lazer or optical mouse? What is better, etc. - Hardware & Software

lazer or optical mouse? What is better, etc. which mouse is overall better and what surface is reommended for these mice? BTW, I have both xD I need help on telling my friend about mice n stuff (oh god) / short/shit question post

Aren't both same?

[QUOTE=tratzzz;29339426]Aren't both same?[/QUOTE] No, optical mice are the ones that glow red Laser mice are generally better as they seem to work on pretty much any surface. (Even glass, supposedly)

There is effectively no difference. Laser tracks on more surfaces, but optical only had problems on reflective surfaces and glass any ways. Don't let the type of sensor be the deciding factor for your mouse.

Laser mice tend to track more reliably in all circumstances. They also tend to come with better sensors. Of course you can get very good optical mice, but a laser is a safer bet.

Laser are better but unless your mouse will be on cracked glass then don't worry.

I used to use an MX518, that's optical. Bought a Razer Deathadder 3500DPI edition like 10 months ago. It's a laser mouse. Oh god. It's like going from masturbation to fucking 2 bi chicks while going through portals while playing Episode 3.

what the fuck? ^ the only difference i noticed is that my optical mouse can't track on this desk as it a bit too reflective. im not a mouse critic though.

If you're using a proper mouse pad you won't notice a difference.

Optical is actually better, but really it's negligible imo, I use an optical, used to use laser, no difference.

Lasers also allow much, much, much faster tracking speeds (DPI) but that becomes useless at a certain value. A good optical mouse can be cheaper than a good laser mouse and provide almost identical experiences.

Isnt Laser more responsive and accurate?

[B][/B][B]Laser mouse is an optical mouse[/B] which happens to use laser as source of light for the sensor instead of a normal LED diode or such. They are generally all around better. The coherent source of light provides the sensor with clearer vision of the surface underneath, so they can be more precise, less prone to wiggling of the cursor and such. [editline]22nd April 2011[/editline] Not a significant difference, tho. Actual performance varies a lot depending on manufacturer and model, regardless of which lighting source is used.

Laser was basically a gimmick when it was new. Most of the old laser mice were absolute crap. The G5, for example, tracks poorly on dark surfaces and tends to skip at high speed. Although it was probably flawed implementation rather than a problem with the technology itself. It's definitely matured now and it's just as good (or better) than optical. Either way, the benefit provided by laser technology is marginal at best. I never had a tracking problem with my old Mx518, the original 1600cpi version. The new 1800cpi version is absolute shit. For whatever idiotic backwards reason they decided to change the sensor in a legendary mouse and now it suffers from all sorts of high-speed tracking issues. The sensor technology really doesn't matter at this point. Most problems are related to firmware/software. A lot of mice allow the sensor to saturate/overflow the 8-bit counter used for mouse movements, which places a rather low upper limit on speed. If a peripheral company has people who aren't idiots, they can make a damn good mouse with either technology.

[QUOTE=ROBO_DONUT;29353291]Laser was basically a gimmick when it was new. Most of the old laser mice were absolute crap. The G5, for example, tracks poorly on dark surfaces and tends to skip at high speed. Although it was probably flawed implementation rather than a problem with the technology itself. It's definitely matured now and it's just as good (or better) than optical. Either way, the benefit provided by laser technology is marginal at best. I never had a tracking problem with my old Mx518, the original 1600cpi version. The new 1800cpi version is absolute shit. For whatever idiotic backwards reason they decided to change the sensor in a legendary mouse and now it suffers from all sorts of high-speed tracking issues. The sensor technology really doesn't matter at this point. Most problems are related to firmware/software. A lot of mice allow the sensor to saturate/overflow the 8-bit counter used for mouse movements, which places a rather low upper limit on speed. If a peripheral company has people who aren't idiots, they can make a damn good mouse with either technology.[/QUOTE] I had the original G5 for about 4 years, and it has never failed me, until the laser in it finally died. It was precise, it tracked on mostly black mousepad I had. It was delight to play fast paced FPSs with it, I was able to draw with it with precision.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;29353982]I had the original G5 for about 4 years, and it has never failed me, until the laser in it finally died. It was precise, it tracked on mostly black mousepad I had. It was delight to play fast paced FPSs with it, I was able to draw with it with precision.[/QUOTE] I guess it really depends on what you mean by "fast paced". I play the occasional game of Quake on fairly low sensitivity. Using my G5 and my Icemat, I recall an extremely frequent problem where I was hauling ass down the curved catwalk in DM6, reach the end and spin to throw a quick rocket on the adjacent wall (120 deg turn in about a fifth of a second) to catapult myself into an opponent. Never had a problem doing it with my Mx518, but caused endless frustration and rage with my G5. [url=http://www.esreality.com/?a=longpost&id=1265679&page=17]The only mouse benchmark ever[/url] corroborates my observations, so I wasn't imagining it.

[QUOTE=ROBO_DONUT;29357067] [URL="http://www.esreality.com/?a=longpost&id=1265679&page=17"]The only mouse benchmark ever[/URL] corroborates my observations, so I wasn't imagining it.[/QUOTE] thanks for the link! I cant beleive that this actually exists! Unfortunetly, it's like 5 years old but I still found it interesting to like read. So generally, Laser>Optical

Ball mouse.

[QUOTE=garychencool;29389048]thanks for the link! I cant beleive that this actually exists! Unfortunetly, it's like 5 years old but I still found it interesting to like read. So generally, Laser>Optical[/QUOTE] No prob. And I'd say, generally, Laser≈Optical.

[QUOTE=MedicWine;29389094]Ball mouse.[/QUOTE] ARGH! Small bit of fuzz! My mortal enemy!

Optical sensor master-race