Logitech® V450 Laser Cordless Mouse for Notebooks
reviewed by Wayne LeFevre & Kristine LeFevre
Logitech® 6505 Kaiser Drive Fremont, CA 94555 USA 510-795-8500 800-231-7717 Consumer Sales Released: August 2006 $50 USD, $56 CND, £26 GBP, 39 € Euro Requirements: Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later. USB 2.0 port. Strengths: Small, laser precision mouse cordless mouse that claims to have a battery life of 1 year. Micro-receiver small and installs in base. Weaknesses: A bit on the smaller side for large hands. No side buttons.
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Ease
of Installation
Mouse worked excellent on both PC and Mac without any drivers. Both PC and Mac drivers come on the enclosed CD. By installing drivers, the scroll wheel is customizable.
Accessibility
Logitech website has FAQ’s, help support, User Forums, and help lines.
Effectiveness
Laser precision works on almost any surface.
Micro-receiver installs in base when not in use, which will turn off the mouse
conserving battery power. There is also a small button on the bottom of the
mouse that will also turn off the power. The scroll wheel is a button, which
also has side–to–side capabilities. It defaults as a side scroll,
but with the software it can become two more buttons. For example, we have ours
set up for previous and next page on our browser.
Ease of use
First thing is this is a laptop mouse. It is smaller than your normal mouse. My wife loves it, but I find it just a little small for my hands, as I like to rest my whole hand on the mouse. Not so much as it can’t be used, but a little strange for me, as you move just your fingers/hand and not your whole hand/arm.
The neatest enhancement that Logitech has done to this mouse is the Micro-receiver. I mentioned it in the Effectiveness portion of the review, but it really needs mentioning again. On our old PC laptop, we used an older mouse with a USB receiver that was at least twice as long as this one. Through normal bumps and jostling that happens with a laptop, it effectively broke the USB port on the machine. This receiver, however, sticks out no more than an inch, making it much more likely not to get hit or rested on. Whenever the receiver is pulled out of the mouse base, the mouse instantly turns on, and makes it extremely convenient when traveling.
The laser is precise and doesn’t jump about the screen. You can use it on any surface, except glass, and it just works. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting a small, portable mouse for their laptop. The Micro-receiver is ingenious, and the laser is rock steady. The price is a tad on the high side, but the quality is there to back it up.
