27 November 2001
by Noah Kravitz
Columnist

The folks at Atek recently sent me their newest productivity enhancing gadget and in the interest of serving you, the readers, I've been giving it my closest scrutiny. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. After spending a few weeks with the Super Mini Optical Mouse ($49.95 - Atek.com; compare prices at PCPrices/Mac) I can safely say that it's a winner. Though fifty bucks is a bit steep for a mouse, if you need a super small pointer for your USB PowerBook or iBook, or want to bring a smile to your favorite road warrior's face this holiday season, the Atek Super Mini is a great choice.

Barely bigger than a cigarette lighter and featuring two buttons and a solid optical tracking system, the Atek works well with or without a mouse pad, failing me only once in a coffee shop with particularly grimy tabletops. Even then, I was able to run the mouse over the top of my leg (I was wearing denim jeans at the time) and make do just fine. The Atek is so small I feared it wouldn't be useable, would give me hand cramps, or both. Happily, I was able to surf the Web, use all of my apps and do basic Web and multimedia production with it for a few hours at a time without longing for a standard-sized mouse. A thick raised plastic ridge just below the buttons provides a good gripping surface and reference point for your fingers and thumb, and gives the semi-translucent, dark grey plastic body (that glows red when in use) a silver accent that matches my TiBook nicely. While the mouse comes with no software, a driver available on Atek's website allows for programmability of both buttons (instructions also suggest using the "USB Overdrive" driver if extension conflicts arise). Why Apple still refuses to make a dual-button mouse is beyond me -- spend a few hours with right-click at your fingertips and you'll never go back to a single button setup.

While I wouldn't recommend a mouse this small for intricate design work, as I said I was able to do some Photoshop and Flash work pretty successfuly with the Atek. Though its size suits it best to general use and productivity apps where precise mousing isn't a necessity, this mouse definitely tracked a lot better than my two year-old non-optical wheel mouse and is on par with other optical mice I've tried. It's tiny size, feather weight and handy carrying pouch (included) make it a gem of an accessory for PowerBook owners frustrated with their trackpads or in need of an external mouse for presentation work. Adding a scroll wheel likely isn't an option for a mouse this small, but slightly larger travel-sized mice are available from other manufacturers just in case you're addicted to that wheel.

For more information, check the Atek homepage.