Microsoft Sidewinder X5

key features:

• 2000dpi laser optic tracking
• 5 command buttons (left, right, scroll + 2 extras at the thumb resting position)
• 3dpi selector buttons
• lighting on 3dpi selector buttons, and 2 lights at the back of the mouse

background:

This is possibly the first gaming-centric mouse I own. My choice was purely aesthetic driven, I felt the Logitech Marble Ball mouse I was using was not great for gaming, and the Microsoft basic optical mouse was too small for my hand, so, new mouse!

the meat of this article:

The installation of the mouse was simple enough, I have previously installed the intellipoint driver software for a microsoft mouse and wireless keyboard set. It did help that I have Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit) recently installed onto my PC, making the driver and related-softeware integration seamless.

I connected the mouse to the USB port and voila; the drivers for the mouse were immediately initialised/installed and I was able to access extra menus specific to customisation of the mouse's many buttons. The intellipoint software allows one to customise each and every button of the mouse to a huge variety of functions or shortcuts in Windows.

You are also able to create customised mouse button maps specific to individual programs (I'm assuming especially games). I personally do not have the need to map different sets of buttons and actions, so your mileage may vary.

The customisation also extends to the 3dpi selector buttons (which also light up, +5 cool factor) allowing you to adjust the resolution of the scanning of the laser optic depending on the application of the mouse. Normally, higher dpi(s) are reserved for FPS games for speed of reaction to your environment while slower dpi(s) are used more for RTS games with the necessity of minute control.

The built-quality of the mouse is solid, not exceptional but better than all the previous mice I have used over the years; bearing in mind up till date I've only been using consumer mice for my computing needs. Time and normal usage will tell if the materials used in the construction of this mouse is value for money.

Notable are the white plastic stoppers at the bottom of the mouse to allow it to glide rather than stick after awhile like most consumer mice with their hard rubber stick-ons. I believe this comes standard for most, if not all gaming-centric mice.

verdict:

I am personally pleased with the mouse. It is quite an upgrade in terms of usability for gaming (which was the whole point of my getting a new mouse in the first place), and also, the built of the mouse fills the user (i.e. me) with some assurance that it can take heavy usage be it gaming or intensive facebooking.

Time will tell.