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The Apple Magic Mouse is the most divisive piece of tech I have ever reviewed. It is amazing how many people love it or hate it, and both camps have a point. There is a lot going for this mouse, and it might be the best mouse for macOS. In this review I go through everything I like about it, everything I do not, and where I landed after using it for years.
A gorgeous, ultra-smooth Mac mouse with the best top-surface scrolling anywhere, let down by flat ergonomics and no customizable buttons.
- Touch-sensitive top surface with excellent macOS gestures
- Glides smoothly on wood, glass, or a mouse pad
- Accurate sensor, flawless Bluetooth, wakes the Mac instantly
- USB-C charging at last, braided cable in the box
- Battery lasts weeks between charges
- Flat, slim profile is uncomfortable for long sessions
- Charge port is on the bottom, so you cannot use it while charging
- No customizable buttons and very little customization
- Awkward to switch between a Mac and an iPad
- Loud click and a surface that scratches easily
Intro: Who This Is For
If most of your day is browsing the web and light productivity on a Mac, the Magic Mouse is a genuine pleasure to use. If you grind through hours of editing, graphic design, or anything that keeps your hand on the mouse for long stretches, the flat shape is going to fight you. Plenty of people use this all day with no complaints. Plenty of others cannot stand it. This review is here to help you figure out which one you are before you spend the money.
Design and the Touch Surface
The Magic Mouse is sleek, minimal, and compact, with no scroll wheel on top. That is the whole allure of it. To scroll you just slide a finger across the top. The entire top surface is touch sensitive, so you can switch between full-screen apps with a two-finger swipe left or right, scroll up and down, and move side to side. It is very intuitive once your fingers learn it.
Where it really shines is how smooth it feels. During web browsing and basic day-to-day work it glides across any surface with or without a mouse pad. It works on wood, on glass, and it works great on a mouse pad too. The catch is the compact size. It sits so low that it puts your hand at a very flat angle, and depending on your desk setup that can get uncomfortable. Even with some wrist cushioning, the low height is hard to get past.
USB-C Charging, Finally
Flip it over and you finally get a USB-C port instead of the old Lightning connector. Apple includes its nice braided USB-C to USB-C cable in the box, which I appreciate. Pairing is dead simple: plug the USB-C cable straight into the computer and it pairs automatically.
The problem is where the port lives. It is on the bottom of the mouse. So if the battery ever does die, you have to flip it over like a turtle and plug it in, and you cannot use it while it charges. People find that annoying, and it is a fair complaint, even if it does not come up often in practice.
Bluetooth and Multi-Device
Bluetooth performance is one of my favorite things about this mouse. It wakes the computer from sleep immediately and connects flawlessly every time. I have no complaints there.
Switching devices is a different story. There is no clean way to move it from one machine to the next. To use it with an iPad you first have to unpair it from whatever computer it is on, toggle the power switch off and on a few times to trigger Bluetooth pairing mode, then pair it in iPad settings. It does work well with iPadOS once you get there. It is just not easy to bounce back and forth between a Mac and an iPad. I wish Apple had something like Logitech’s Easy-Switch, or that the mouse could intelligently know which computer you meant to use.
Scrolling, Gestures, and Smart Zoom
Apple’s gestures are the reason to buy this mouse. You scroll by moving a finger up or down, and side-scroll by going left or right. You can swipe between pages with a couple of shortcuts you set up in System Settings, and you can swipe between full-screen apps or your desktop with two fingers left or right. For living in full-screen windows on macOS, this is genuinely useful.
Smart Zoom is another good one. You double-tap the top to zoom in. You can also move the secondary click, what we used to call right click, to either the left or right side of the mouse. I do wish you could do a two-finger click for secondary click the way you can on the trackpad, but that is not an option here.
The Click Is Loud
The click on this mouse is a real physical click, and it is a little loud. If you click a lot, the sound gets annoying. I am not sure why Apple still has not quieted it down, even on the new USB-C version.
Ergonomics Are the Real Problem
The biggest con is the ergonomics. Apple made this thing too slim. It needs to be beefed up with a better grip. It does not have to be as big as the MX Master 3S, but Apple needs to find a way to make the Magic Mouse more comfortable over a long period.
The sensor itself is very accurate. I have used it for editing video and for graphic design with no accuracy issues at all. It is simply not comfortable when your hand hovers on it for hours. Going back and forth between the keyboard and mouse, it is fine, and for general day-to-day use it is great. But during long, mouse-heavy sessions my arm starts to fatigue and I feel it in the wrist, especially after using this for years. That is why I switched to the MX Master 3S, which is a more comfortable mouse for me. I do miss the top-surface scrolling every time, though. No other mouse has that.
Surface Durability
As sleek as it looks, the surface scratches easily. Mine has already picked up a little scratch on top, and the minimal bottom will collect scratches over time too. It is not a huge deal, but it is worth knowing if you like your gear pristine.
Battery Life
Battery life is excellent. This thing lasts weeks and weeks between charges. I honestly cannot keep track of how long it goes because I feel like I never have to plug it in. If it does run low, flip it over, plug it in for a couple of minutes while you go fill up your water bottle, and you will have plenty of charge to finish the day.
I understand the worry about the bottom port for around-the-clock use. If your mouse is mission critical for full-time production, you should probably be running a wired mouse anyway, not a Magic Mouse.
How It Compares to Other Mice
My honest take is that the Magic Mouse wins on scrolling and loses on comfort and customization. There is very little you can customize here. Logitech mice have side buttons you can map to app-specific shortcuts and macros, and the Magic Mouse has no customizable buttons at all. If ergonomics and buttons matter more to you than the touch surface, the alternatives below are the better call.
| Magic Mouse | MX Master 3S | |
|---|---|---|
| Top-surface touch scrolling | Yes | No |
| Ergonomic shape | Flat and slim | Tall, contoured grip |
| Customizable buttons | None | Multiple, app-specific |
| Multi-device switching | Manual re-pair | Easy-Switch |
| Charge-while-use | No, port on bottom | Yes |
Alternatives Worth a Look
If the flat shape is a dealbreaker, three Logitech options give you better ergonomics. The MX Master 3S is my daily driver now for its comfort and controls. The Logitech Triathlon (M720) is a great multi-device value pick. The MX Anywhere 3S is the compact, travel-friendly option. All three give you a more comfortable grip than the Magic Mouse. The one thing I miss on every one of them is that flawless top-surface scrolling.
Price
The Apple Magic Mouse is $80 in white and $100 in black. That is right in line with other premium mice on the market. I do think it is a bit expensive once you factor in that there are no customizable buttons and the ergonomics are what they are.
Should You Buy the Apple Magic Mouse?
It is great that Apple finally added USB-C, and I love the touch-sensitive surface. It is a very nice mouse to use. But because of the ergonomics and the lack of customizable buttons, I cannot call it the flat-out best mouse for macOS for everyone. If you mostly scroll around the web, it absolutely is the best mouse for macOS. If you do heavy, mouse-intensive work, look at the MX Master 3S, the Logitech Triathlon, or the MX Anywhere 3S for better comfort. I keep wishing Apple would take the Magic Mouse’s functionality and put it in a larger, more comfortable body, because that would truly make it the best mouse for the Mac. Until then, where you land depends entirely on your hand and your workflow. Some people think it is fantastic. Others think it is a pile of trash. Now you know which side you are likely on.
