A Few Days with Microsoft ARC Mouse

Honestly, this might be the dumbest mouse I’ve ever used.

Of course, Microsoft’s intentions in designing it were good—it just fell a bit short.

The packaging is nice, at least better than Microsoft’s previous cheap “folded cardboard triangle” approach, making me feel like this mouse is genuinely a high-end business portable mouse.

But after opening it, I found it really is…

First, the feel. The feel is truly bizarre—because of the hump in the middle, not only is your palm uncomfortable, but when you click the left and right buttons, you use a “curl your fingers back” motion instead of the usual downward press.

Also, the sensor isn’t exactly high-precision, and the top-mounted positioning makes operation feel weird—hard to describe, like holding a lead-filled boob…

But I get it—this mouse is all about portability and convenience; performance is secondary. And honestly, it does that well. When folded, it automatically locks, and button presses or sensor movement won’t cause accidental clicks.

But there’s one thing I can’t understand. If portability is the main selling point…

Why make the receiver so damn big? Aren’t you afraid it’ll get snagged when moving around? Or are you supposed to plug the receiver back into the mouse when not in use? If so, this thing is worse than Logitech’s Unifying receiver, don’t you think?

Besides, Microsoft’s Designer Mouse doesn’t seem much bulkier than this… and it’s Bluetooth.

All in all, pretty rubbish…