Who needs a mouse pad? Cordless mice are wonderfully handy for using your laptop around the house and on the road. And wherever you set up, laser mice can work great on a variety of unusual surfaces, from the fabric on the couch to the jeans on your leg. But traditional lasers just don't work well on some common surfaces, like high-gloss desktops or glass-topped tables.
Enter the new Logitech Performance Mouse MX and Anywhere Mouse MX, with Logitech's Darkfield laser tracking -- Instead of depending on the texture details of the surface, Darkfield uses an invisible infrared laser that detects microscopic particles and micro-scratches on surfaces, so it even works on glass or transparent plastic.
Both of these mice feature Logitech's sculpted designs to naturally fit the hand, with a flexible scroll wheel and multiple additional thumb buttons for rapid scrolling, web browsing, and application switching.
The Performance Mouse MX is full-sized, with a scooped right-handed shape, for $99.99. It uses a single rechargeable AA battery, and recharges through USB. The Anywhere Mouse MX is the compact portable version that runs on two AA batteries (or just one in a pinch), for $79.99.
The scroll wheel can be switched with a button press between precision click-to-click scrolling and hyper-fast scrolling to zip through long pages with a single spin. It also tilts left/right to scroll horizontally. On the Performance MX, the wheel presses to work as a middle button, and there's a Zoom thumb button that works while spinning the wheel.
Both mice have Forward / Back thumb buttons for actions like navigating your web page history or browsing folders, and an Application button to view open windows, or Expose on the Mac. However, the advanced functions require installing the Logitech SetPoint software -- so you won't be surprised by accidentally pressing a button as you are getting used to the mouse.
Finally, these new mice use Logitech's new Unifying wireless receiver, which can work with up to five other compatible Logitech keyboards and mice. The receiver itself is tiny and protrudes only a quarter inch from the USB port, so it can be easily left in your laptop.
See my Peripherals and Accessories Gallery for more on mice and other peripherals.
Find the Logitech Performance Mouse MX
and Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX on Amazon.com