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The Apple Magic Mouse is probably the most loved and hated wireless mouse in the world. There are a few things I really love about it, and a couple of things I really hate about it. I have been using one for a while, so in this review I want to walk through all the pros and cons and help you decide if it is the right mouse for you.
A brilliant Mac OS companion held back by a charging port on its belly and a shape that cramps your wrist.
- Multi-touch surface handles vertical and side scrolling with no scroll wheel
- Two and three finger gestures for switching desktops and full screen apps
- Deep Mac OS integration and easy setting adjustments
- Competitively priced at $80 for white, $100 for black
- You cannot charge and use it at the same time
- No fast charging, so a dead battery means a real break
- Sleek shape gives an unnatural hand position and wrist cramps
- Switching between a Mac and an iPad is a frustrating process
Intro: Who This Is For
This mouse is for people already living inside the Apple world. If you own a Mac laptop or a desktop and you want a mouse that feels like Apple designed it in the same room as Mac OS, this is that mouse. If you spend all day working and you care more about how your wrist feels at 5pm than about clean design, that is a different conversation, and I will get to it. Let me start by getting all the negatives out of the way, because there are a lot of positives with this mouse too.
You Cannot Charge and Use It
The first problem is the one everybody already knows about. You cannot charge and use the mouse at the same time. Apple put the Lightning port on the bottom of it, so when the battery dies you have to lay it on its back like a turtle, plug it in with a Lightning cable, and leave it to charge.
It gets worse. There is no fast charging here. If you run all the way out of battery, you are going to take a break from using the mouse for a little while before you can pick it back up. It is not the end of the world if you top it off before it dies, but a quick charge that gets you moving again in a minute is not something this mouse can do.
The Ergonomics Problem
The second big con is ergonomics. This mouse is really not comfortable on your wrist. It is so sleek and small that it forces an unnatural hand position, and you can find your wrist cramping up when you use it for a long stretch. The flat, low shape looks great on a desk, but your hand pays for that look over a full work day. This is the single biggest issue I have with the mouse, and I will come back to it at the end.
Pairing Across Devices Is a Headache
The last big con is how you pair it, and this one is more annoying than most reviews let on. Pairing to a computer with a Lightning cable works flawlessly. If you want to go from a laptop to a desktop, all you do is plug it in for a second and it is magically paired, just like that. So far so good.
Where it gets tricky is the iPad. To pair the Magic Mouse with an iPad, you have to turn it off and on, go to the Bluetooth settings on the iPad, and then it shows up at the bottom of the list ready to be paired. Fine. But then when you go back to a computer, you have to plug it back in with the Lightning cable. That still does not sound like a big deal, until you want to use it with the iPad again.
The only way to get it working with the iPad the second time is to go into the iPad settings, forget the Magic Mouse entirely, shut the mouse off and back on, and then pair it wirelessly all over again. Going back and forth between a computer and an iPad, or even between two computers, is not a clean experience. I really like how Logitech builds a button into their mice that lets you switch which device it is paired to on the fly. I would love to see Apple put something like that on a future Magic Mouse.
Where It Shines: Mac OS Integration
Now for the good part, and there is a lot of it. You can tell Apple designed this mouse to work perfectly with Mac OS. There is no physical scroll wheel. Instead the whole top is a multi-touch surface, so you can scroll vertically and side to side just by moving your fingers across it. On Mac OS it feels natural and smooth in a way that is hard to describe until you use it.
The gestures are the other thing I really like. You can do a two or three finger swipe on top of the mouse to move between your different desktops and full screen apps. It works well, it is very easy to use, and once you are in the Apple ecosystem it just feels right. It pairs great with all the Apple laptops and desktops, and inside Mac OS you can easily change all the settings, including pointer sensitivity and each of the gestures the mouse supports.
Price and How It Stacks Up
Price is where the Magic Mouse quietly makes its case. The white Magic Mouse is $80 and the black Magic Mouse is $100, so they are really not priced too crazy, especially next to Logitech’s MX Anywhere 3S or MX Master 3S. It is a competitively priced mouse.
The real question most people are asking is Magic Mouse or Logitech. I started using the Logitech MX Master 3S recently and I quickly fell in love with how much more comfortable it is than the Magic Mouse. Here is how the two line up on the things that actually matter.
| Apple Magic Mouse 2 | Logitech MX Master 3S | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $80 white, $100 black | Higher, premium tier |
| Ergonomics | Flat and sleek, cramps the wrist | Sculpted, comfortable all day |
| Charging | Lightning port on the bottom, no fast charge | Charge while you use it |
| Scrolling | Multi-touch surface, vertical and side | Scroll wheel plus thumb wheel |
| Device switching | Re-pair each time, no switch button | Button to jump between devices |
| Best for | People deep in the Mac ecosystem | People who want comfort and control |
The Verdict
Overall, I love this mouse and I have no problem recommending it. The biggest drawback is simply that it is not very comfortable to use. What I really wish for is a way to get Apple’s great Mac OS integration and how smoothly this mouse works, combined with the kind of ergonomic shape Logitech’s mice have.
So here is my simple advice. Buy the Apple Magic Mouse if you really like all the built-in Apple functionality it comes with and you value the Mac OS experience over comfort. If you want something more comfortable and ergonomic, go for one of the Logitech MX Master series mice instead. Either way, if you have questions about this mouse or think I missed something, leave a comment and I will do my best to answer it.
