If you want to purchase a new mouse or you’re just interested about how mice function then this will be a good read. I cover the way optical and laser technology functions and I compare the two in order to find out which one’s better.
The optical mouse’s popularity really raised for the better in the late 1990s when it commenced being delivered as an bonus feature to many personal computer systems. The optical mice became progressively more favored among users because it made working with the mouse much easier than with the regular ball mouse. Since then seeing a regular ball mouse has become somewhat of an event.
But how does the optical technology really function?
The optical mouse is equipped with a light emitting diode (LED) and photodiodes which the mouse makes use of in order to detect motion relative to a plane i.e. a desk top or a mouse pad.
In essence, optical mice are supplied with an optoelectronic sensor (a small low-resolution video camera) which takes successive photos of the surface on which the mouse operates. The images of the surface that the sensor takes are done in continuous succession and compared with each other in order to discover how far the mouse has moved.
The modern optical mice work on almost any surface. A few exceptions are glass, mirror and other specular materials.
The color of the light emitting diode (LED) of the optical mice is most often red merely because red diodes are cheaper but it is not odd to find blue light emitting diodes either.
Unlike ball mice optical mice don’t have any moving parts which leaves almost no room for mechanical malfunctions and optical mice are more durable.
The light emitting diode (LED) of battery-powered wireless optical mice only glows steadily when motion is tracked down. The rest of the time it flashes intermittently in order to save power.
So what’s the difference between the optical mouse and the laser mouse?
As a substitute of using a light emitting diode (LED) the laser mouse uses an infrared laser diode. The small infrared laser the mouse is supplied with principally increases the resolution of the image made by the mouse. The laser makes possible around twenty times increased surface tracking power than normal optical mouse technology.
Glass laser mice (a.k.a. glaser mice) can also be operated on mirror or transparent and translucent surfaces.
Since the laser diode, that the mouse employs, casts out infrared light it’s regularly invisible for the naked eye.
But which one is better? The optical or the laser mouse?
To answer this question we should consider the dpi (dots per inch) each technology is able to detect.
On the one hand ,the ordinary range for the optical mouse starts from 400 to around 800 dpi.
On the other hand, the range of the laser mouse is often above 2000 dpi. The capability of laser technology to track such high dpi makes the laser mouse much more precise and accurate when compared to an optical mouse. That increased sensitivity is why most professional graphic designers and gamers choose the laser mouse rather than the optical mouse.
All in all, laser mouse technology is arguably the superior one. I say arguably because some users find the greater sensitivity somewhat distracting while merely checking their email or browsing the Web.