Mighty Mouse Dissection

by Hadley Stern Sep 01, 2005

Daniel Kushner explains the inner workings of Apple’s new Mighty Mouse. Daniel is a post-industrial designer at IDEOs San Francisco studio. His personal site is PostIndustrialDesign.org. You may remember him from the now infamous iPod Shuffle dissection.

What makes the Mighty Mouse so special? Yes, it looks pretty. And yes, it offers increased functionality. But what makes this design so elegant is the way it speaks to the Apple brand. Up until now Apple has resisted the urge to provide a mouse with more than one button. The one-click mouse became a metaphor for Apple’s user friendliness, while brands from Logitech to Microsoft have made mice the subject of some compelling feature creep. For me, the one-click mouse has always been a disconnect (I’ve been using a Logitech scrolling mouse for several years). There is a reason why Macs work for both designers and grandmothers, and it’s not “simplicity”. It is because the Mac is intuitive. Simplicity is an important characteristic for some, but I wouldn’t call the tasks I do on my Mac “simple”. The Mighty Mouse understands that being intuitive means feeling simple, not acting simple. It has been given a technological overhaul through a small incision in the head. Now those of us who feel the need for a more robust interface can get it, while the rest can ignore the little grey nub. Onto the gallery!

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Comments

  • Hmmm http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/dissect.ars smile

    Clintology had this to say on Sep 01, 2005 Posts: 1

  • My Mighty Mouse has finally stopped squeaking. I guess the bits that were rubbing must have worn down. Am comfortable with it, though still would rather a trackball

    Chris Howard had this to say on Sep 01, 2005 Posts: 1209

  • I’d rather combat a major toothache… My Mighty Mouse lasted about a week before I just plain got tired of missed right clicks and a sticky scroll ball that wouldn’t go up anymore.  Back to one button bluetooth Apple mouse and happy again.

    dickrichards2000 had this to say on Sep 01, 2005 Posts: 112

  • I got to play with the Mighty Mouse at the Apple Store recently and I love everything about it..  EXCEPT that damned wire.  HELLO APPLE, what gives with that cable that is supposed to tether my hand to my powerbook? I don’t think so.  I’m going to hold out until the bluetooth version comes out.

    jakeisbill had this to say on Sep 12, 2005 Posts: 3

  • I’ve been using the Mighty Mouse for a few weeks now. It squeeked at first (ironic smile) but is now voiceless but for the clicking.
    I like it a lot.
    I think the missed right clicks are a matter “mousing style”. I was concerned about that at first, but haven’t seen the problem.
    Apple should make this the standard mouse, with a BT version as an option.

    andybru had this to say on Sep 14, 2005 Posts: 1

  • i to have my axe to grind with the mighty mouse
    but for me I just want it to do what it says on the box and in the promo
    the roller ball is my my problem and is it does not work !
    simple as that ,did they not test it at all ?

    I have heard the return of the single button mouse seems likely?

    any one out there know any thing about it ?


    thank u
    fellow mac owners

    any ideas for replacements?

    chris

    hobbes had this to say on Oct 01, 2006 Posts: 1

  • I have had two might mouse roller balls stop working on me so far. I was convinced by some website to try and disassemble it and clean, but THAT turned out to be a BIG mistake. The ring around the bottom of the mouse is not meant to be removed and broke apart in several pieces.

    Then, upon putting the mouse back together nothing on it worked - except for - get this, the little roller ball. And even that would work only for the rolling function - it ceased to work as a button.

    That mouse is now toast. Not mighty at all.

    Mo had this to say on Apr 06, 2007 Posts: 1
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