iTZKooPA Rambles is a column dedicated to the shelled one talking about Internet, gaming or nerd culture. Extensions include anything he feels relevant to those microcosms. Oh, he also loves expressing his opinion, so that’s kinda why this column exists too. Sorry about that.
Razer announced the 2014 edition to its popular mouse for the gaming community, the Naga, yesterday. Here’s the PC guru buzzfeed that few of us fully comprehend:
19 programmable buttons, 8200 DPI 4G sensor, green LED backlighting, 7-foot braided cable, 1000Hz ultrapolling, mechanical buttons and a one-size-fits-all grip.
As a computer scientist and nerd that’s built every desktop he’s owned since he was a wee lass, I only fully understood three of those packaging bullets at first blush. The other two I get the basic meaning, but do not know how truly important they are. Is 8200 DPI – that’s dot per inch or the speed to move – truly that much more meaningful than 8000 or even 2000 for that matter? For an incredibly small percent, say the true professional gamers and the ones attempting to climb to that level, the answer is yes.
At such high DPI it can take a seasoned gamer a healthy chunk of time to adjust to the little cursor whipping across the screen at these insane speeds. The polling rate, a healthy 1000Hz, is the ability for the mouse to read. The higher DPI you set, the higher the polling rate should be. Again, 1000Hz is overkill for, well, let’s just say everyone.
Let’s not forget that this confession is coming from a long time min-maxer. I attempt to optimize everything from the pens I use to the alcohol to price per oz. content of craft beers. I even bought diapers for my brother based on cost per unit of natural diapers. And his kid is literally going to crap on that.
At any rate, most so-called “gaming” mouse hold much the same features. Logitech’s G600 series boasts much the same credentials, with 20 programmable buttons, 8200 DPI and 1000Hz polling. Because these features are becoming commoditized, I’ve realized that overall quality, including customer service, and, sadly, warranty support are the important features.
The last 12-months have seen a variety of peripherals, from mice to headphones, die on me. To that end I’ve balked at feature sets that will have essentially no impact on my gaming experience and returned to my bottom line. This has lead me back to Logitech, which even when broken out of warranty I have never had a bad experience with.
This begs the question, how do you select your peripherals? Do you have a favorite company across the board or select depending on the peripheral type? Sound off in the comments.
Have to admit one I find a brand I like I tend to stick with it.
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Pick initially from reviews – usually with an emphasis on customizability. Buy it like it stick with that brand until it they let me down.
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I tend to go for comfort more than features. A mouse with 20 programmable buttons is too complex and fiddley. Im 6″4 best part of 17 stone my fingers are big enough to resemble bratwurst sausages – coordinating them to effectively use so many tiny buttons just isn’t going to happen. Mouse wise I currently tend to stick with the RATs you can adjust the size, adjust the weights which to me is far more important and they have a few extra buttons thumb wheels nicely positioned —– And always wired over wireless everytime!
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8000DPI – how does anyone manage with that! ! … I tend to find myself having to turn down from 2000 let alone 8000DPI.
I agree. I have a programmable keyboard and mouse but have never taken the time to program anything other than forward/back for Internet browsing. I clock in at 2,500 DPI and that took some getting used to. 8000 is insanity.
I’ve always bought Logitech since about 1990. Solidly engineered products that, while expensive, never reach the “bling” level of excessive pricing. Plus, Logitech always has solid driver support, even for older, out-of-commision products, for all the various flavors of Windows.
I’m a logitech girl myself as well. I’ve found logitech products have the longevity to outshine all other products. I have a naga elite though – I like many buttons on my mouse, and the option to go wireless can’t be beat. And for some unfathomable reason, logitech doesn’t do a wireless 20 button mouse (or didn’t when I was in the market for a new mouse after my last died).
Nothing worse than being on a winning streak in BF3 and all of a sudden your batteries give up the ghost in your wifi mouse —– and then you find you don’t have a single battery free in the whole house so you end up desperately raiding the kids toys, and tv remotes for replacements……. and even then you find that when you need AA batteries for your mouse every other device you own seems to use AAA !!!.. !!!!! —-
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Wired FTW!!!