of each bend, a kind of internal leverage. Bending cycles eventually harden an outer surface enough to start a crack, and then the crack enlarges to a break after more bending.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_fatigue for the gory details...

Even worse, the copper in the wire starts in a soft condition but as it is drawn down to the size specified by the engineer at each reduction step it hardens, often requiring several inert gas annealing steps to restore a soft ductile condition for the next draw. Because the final step of spiral spinning the stranded wire or weaving the shield braid work hardens the copper, it is best for the engineer to specify fully annealed wire prior to cable spinning from bare for maximum cable flex life. If the engineer underspecifies the final anneal or selects too coarse a wire diameter the supplier will do what is cheapest and the cable will have defficient flex endurance.

As a practical example, the made in USA bare tinned copper hookup wire of the 1960's was dead soft off the spool, you could shape and reshape it with your fingers and it would closely conform. The same gauge wire today with a overseas manufacturer is slightly springy, it has some of it's fatigue life already used up because it is partially work hardened, inconsequential for hookup wire use but fatal if spun to flexible cable. It is the responsibility of the design engineer to know this and specify material characteristics sufficiently to achieve the design life but not excessively to unnecessarily increase manufacturing cost.

Worse still, the 98% tin 2% lead plating of tinned wires provides some surface lubrication important to the survival of flexed woven stranded shields. But the European RoHS directives are causing the elimination of lead in both conductors and solders, and fatigue life will drop somewhat just due to getting the lead out.

If you keep asking these kinds of questions you might find that your prize mouse is too beautiful to risk moving!

 

[Scott Baret]

Anyone remember the old TV ads when the ProMouse came out? I think they went to "Born to be Wild". Also, Al Roker got one on the Today Show that year (2000) at Christmas.

I too like the ProMouse. I have one that I've used on four systems now. It's neat to look at and a joy to use. I may even have the box for it in my attic, I'm not sure if I put it with my iBook G3 box or not.

I'm one of the ones who doesn't like the mighty mouse. I'll find another brand new Pro Mouse or the mouse that was just called "mouse" that came out right after that to use when I buy a new Mac. Or I'll keep using my old trusty 2001 vintage ProMouse, but then my Blueberry G3 would be without a mouse (it's on there right now).

 

[heebiejeebies]

I love it when that happens! Some tart decided to sell a Mac OS 9 CD and an unopened OS X CD together! It went for a bit but I got it back when I sold the unopened OS X. Same with my wireless cards! Yay for dumb sellers! [8D]

 

[The Macster]

I love it when that happens! Some tart decided to sell a Mac OS 9 CD and an unopened OS X CD together! It went for a bit but I got it back when I sold the unopened OS X. Same with my wireless cards! Yay for dumb sellers! [8D]

They'd also misspelt the word "keyboard" in the title of this one, so only people looking for a mouse would have found it - I think that probably helped it end at lower price than it might otherwise have done

If you keep asking these kinds of questions you might find that your prize mouse is too beautiful to risk moving!

So is the only way to preserve it to not use it? :'( If I just use it very very gently will it be OK?

 

[Patrickool93]

It's not going to break, my pro mouse gets used every day and it is absolutely fine.

 

[iMac600]

My Pro Mouse has been in operation for a few years now. Still works like new. Generally if you look after it and don't beat it around, it'll be fine.

 

[heebiejeebies]

They'd also misspelt the word "keyboard" in the title of this one, so only people looking for a mouse would have found it - I think that probably helped it end at lower price than it might otherwise have done

Nice - I've seen a number of classic machines listed as "Mackintosh" or similar. [] ]'>

 

[LCGuy]

I remember the days of seeing "floopy drives" advertised on ebay

 

[heebiejeebies]

Lol! Like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/IBM-ThinkPad-Floopy-84G2087-Teac_W0QQitemZ120130205101QQihZ002QQcategoryZ14298QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem

Wot a plonker! ;D

 

[LCGuy]

Yep, like that.