Here is something I bet most of you haven’t considered. I bet that this is something you simply accept as part of using a computer with a mouse. Well in certain circumstances you may be driving people crazy with all your clicking of the mouse. Have you ever considered that possibility?
I can say with a pinch of humor, that it was my wife that first brought this to my attention. My computer is in our bedroom. When trying to work on my computer at night, it was not a great combination. Trying to research using the web and my mouse resulted in “click click click” while my wife was trying to fall asleep. In fact she coined the phrase “click click click”. Apparently that is all she heard. It created an awkward situation as you might expect. I would suspect most computer users don’t really consider the mouse clicking noise they create when in a quiet environment around other people.
It’s kind of funny in a way. The “traditional” mouse button click sound has been in existence from day one. Mouse technology in regards to noise has made zero progression since that time. We can find some silent mouse offerings, but it’s safe to say there has been zero progression by the big name brand mouse manufacturers like Microsoft and Logitech. Are Microsoft and Logitech keeping it noisy because it’s a critical aspect to computing? Let’s analyze that argument a bit later. I’m sure if Microsoft wanted to, they could create a mouse with a more quiet, less noisy mouse click sound.
There is such a void in available silent mouse products there must be a real acceptance of the click sound. Maybe it’s beyond rationale and has become a way of life that we must accept. In general though, isn’t a quieter product the better product? That logic goes out the door with mechanical keyboards, but in general I think it’s safe to say that quieter is better. In most every instance the end goal is to create a quieter computer experience, not noisier. The more quiet a computer case and or fan setup, the more expensive. It’s more expensive because it’s more desirable and is actually better.
You might think the latest touch mouse products in 2016 don’t utilize the mouse click sound, but indeed they do. I’ve spoken with some sales people and the benefit of the audible click is so they know when a click has registered. Perhaps those same people fail to realize that a less noisy click sound will still provide a tactile click under the finger which leaves no doubt whether a mouse click has registered. A gamer can’t hear a mouse click with all the in-game sounds going on and especially when using a headset. I don’t see the issues for those users when they can’t hear their mouse making the clicking sound.
In my experience using a quiet mouse, I have had zero issues or concerns. Fear of the unknown is legitimate but allow yourself to consider that living without loud mouse clicks might be better. Unless you’ve tried, how could you know? I do lots of graphics work which requires precision. When using a silent mouse there have been no issues or missed clicks. It was business as usual. People may fail to realize that the most important aspect of the mouse is having that “click” feedback rather than the sound itself.
There are many other environments and situations where a quieter mouse may be in order. I personally have been faced with trying to find a solution because my wife wants to sleep in the same room where I’m using my computer at night. My computer usage at night is largely research based which requires using a web browser. As you may be aware, using the web is very mouse heavy, especially when it comes to clicking things. A solution was in order because all the clicking was driving my wife nuts!
Trying to silence your computer use is an obvious challenge. You might have a quiet keyboard but your mouse has the highly audible button clicking sounds. If you’re using a clicky sounding mechanical keyboard it defeats the purpose of purchasing a quiet mouse. I have a mechanical keyboard combined with the silent mouse and it works just fine so long as I’m not trying to type out a document in the middle of the night while my wife is trying to sleep.
So my story is that I had a Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 which has silent mouse button clicks. What I found out later is that the Microsoft 4000 mouse that I had was defective and that is why it was silent. It was a total fluke! It started acting up and I needed a replacement. The replacement mouse needed to be silent as well and little did I know how hard it would be to find something suitable.
I did find a name brand in Kensington who makes two models, one wired and one wireless, that are marketed as being silent. If you would like to read my review of the Kensington Mouse For Life, please read it here.
No comments yet.