The ESR MagMouse is being trailed on Kickstarter as the world's first magnetically attachable mouse and, well, I've never seen one before. I can now confirm that, having already been designed and now hit its target, it's definitely something you'll be able to get.
How do I know all this? ESR has let me test an early model, and so I've followed the instructions and stuck it to my laptop's screen. I can't say that it's done Apple's carefully crafted aesthetics any favors, but on the other hand there is no evidence – as I type this – of weird coloring on the screen side of the 2019 MacBook Pro.
What's the problem that the magnetic mouse aims to solve? It's not charging, but convenience. When you rush to a meeting, or just another room in the house, you often end up relying on your trackpad because you don't have the carrying capacity for a mouse as well as a laptop (especially, say, if you need a free hand to open doors with a keycard).
Why should this matter to photographers? Well, to be honest, I think the main reason a photographer needs to think about their mouse is that a good one can help with a lot of imaging apps. The best mouse for photo editing can make life a lot easier than a trackpad.
There is also a button to cycle through half a dozen resolution options – from 800ppi to 4,800ppi – which has the effect of offering faster movement or more precise pointer control, a handy feature.
Moreover, a lot of us in the creative industries have MacBooks – and let's be honest, sticking to brand is an expensive business if you buy the Apple Wireless Mouse (not to mention its well-known design flaw – it needs to lie dead on its back to charge).
Now I'm not going to tell you for sure that ESR's solution is ideal, or that it's automatically going to be the best Mac mouse, but it has a short built-in USB-C charging cable that simply tucks underneath when you're not using it – so at least you won't lose it.
The built-in battery can store up to eighty days of charge, and a four-hour charge is absorbed in just one minute, according to ESR.
The mouse connects via Bluetooth 5.0 or 2.4GHz, and the Kickstarter campaign is running now. The Early Bird is approxmitely $26 / £20 / AU$40, with a planned retail price of $36 / £17 / AU$57, and it's fair to say that this product will almost certainly make it to market since the version I have definitely works.
The planned shipping date is in June, with mass production beginning this month.
Editor's note: As with all crowdfunding projects, there is no guarantee that the final product will match the early depictions in the campaign – or that the final product will be completed or delivered at all. DCW does not endorse this or any other crowdfunding campaign.
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