About laser mouses...

[Ichigo]

http://www.esreality.com/?a=post&id=1265679

Obviously laser mouses are a nice marketing thing. And it's not that they're bad, but the best optical mouses outperform them. So is the only benefit to laser mouses the ability to track on some obscure surface?

 

[KeithTalent]

Shouldn't it be mice?

Anyway, I like my "laser" mouse, though I have not done any sort of scientific testing with it. Just played games and done office work with it...no complaints.

KT

 

[Greenman]

I don't understand. I thought opticail and laser were the same thing?

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: Greenman
I don't understand. I thought opticail and laser were the same thing?

I believe this is a close-to-accurate description...

An optical mouse works by essentially taking a picture of the surface below the mouse, doing this many times per second, and comparing the images to detect motion. A laser mouse shines a light (whether it's actually a low-intensity laser or not I don't know) onto the surface and detects the reflection.