Atek Super Mini Optical Mouse  ”Excuse me, sir. Is that a ... mouse ... in your pocket?” Written by Mike Whalen, exclusive for I4U. Review Version 1.00 Date: 5/6/2001

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Introduction

Has anyone ever honestly found a suitable replacement for the mouse? Be honest! Sure those trackballs and trackpads and little nubby things that stick out of laptop keyboards are good -- (in fact, I love my trackpad) -- but those can’t beat a mouse. Try a fragfest or pixel work on a Photoshop document with one of those pads, balls, or nubs and you’ll see what I mean. So, we need a mouse for some things, but carrying them around with your laptop is a little clumsy and subjects them to possible damage.

What is it ?

Enter Atek’s new “Super Mini Optical Mouse,” a mouse that fulfills a simple purpose: a small, very light-weight, precise, real mouse for folks on the go.

Detailed Specification

How does it work ?

How does it work? Very simply. Indeed, you can’t say anything new about this mouse that hasn’t already been said about every other mouse. You plug it in; it works.

Installation

Installation is nearly painless. There is no software included with the mouse, you simply plug it in an available USB slot. On a 2000/XP system (yes, the mouse will work with the new Windows XP), Windows recognizes it as a “USB Human Interface Device” and installs the driver. Windows 98SE is a little more tricky. It doesn’t see the mouse as the human-interface device. Rather, it asks what driver you want to install. I indicated that I’d pick my own driver, then Windows recommended the USB Human Interface Device driver. I chose that driver and installed it.*

Macintosh installation is barely noticeable. Plug it in. That’s it. The left-mouse button is your single-click. If you want to add function to the right-mouse button, you can download the USBOverdrive driver. Atek will have a full Macintosh driver extension shortly.

*(You will need access to your Windows 98 CD to install this driver if you’ve not installed it before.)

What can you do with it ?

Well, you can simply -- mouse! Plug it in and you have a full, working mouse just like you have on your desktop. The benefits over the standard laptop offerings are many: precision, easier to use, comfortable. The benefits over a standard mouse are just as many: optical is more precise than ball-mice, no need for a mouse pad, small enough to use on the airplane trays and even your laptop’s palm-rest area. It’s very sturdy and solidly constructed.

Issues

If you’ve never used any sort of mouse besides the standard PS/2 Microsoft mice, you’re into for a small shock when you pick up this one. Unlike a standard mouse, the entire mouse can fit neatly inside a closed hand. I found the buttons a little to find a first what with the place you hold and the place you press buttons so close to one another. Indeed, you could almost call this a finger-tip mouse. Still, this issue was hardly a barrier and I became used to its size in minutes.

One other things concerns me, however. The cord for this mouse is very thin. It feels well-constructed, but it looks like you could easily tear it. I don’t believe that under normal conditions you could do this, but if you’re one of those folks who likes to pull plugs out by their cords, I would not do that with this mouse.

Photos

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