| Article Index |
|---|
| Microsoft SideWinder Gaming Mouse Review |
| 2 - Style and Design |
| 3 - Features |
| 4 - In Use |
| 5 - Conclusion |
| All Pages |
Style and Design:
The SideWinder mouse looks a little odd compared to some of its competitors, with a much more angular and (in my opinion) industrial design. The edges of the mouse are black rubberised plastic with the main top section being a mildly textured black plastic which surrounds a glossy red centre control strip which houses the scroll wheel as well as 3 sensitivity adjustment buttons and a quick launch button but we’ll get into more detail on those later on.
The actual shape of the mouse is rather unusual compared to almost all other mice on the market with a long and fairly straight front/top section, which rounds off and drops off very quickly. What this means is that your hand sits on the SideWinder mouse differently to most other mice. With most others you have your fingers as well as the palm of your hand resting on the mouse, whereas with the SideWinder just your fingers and the underside of your knuckles (top bit of your palm) rest on the mouse, the main part of your palm doesn’t actually touch it at all, which gives it a very different feel that takes a bit of getting used to.
2 thumb buttons are included on the left hand side of the mouse which aren’t moulded into the body shape of the mouse in any way, instead they’re just two metal cylinders poking out the side. They may look a little vulgar to some but it gives the buttons a very distinctive feel to the user and as such there is no way you would hit the wrong button in a game with these.
Near the thumb buttons is a small rectangular LCD screen that is sunken into the body of the mouse that displays the current sensitivity setting of the mouse, as well as helping to provide instructions and cues for programming macros and such into the mouse (or into the Intellipoint software at least). It’s easy enough to read and thankfully doesn’t stay on all the time, just for a few seconds after you change the sensitivity. If you leave the mouse alone for a while, the LCD screen will light up with your current sensitivity setting for a few seconds when you use it again.
The scroll wheel, just like the thumb buttons, is just a basic metal item with a cross-hatched surface for grip. The scroll action itself is very notchy and precise, which I much prefer over ones that scroll smoothly, as it makes it much easier and far more precise for scrolling through game menu’s and I even prefer it for basic Windows and web browsing. Clicking the scroll wheel (as middle mouse button) is much easier than my Cyber Snipa mouse, but not so easy that you’ll be clicking it by accident whenever you use the scroll wheel, just a good balance.
In front of the thumb buttons on the left hand side is a button that is completely out of the way of the user’s fingers/thumb, something which I think and hope was done on purpose as it’s very inconvenient to access. It’s a button for recording macros, and having it out of the way is a very good thing, so it won’t be pressed accidentally in the middle of a game.
Although the SideWinder is a laser gaming mouse, and there is no need or indeed no function for optical light of any kind besides the small laser diode, Microsoft have kept with the style of many of the original optical Intellimouse models and have retained the red glow at the rear of the mouse, made popular by the very first optical Intellimouse and continued through much of the range over the years.
