Can i blind myself with a laser mouse? & Will i notice a difference with this new mouse?

[Maximilian]

First question - Can i blind myself with a laser mouse? My educated guess is no but assure me im right anyways.

Second question - How much of a difference will i see with going from microsoft blue optical to this microsoft HABU mouse. For the record im a gamer and im pretty damn good at most things i play except CSS. The button fell off old blue though so i had to replace it. Will this gamer mouse be much different? Ive never bought into the gamer mouse thing until i saw microsoft made one.

 

[airhendrix13]

First answer: my guess would be no. Now, this is not directed toward you, but anyone (who isn't an infant) dumb enough to stare into the laser of a mouse deserves to be blind.

The only thing that would effect performance would be DPI. Higher DPI mice will be more precise. Honestly, I don't see any noticeable between my gateway mouse and any of my friends high quality mice.

 

[airhendrix13]

By the way, the question about the laser pretty much made my day, and for that, I say thank you.

 

[oynaz]

Assuming the strength of the laser in a laser mouse is comparable to the laser in a CD player, the laser in a laser mouse would definitely be bad news for your eyes. You would probably not suffer any permanent damage, but it would be an unpleasant experience.

 

[xitshsif]

It's not unpleasant. In fact, lasers used in mice use less power than LEDs used in optical mice. It's not like people get tracks burned into their desk from laser mice. You won't feel a thing.

 

[Mark R]

The laser in a mouse is very similar to the laser in a CD-player. It's invisible infra-red, but it's extremely weak (less than 0.001 W) and so is for most practical purposes, completely safe. It can't burn anything, and as long as the laser hasn't been tampered with, and you don't do anything stupid, that includes your eyes. The infra-red beam is just about visible if you stare down the beam (I can certainly see it), but it's not unpleasant, in fact, if you didn't know the beam was there you probably wouldn't notice it - and for this reason, there is a theoretical risk that prolonged staring down the beam could damage your eyes (although this is exceedingly unlikely).

DVD-readers use visible red lasers, also of very low power. However, writers use high power lasers, which are potentially very dangerous. CD-writers use invisible IR, which makes them double dangerous. High-speed DVD writers, use extremely high power lasers, which are powerful enough to set things on fire in a few seconds - these will drill holes in your retinas in a fraction of a second.

 

[xitshsif]

Now for all of you wondering about fun with lasers Text