I think I’ve spent an ungodly amount of time trying to perfect how I move my mouse around on my computer.

It all started when I built my first “proper” desk setup, and moved away from the cheap generic wired USB mouse I probably stole from my dad. I did a lot of research, I knew I wanted something wireless, and something relatively cheap. I had a Microsoft Surface Keyboard at the time, mostly because it was the most similar Windows alternative to a Mac keyboard, but I never liked the look of the Surface mice, they seemed way too flat and weird (somewhat ironic, as much later I seriously tried to make the Apple Magic Mouse work in my setup…)

I ended up settling on a Logitech G305, which was a massive upgrade. I loved how responsive it felt, it fit the bill perfectly, the only issue is after a few years of use I realised it never quite fit my hand right, which ended up with me having some wrist pain from daily use.

I gave it to my little brother when he built a gaming PC over lockdown, and got myself a Logitech MX Master 3 instead. I (very stupidly) got the “for Mac” version, thinking it was just a different colour, when instead it just doesn’t come with the USB dongle, leaving you stuck with Bluetooth. This was fine for a while, but I immediately noticed the difference in polling rates between the G305 and MX Master 3. The extra buttons and super comfortable build did make up for it though, and this was my main pointing device for a good while, I even ended up replacing my Microsoft Surface Keyboard with a Logitech MX Keys, which came with a USB dongle that I could pair both the mouse and keyboard to, lowering the input lag a bit.

I ended up moving to a Mac just before I got the MX Keys, which came with it’s own set of problems. I’ve since decided that I much, much, much prefer macOS over Windows, especially with the direction Microsoft are heading in with Windows 11, but it is horrible with external mice by default. No smooth scrolling, no options to disable or tweak mouse acceleration - I really didn’t get on with macOS mouse support at first. I used an app called Mos for a while, which enabled smooth scrolling on my MX Master 3, which helped, but I found myself enjoying the trackpad so much, I decided to try a Magic Trackpad, so I could use one whilst my laptop was docked.

The Magic Trackpad was… fine. I loved having gestures, but I didn’t like the Bluetooth latency with it, you can use it wired which helps, but I also found that using it for longer periods of time gave me a weird ache in my index finger, even after reducing the click sensitivity to it’s lightest setting. I hate tap-to-click as I find it stupidly inaccurate, so I planned to sell the trackpad and move back to the MX Master 3, when I found a really good deal on a Kensington Expert Trackball…

Working in music has sort of made trackballs this mythical pointing device. You see them in almost every studio, sometimes even built into the mixing consoles (the Neve in Strongroom Studio 1 has a built in trackball, which I think is massively cool, no clue if it functions though as I’ve never worked there!) which made them seem like something I should know how to use at some point in my life. I found the Expert Trackball from Kensington super weird at first, it felt like it could be good, but never quite felt right? I especially disliked the scrolling wheel, which always seemed like it was scratching against the plastic inside. I ended up trying a bit of software called SteerMouse, which replaces Mos in my workflow, but allows you to really dial in everything from gestures, mouse acceleration and sensitivity, and smooth scrolling settings, which made the trackball a joy to use. The more used to it I got, the more I fell in love with how effortless it felt. I even opened up the trackball and played with the scroll wheel mechanism to make it more useable.

The final piece to this puzzle was reintroducing the Magic Trackpad from earlier. With the trackpad positioned to the left of my keyboard, and the trackball to my right, I found I could scroll with ease using the trackpad, whilst retaining all of the accuracy from the trackball! Whilst it felt massively excessive using two pointing devices at once, I found it felt surprisingly natural, and was super comfortable. This has been the pointing device setup I’ve used for the past couple years, and although every so often I find myself trying the MX Master 3 again (despite the fact I’ve gifted it to my girlfriend as she needed a mouse, and having so many mice around felt like a weird obsession), I seem to keep coming back to the trackpad/trackball combo. I even tried the Magic Mouse at this point, but almost immediately wanted to get rid of it, as although I loved the gestures and the overall design of the mouse (the charging port on the bottom isn’t bad design, and I will die on this hill!) it was way too unergonomic for me and led to really bad wrist and hand pain after a day of use.

However…

I find myself wanting something portable. The Kensington Expert is way too big and bulky, I don’t enjoy carrying it to and from work, though I also don’t really like using a traditional mouse. I find there’s not enough room for both my laptop and a mouse in the centre section of the Audient desks at work, and I really hate having my computer to the side of the listening position when working (why did anyone ever think this was a good idea?? I get that mixing consoles existed before DAWs were widely used, but the fact that we’re now in 2025 and some studios still make you choose between blasting one ear with the speakers while you deal with Pro Tools, or strain your neck by constantly turning it at a right angle is bizarre to me).

The Kensington Orbit looks pretty good as a smaller alternative to the Expert. The MX Ergo looks nice as well to leave in my backpack, it seems a bit smaller and more portable than the Orbit, though I’m not massive on moving to a thumb operated trackball, as I don’t think I’ll be as accurate. I could try a more traditional mouse again, with a laptop stand to give me some more space - I’m actually writing this after spending the day with my MX Master 3 again, stealing it back off my girlfriend, thus inspiring this super long write up on my mouse-misadventures - but then I’d need to hook up a keyboard, and the stand would be one more thing to carry about every day…

Maybe technologies just needs to hurry up and let me shout commands at my computer, thus negating the need for mice in the first place…

Or maybe I just need to stop hyperfixating on computer pointing devices in the first place!

Also, Happy New Year! It’s been my resolution to make more of an effort on this website for probably the last 2 or 3 years now, but I’m finally making more of an effort to post here! Let’s see if I can keep this up…