I have been using a MacBook M2 for about 4 months now and I am quite impressed on how good it handles heavy CPU loads. Even the base line model is sufficient to perform development tasks involving running Docker, Eclipse, Safari, (Apple) Mail and a lot of other stuff in parallel.

As I was quite impressed by the performance of the MacBook I thought that I should also give the Apple Magic Mouse a shot. After all Apple’s implementations in the MacBook and in macOS are really great. So why should it be different for the dedicated mouse?

Well, as other people in the Internet have put it already: the Apple Magic Mouse is very different from all other mainstream mouses as of 2023. Therefore it is somewhat hard to get into it. But I did not shy away from it even with that knowledge.

Weaponized with the knowledge of a bunch of reviews on Youtube I decided to go for it and was… quite disappointed. At first I thought that the built-in Trackpad of the MacBook was way more intuitive and usable then the mouse. This made somewhat sense as I am a very keyboard centric user. Using the Trackpad is way more natural for me as it is more easily reachable then a separate mouse. This impression is especially reinforced by the default Apple has set to have no right click at all. Keep the right click in mind. We will get back to it later.

But: as those Youtube reviews have already prophesied it is very vital to keep it using for some time. And also to make some base changes - like enabling some gestures and also right clicking. Here is a great introduction video on how to hold the mouse and also some basic setups. Still it did not work out quite so well for me.

The issue

Last week I was so desperate that I was at the brink of selling it. It is either “I can use it now in a sane way” or give up. In such decisive cases I want to go a step back, try to lay out the issue, amend what others concluded to solve the issue and finally if I can think of a different way to the not satisfying but established solutions.

So let’s get into it:

  1. Lay out the issue: the mouse is really hard to use
  2. Figure out what others did against the issue:
    1. Using the mouse the normal PC way will lead to
      1. unwanted scrolling
      2. performing right clicks will most likely result in performing a second right click
    2. Many Youtube reviews showed me that using the mouse will result in a very stressed hand and therefore uncomfortable working environment.
  3. Think of a different way to the not satisfying but established solutions: nobody tried to actually stick to the default of Apple with the right click deactivated.

The beauty of insanity

Wait a minute. Why (seemingly) did nobody ever tried out the default of Apple with the right click deactivated? Because performing a right click is like the most basic function on Macs and PCs. Losing it robs you too many necessary functions available through a fast access using the context menu.

But let’s give it a try to think of what will happen. Ok, we lose the context menu. But we gain the possibility to perform a click literally anywhere on the Magic Mouse - as the scrolling or gestures. Let us keep going on that thought: if it is possible to perform a left click anywhere on the mouse, then it is also possible to (this is for using the right hand for the mouse):

  1. Rest the entire palm on the desk
  2. Place the right thumb on the left side of the mouse
  3. Place the right middle finger, the right ring finger on the right side of the mouse
  4. Place the pinky on the desk - as it is uncomfortable to rest it on the right side of the mouse too. At least for me. If your fingers are smaller then mine then you might add it to the middle finger and ring finger. 🙂
  5. Place the right index finger at the edge of the right side of the mouse but within the reach to perform an actual click.

Et voila - no more awkward and/or uncomfortable holding of the mouse. Actually this position is way more comfortable then holding a traditional mouse - again at least for me.

Gaining sanity from insanity

Ok, so now I have finally solved the issue of correctly holding the mouse. But at the cost of losing the right click for context menus.

Luckily I know a trick from my journey to find the best way to use a mouse in a keyboard centric workflow on a PC. Before I switched to a MacBook I used to have my mouse at the left to my keyboard - although I am right handed. This made it easier and faster to grab the mouse on a 100% keyboard as the hand does not need to travel over the numpad. Thus saving time and receiving less stress on my hands.

As I am right handed and used a mouse for about 20 years with my right hand my brain just could not cope with that new situation. Back then I found a feature in Windows to swap the mouse buttons to use left as right and right as left. Originally intended for the use of left handers I tried it to make my life easier with the left hand. It ultimately failed me as I tried to think of the layout of the mouse instead of the layout of my hand. But anyway it showed me that there is a way to swap the mouse buttons.

And exactly this feature of swapping the mouse buttons brings me back the right click. As my right index finger rests on the right part of the mouse anyway at least one half of the mouse is completely unused - the left part. After setting System settings > Mouse > Secondary click to Click Left Side I restored the power of the context menu and also made the Apple Magic Mouse usable for me.

Closing thoughts

I love my Magic Mouse now. Even though I am not that much into Photoshop, Video editing or CAD-tools. My guess is that the Magic Mouse even more excels at those tasks. Anyway, the casual scroll using my index finger anywhere on the mouse is really nice. Even greater is the pointer acceleration which makes it really easy to navigate on a 4K display. Therefore I can whole heartly recommend the Magic Mouse.

tl;dr

  1. Set System settings > Mouse > Secondary click to Click Left Side
  2. Right thumb on the left side of the mouse
  3. Right index finger on the right part of the mouse
  4. Remaining fingers on the right side of the mouse