Introduction:

Laptops/Notebooks are certainly getting a lot of attention as of late, especially with such technologies as Intel's much-touted Centrino features and the advent of high-performance mobile video card options, both of which make portable systems more attractive to a wider range of people. Indeed, true desktop replacements are now a reality, and have been so for a little while, as many people find that all they need is a notebook. But regardless of who is using a notebook, most will find that despite their convenience, notebooks tend to lack on the ease-of-use of their pointing devices. While it may be that one can get used to, or even prefer the feel of a notebook's keyboard, especially if it has a good layout, it'll be hard to find someone who likes the use of a track pad over that of a mouse.

For someone who is always moving around with their notebook and can't stand to use the integrated pointing options, bringing along a mouse, while necessary, is often cumbersome. I'm sure you've all seen the drill: Unpack the notebook, and then pull out the mouse with its requisite 6ft+ of corded glory. Let's face it: not everyone is fastidious enough to properly wrap up all that mouse cord during every trip. Today I'll be looking at Logitech's Notebook Optical Mouse Plus+, a small-sized mouse that promises not only portability, but a solution to the tangled cord problem as well. Does the mouse succeed in these categories, and more importantly, is it accurate, comfortable and easy to use?

Specifications

With this mouse's main feature being its small size, there aren't too many remarkable features about it, save one - the integrated cord-wrapping feature. Being a mouse marketed for use with laptops, the length of the cord need not be the same length as those used with desktops; the cord is also not as thick as normal mouse cords. These two features allow the cord to be wrapped around the base of the mouse in a special groove. Other than that, the mouse is pretty much standard to most Logitech and Microsoft optical offerings in terms of technology.

• Integrated Cord Wrap and Snap

• All-Terrain Optical Sensor

• Shock-Resistant Bumper

• Compact Comfort

• Plug and Play

• 3-year manufacturer's guarantee

• More information available here.

The mouse has three buttons, one of which is also the mouse wheel. For most people this ought to be enough; as with most of Logitech's mice, the design is for left and right-handed users. Unlike Logitech's previous MouseMan Traveler, (also designed for notebooks), the mouse includes no carrying case; however that is offset by the cord-wrapping system that packages the mouse up nicely. All in all, this mouse was designed to be used with portable systems, and it shows in the features it has.

The mouse comes in a smaller-sized package than most mice, but still effectively portrays the product as Logitech would have wanted. As expected, the cord-wrap feature is touted on the front. The packaging is of the hard plastic and dreadful type, the one that is difficult to open and requires you to cut apart something. I really wish they'd just have put it in a cardboard box, thus saving some time, if only a little, in opening it. After opening the package, you'll find only two things: The mouse itself and a short installation guide/manual. That's right, no driver CD is included. With this being only a three-button wheel mouse, most users will find that their OS supports all the features of the mouse without needing Logitech's MouseWare to take advantage of everything - though it would have been nice had Logitech just gone ahead and included their software, as they always have. For those that can't live without MouseWare, it's only a download away at Logitech's site. This is certainly the most sparsely populated Logitech product I've seen.

Front of the package.

Back of the package.

Contents.

The mouse comes only with a USB connector and no USB-to-PS/2 convertor is included. Though most laptops/notebooks from nowadays and up to a few years before come with USB ports, I still would've liked to see a PS/2 convertor included; this however is not a major point at all. Some may call me a Luddite for even mentioning the term "PS/2".

The mouse comes wrapped up - you'll have to unwind the cord to start using it and I guess this will give you an ideal of its usefulness. The connector has a plastic snap-button on it that locks into a snap on the underside of the mouse, thus keeping the cord wrapped up when you're moving the mouse. In this position, the connector also "protects" the mouse's optical sensor, or so Logitech says. I guess that's true, though I haven't heard of sensors getting damaged much, but I guess a little protection can't hurt. Once the connector is unsnapped, the cord can be unwrapped from around the groove in the base of the mouse that it is wrapped around. After this, it's just like any other mouse, except for the fact that the cord is substantially shorter and also thinner that other mouse cords. I measured the mouse cord to be about 68cm or 27" in length - okay for a notebook system, but likely too short to be used with a desktop system; and unlike the previous MouseMan Traveler, no extension cord is included. But that's okay, since you wouldn't buy this mouse to use with a desktop system seeing as how it's named. Though the cord's thinner dimensions make it less strong than most, this shouldn't be a problem either as it's not very long and hence shouldn't get caught or snagged on anything.

Connector snaps into base...

... and unsnaps...

... and then the cord unwinds from the base.

And now we come to the omnipresent comparison in size to a pack of playing cards. As you can see, the mouse is roughly the same length as the pack, but quite a bit bulkier. This makes the mouse a better fit for your hands, in my opinion, since the earlier MouseMan Traveler was quite a bit slimmer, and wasn't as good a fit for the curved arch of your hand. Make no mistake though, this mouse isn't close to the size of a regular mouse, and hence doesn't feel like one at all. If you're used to having your entire hand on the mouse when you're using it, this mouse will definitely be a big change for you. You'll most likely use it by having your thumb and ring/pinky fingers on the sides, and your other fingertips on the buttons. While the mouse is certainly more comfortable than using a trackpad, it's just not as good as a full-sized mouse. As you can also see, compared to a regular mouse, this one is quite a bit smaller, in every dimension, which accounts for its vastly different feel when being used.

Mouse quite a bit smaller than most.

Mouse is roughly same length as cards.

Quite a bit thicker though.

Mouse has a metallic-grey finish.

The body of the mouse is made of metallic-looking-grey plastic, which, coincidentally, makes it match well with most Dell Inspiron notebooks. The mouse is thus not too flashy, but rather subdued and has that "professional" look to it. The sides and middle wheel are a blackish colour, and fit well with the body's colours. The groove that holds the cord while it's wound up is rather unobtrusive, and doesn't show up, so no one will know what a neat freak you are.

The mouse buttons are pretty standard if you know Logitech mice; there isn't too much play in them, and they are quite firm and respond with nice tactile feedback. The middle mouse wheel button perhaps requires a little more force than the other two buttons, but nothing that'd be detrimental to usage. However, one thing I immediately noticed was that the mouse wheel protrudes from the mouse a little bit more than on other mice - perhaps you can see this in the pictures above. This at first was a little annoying, but wasn't anything that I couldn't get used to - it's just something to note. A good thing is that with this mouse wheel, Logitech corrects the main problem I had with the MouseMan Traveler - that it's wheel was too narrow and a regular- sized wheel, like the one used here, could have easily been used instead of opting for a thinner wheel that may have made the mouse look nicer. Kudos to Logitech for including a regular-sized wheel here. The wheel also has a nice ratcheting feel to it, so you know when the rolling is being triggered.

Buttons are firm and responsive.

Mouse works for both left and right-handed users.

Three teflon feet.

The mouse, which works well in both left and right hands, just has plastic sides - no nice rubbery grips here. While such amenities would have been preferable, the feel of the plastic sides isn't bad. There are three feet on the bottom of the mouse, and the optical sensor resides in the back-center of the bottom. The mouse consumes 100mA @5V, about what most optical mice use nowadays. One other nice side-effect of the thin cord is that it doesn't interfere with mouse movement as much as a thicker cord would.

Well, the Notebook Optical Mouse Plus certainly looks like an innovative product, but let's get on to some testing.