- Oct 7, 2005
- 2,777
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I just bought myself a new Logitech G5 and got to thinking, does the extra DPI really mean anything? On-the-fly sensitivity adjustment is cool, but why lower the actual DPI of the mouse, wouldn't that result in lower precision?
I searched through the forums and found similar questions, and some answers, but not quite what I was looking for. After thinking long and hard, I think I may have gotten to the bottom of the issue. I post the following hoping to inform if I'm correct, or be corrected if I'm not.
Basically, the only time you have a problem is if you have a low DPI but want a high sensitivity. Say your mouse is 400 DPI. Say the sensitivity is set such that for every 'dot' of movement the mouse moves one pixel on the screen. One inch of movement = 400 pixels of screen traversal. "Oh no, this sucks," you say to yourself. You double the sensitivty, but this still isn't enough. You end up setting the sensitivity to, say, 5 times the original value.
This is good, since you can sweep the screen fairly quickly, but as a result, for every 'dot' registered by the mouse, you move 5 pixels on the screen. What's the problem? Imagine dividing the screen into a grid of 5x5 pixel squares. For a given square you're trying to aim at, your pointer could only hit a certain "pre-defined" pixel in the square. Want to move just two pixels over to hit a guy square between the eyes? Too bad, you're moving five pixels over, whether you like it or not. (It's worth noting that this "pre-defined" grid changes. Generally as you flail your mouse around, the "chosen" pixel in the square will change. Of course, this isn't much fun when you're trying to shoot at people, or under any other circumstance really.)
If you have an MX518 or G5/G7 or Razer or whatever, try setting the DPI to the minimum value and the sensitivity somewhat high. Now go into GIMP (or whatever would let you see mouse coordinates) and try to move your mouse as small a distance as possible. Your pixel position will go from (for example) 201 to 204 back to 201, nothing in between, no matter how small of a movement you make with the mouse. Now crank up the DPI and lower the sensitivity, and you'll see that every pixel can be specified (assuming you can move your hand carefully enough.)
The reverse is not an issue; high DPI and low sensitivity is not a bad thing. It's not a big deal if you have to move two 'dots' for every pixel on screen, what matters is if you can specify any given pixel, given the mouse movin' skills.
So my hypothesis is as follows: you only need a high enough DPI such that, given your confortable sensitivity settings, you are not moving more than one screen pixel per dot of mouse movement. Anything more than that is essentially wasted.
For those of us that don't need to move more than 2000 pixels per inch of mouse movement, this extra resolution is unnecessary. For those who like things that sensitive, it's probably a pretty big deal.
Please let me know if this helps or is completely wrong. I also apologize if it's completely obvious.
sk
I searched through the forums and found similar questions, and some answers, but not quite what I was looking for. After thinking long and hard, I think I may have gotten to the bottom of the issue. I post the following hoping to inform if I'm correct, or be corrected if I'm not.
Basically, the only time you have a problem is if you have a low DPI but want a high sensitivity. Say your mouse is 400 DPI. Say the sensitivity is set such that for every 'dot' of movement the mouse moves one pixel on the screen. One inch of movement = 400 pixels of screen traversal. "Oh no, this sucks," you say to yourself. You double the sensitivty, but this still isn't enough. You end up setting the sensitivity to, say, 5 times the original value.
This is good, since you can sweep the screen fairly quickly, but as a result, for every 'dot' registered by the mouse, you move 5 pixels on the screen. What's the problem? Imagine dividing the screen into a grid of 5x5 pixel squares. For a given square you're trying to aim at, your pointer could only hit a certain "pre-defined" pixel in the square. Want to move just two pixels over to hit a guy square between the eyes? Too bad, you're moving five pixels over, whether you like it or not. (It's worth noting that this "pre-defined" grid changes. Generally as you flail your mouse around, the "chosen" pixel in the square will change. Of course, this isn't much fun when you're trying to shoot at people, or under any other circumstance really.)
If you have an MX518 or G5/G7 or Razer or whatever, try setting the DPI to the minimum value and the sensitivity somewhat high. Now go into GIMP (or whatever would let you see mouse coordinates) and try to move your mouse as small a distance as possible. Your pixel position will go from (for example) 201 to 204 back to 201, nothing in between, no matter how small of a movement you make with the mouse. Now crank up the DPI and lower the sensitivity, and you'll see that every pixel can be specified (assuming you can move your hand carefully enough.)
The reverse is not an issue; high DPI and low sensitivity is not a bad thing. It's not a big deal if you have to move two 'dots' for every pixel on screen, what matters is if you can specify any given pixel, given the mouse movin' skills.
So my hypothesis is as follows: you only need a high enough DPI such that, given your confortable sensitivity settings, you are not moving more than one screen pixel per dot of mouse movement. Anything more than that is essentially wasted.
For those of us that don't need to move more than 2000 pixels per inch of mouse movement, this extra resolution is unnecessary. For those who like things that sensitive, it's probably a pretty big deal.
Please let me know if this helps or is completely wrong. I also apologize if it's completely obvious.
sk
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