Left or right is alright
The Star Online > Prodit
Thursday July 2, 2009
Left or right is alright
By TAN KIT HOONG
Good news for southpaws and those with small hands. Microsoft has a gaming mouse just for you.
IT SEEMS as if Microsoft has at least been listening to users like me who have been complaining about the size of its Sidewinder series of gaming mice.
Every model so far has been oversized and very firmly right-handed in design, therefore leaving those of us with small- to medium-sized hands looking elsewhere for a more suitable gaming mouse.
However, with the Sidewinder X3, Microsoft seems to have addressed this issue, producing a gaming mouse which is not only a reasonable size, but is also ambidextrous in design.
So does it pass muster in the other important areas of gaming?
Well, you’ll just have to read on to find out.
The basics
Packed in a red box like other Sidewinder gaming mice, the X3 is pretty light on accessories — you don’t get anything besides the mouse and the driver CD.
Once ripped out of its box, what you get is a pretty nice mouse, finished in the same gunmetal and black colour as its siblings.
One thing that is NOT like the original Sidewinder and the Sidewinder X8 is the feel — the X3 is a lot smaller and feels much better in my small-ish hand than any other Sidewinder before it.
Since the mouse is symmetrical and designed for both left- and right-handed people, the button layout reflects this — instead of two thumb buttons on the left side of the mouse, there’s a single button on either side of the mouse.
This means that one button will fall under your thumb, while the other will fall under your ring finger, no matter which hand you’re using.
BETTER FIT: The X3 is much smaller than its siblings, making it a better fit for small- to medium-sized hands.Talking about buttons, the Sidewinder X3 is rather light on customisable buttons — you don’t get the plethora of customisable buttons like the X8 and original Sidewinder.
The X3’s wheel is not tilt-capable, so you can only realistically map the single middle wheel click and the two side buttons to custom actions.
However the IntelliPoint software does allow you to map any of the customisable buttons to launch certain programs when pressed.
The mouse does have three buttons just below the wheel that allow you to quickly switch between three sensitivity settings of your choice — in this case, anything from 200 to 2,000dpi, although in larger steps than on the Sidewinder X8.
Oh yes, the X3 has no fancy dot-matrix LCD screen to display your current sensitivity setting, so you’ll just have to remember what you’ve set for each button.
Gaming performance
In terms of performance, the Sidewinder X3 performs well, although certainly not as well as the X8 in terms of tracking on a variety of surfaces.
Nevertheless, I can’t really fault the tracking and accuracy of the X3 as it performed as well as any other gaming mouse in this category.
However, the mouse does feel a little light for my personal taste — I like some heft in my mice, and and in this regard, the Sidewinder X3 is a bit disappointing. Having said that, the relatively smaller size of the mouse was very nearly ideal for my hand — with my palm resting on the table, I can reach all the buttons without having to stretch very much and was comfortable even after hours of gaming.
While it doesn’t have the crazy 4,000dpi setting of the X8, the X3’s maximum 2,000dpi setting is actually just about right for most first-person shooters and should satisfy all but the most demanding of gamers.
Last but not least, I would also have preferred if Microsoft had applied some kind of textured or rubberised finish to the sides to stop the mouse from slipping out of my sweaty fingers.
Conclusion
Overall, I like the Sidewinder X3, although there are some qualifications to this.
For one thing, I really would have liked an option to add a bit more weight to my mouse, as the X3 is a tad light for my liking.
However, this is really a personal preference, since I know some gamers actually like their mice to be as light and nimble as possible.
My only real complaint is that the one gaming mouse that Microsoft makes that is both ambidextrous in design and small enough to fit my hands is a relatively entry-level product.
Come on Microsoft, I’m sure there is a place for a mouse like this in the upper end of the market — perhaps one that’s both wireless, slightly heavier and with more customisable buttonsSince the price is actually quite reasonable for a gaming mouse, however, so should warrant a serious look if you’re on a budget.
Pros: Ambidextrous design; suitable for small- and medium-sized hands.
Cons: Not enough customisable buttons; a little lightends.
SIDEWINDER X3
(Microsoft Corp)
Laser gaming mouse
Maximum resolution: 2,000dpi
Image processing: 6.4 megapixels per second
Maximum acceleration: 20G
Maximum speed: 45+ inches-per-second
Number of buttons: Eight (five programmable)
Price: RM139
Review unit courtesy of Microsoft Malaysia, (03) 2179-6838.
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July 5, 2009 
Tags: device, ict, Komputer Posted in: Komputer
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