If you’re looking to get a new mouse or you’re just curious about how mice work then this will be a good read. I cover the way optical and laser technology works and I compare the two in order to find out which one’s better.
The optical mouse’s reputation really took up for the better in the late 1990s when it commenced being shipped as an additional feature to a lot of computer systems. The optical mouse became increasingly popular among users because it made working with the mouse much easier than with the common ball mouse. Since then seeing a regular ball mouse has become somewhat of an event.
So how does the optical technology actually function?
The optical mouse is equipped with a light emitting diode (LED) and photodiodes which the mouse makes use of in order to track movement relative to a surface i.e. a desk top or a mouse pad.
Essentially, optical mice are provided with an optoelectronic sensor (a small low-resolution video camera) which makes successive photos of the surface on which the mouse operates. The photos of the surface that the sensor makes are done in continuous succession and compared with each other in order to discover how far the mouse has moved.
present-day optical mice work on most surfaces. A few exceptions are glass, mirror and other specular materials.
The color of the light emitting diode (LED) of the optical mouse is normally red just because red diodes are inexpensive but it is not exceptional to come across blue light emitting diodes either.
Dissimilar to ball mice optical mice don’t possess 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 detected. The rest of the time it flashes intermittently in order to save energy.
But what’s the difference between the optical mouse and the laser mouse?
In lieu of using a light emitting diode (LED) the laser mouse uses an infrared laser diode. The small infrared laser the mouse is supplied with essentially increases the resolution of the image made by the mouse. The laser allows for around twenty times increased surface tracking ability than standard optical mouse technology.
Glass laser mice (a.k.a. glaser mice) can also be operated on mirror or transparent and translucent surfaces.
Because the laser diode, that the mouse employs, casts out infrared light it’s normally invisible for the naked eye.
So which one is better? The optical or the laser mouse?
When answering this question we should bear in mind the dpi (dots per inch) each technology is able to track.
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 ability of laser technology to detect such high dpi makes the laser mouse a lot more precise and accurate when compared to an optical mouse. That additional sensitivity is why most professional graphic designers and gamers favor the laser mouse over the optical mouse.
To wrap it up, laser mouse technology is arguably the better one. I say arguably because some users find the greater sensitivity rather distracting while merely checking their email or browsing the Web.