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Tragic Magic

By On · 5 Comments
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I bought several wireless Mighty Mice and one wired one when they first came out. I really like the Mighty Mouse, except for the trackball. You know, the one that gums up and then eventually dies (or only works in one direction).  When it all works, it's great, but the frustration of the trackball failures (all but one of my mice – the wired one – are broken) just leaves you wishing for a better product.

So I was very happy to see Apple introduce the Magic Mouse. I picked up a couple, one for my main machine, a first gen MacPro, and the other for my first gen Intel iMac.I have to say, I *love* this mouse – on the iMac. It tracks very well, the scrolling works perfectly, and it never disconnects. I wish I could say the same for the one on the MacPro.

The MacPro's Magic Mouse is more Black Magic – something akin to the evil arts. It tracks poorly, scrolling is jerky, and it is constantly disconnecting. So I'm pretty sure the problem lies with the MacPro and not the Magic Mouse (I had problems with Bluetooth mice on my old G5 tower as well). The built-in Bluetooth is too well shielded apparently, as the computer is only about three feet away (and located above the desk, so there's nothing between it and the mouse). Much as I love the Magic Mouse, I've had to go back to my Mighty Mouse on the MacPro.  I really want a wireless mouse here, as there are times the mouse cable becomes an impediment to tracking properly. But it's nothing like the tracking issues of the wireless mouse. 

I gave it over a month, but I just couldn't stand it any more.I am considering getting an external USB Bluetooth adapter and plugging it in the back of my monitor (I have one of the old 23" Cinema Displays). I need to do something, because we all know that my Mighty Mouse won't be Mighty forever. 

Update 3/29/10: I did get a Belkin Bluetooth adapter and plugged it in after Terry White reported doing the same with a D-Link and having good results. Looks like the add-on overrides the built-in Bluetooth automatically. I re-paired my Magic Mouse, and now it works great, just like on my iMac. 

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  • Tony Duminski

    I have a new 21.5 inch iMac with the Magic Mouse. I find that the Magic Mouse works well except when using a Google Map accessed by Safari. The zoom level is controled by the scrolling feature, but it is way too sensitive to small finger movements even when the scrolling preference is set to “slow”. I routinely must turn off scrolling to use a Google map. Often I just leave the mouse preference in the dock for quick access. A better long term solution is needed.

  • http://yourmacexpert.com/ Steven Klein

    Jack, you wrote that you’re “pretty sure the problem lies with the MacPro and not the Magic Mouse.”

    Since you have two of them, why not try swapping mice between the iMac and the MacPro. If the problem remains on the MacPro, then I agree with your diagnosis.

    But if the problem follows the mouse to the iMac, then I’d say you got a bad mouse.

  • http://www.beckmanjm.com Jack Beckman

    Didn’t make a difference ( I was pretty sure the problem was the MacPro since I’d seen the same behavior from the G5 tower).

  • Cliff Bennett

    Try this and see if it works:

    Get your can of compressed air (Dust Off, etc.)

    Using the end of little plastic straw, push down on one side of your mouse’s scroll ball enough to make a space to blow into.

    Shoot a couple of short bursts into different sides of the ball-seat space to blow out the mustache hair, dust particle or mouse dandruff that’s causing the hangup.

  • http://www.beckmanjm.com Jack Beckman

    All but one of my trackballs are outright broken (no doubt from overzealous and/or frustrated cleaning). They either don’t track at all or only track in one direction.