Rumor: MacBook Touch
Apple has raked in tons of money from the iPhone and the iPod Touch partly because of their technological capability to support games – good games at that. Now rumor of a new MacBook Touch has surfaced via MacDailyNews.
“Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like, but fuller-featured Multi-Touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion’s haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. Pretty expensive to produce initially, but sold at “low” price that will reduce margins. Apple wants to move these babies. And move they will. This is some sick shit. App Store-compatible, able to run Mac apps, too. By October at the latest.”
MacBook touch
The rumored device seems to be an elarged iPod Touch, in my opinion, a big tablet gaming device, Awesome! If the price is right when this baby comes out (if it really does exist), I might consider buying one.
image via Gizmodo
story via MacDailyNews
Gaming Mice Guide
You’re an avid gamer, more often immersed with what you’re playing than simply running through the levels. More importantly, you’re a competitive gamer, spending more time playing online fragging friends and strangers alike. But skills alone, believe it or not, aren’t enough to cut it in the world of competitive gaming.
Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
Have you ever wondered why professional gamers don’t use regular desktop mice? They use gaming mice, designed to suit their gaming needs. So, go buy a gaming mouse! But with all the marketing mushu, with numbers saying this and that, you might be lured into buying one based on the numbers alone without even understanding what they mean. What exactly is the difference between a regular mouse and a gaming mouse? What do all those numbers have to do with anything? Are they all just icing on the cake? Well I hope to answer those questions from a technical standpoint with some added personal (and professional) take on the subject matter based on experience.
When looking to buy a gaming mouse, you’ll most likely encounter the following terms printed on the back of the box: DPI, Frames per Second, Polling Rate, PS/2 or USB, Optical or Laser, and Programmable Buttons. These are the most common attributes you’ll see. So what are these anyway? Let’s tackle each of them one-by-one.
DPI
DPI (dots per inch) or CPI (counts per inch) which can also be referred to as sensor sensitivity, is the number of counts per inch covered by the sensor. The higher the DPI of the sensor, the more dots or points or counts it can cover. With that said, a 3000 DPI mouse will move the cursor farther than a 400 DPI mouse in an inch of mouse movement.
Most gaming mice today feature adjustable DPI and some even come with an on-the-fly DPI button switcher, enabling you to switch between different DPI settings with the click of a button. Regular mice commonly come with 400 to 800 DPI; gaming mice on the other hand can offer as much as 4000 DPI. Buying how much DPI depends on what you’re playing. If you’re playing first-person shooter games, go for a high DPI. If you’re playing any other type of game, you can settle for the average 2000 DPI mouse.
FPS
FPS (frames per second) is how often the sensor reads the surface (image processing). What happens is that the sensor takes an image of the surface, and then takes another image and compares it to the previous image taken. Slight differences in the images translate to movement for the mouse sensor.
Sensor image processing capability depends on the sensor itself. You’ll find gaming mice to have as high as 6400+ FPS. This means that the mouse sensor captures 6400 images of the mousing surface each second. As a rule of thumb, a higher number means a better image processing capability.
Polling Rate
Polling rate is how often the mouse reports information to the computer. This is limited by the type of connection the mouse has to the computer (PS/2 or USB, we’ll deal with that later). Polling rate is often measured in Hertz. That’s how many times the mouse reports information to the computer in a second. If the box says the mouse has a polling rate of 125Hz, it means that it reports information to the computer every 8 milliseconds.
Gaming mice on average have a polling rate of 500Hz. The more expensive gaming mice have a polling rate of 1000Hz – which means the information is updated every 1ms or 1000 times every second. Of course, if your mouse is processing images in rates of 7000 FPS, and have a DPI of 3000, you need a fast polling rate to communicate the changes to the computer effectively.
DPI, FPS, and Polling Rate
DPI, FPS, and polling rate, together, are measures of how much information the sensor is recording. The more information that is gathered, the more accurately and precisely the surface can be tracked. The way accuracy and precision are calculated is by the resolution of the sensor, the number of frames the sensor captures per second and how quickly the sensor can process this information. These three attributes are the ones you should really look for in a gaming mouse. As a rule of thumb for these three combined, the higher the numbers, the better the precision of the mouse.
PS/2 or USB
This is the limitation I mentioned earlier about a mouse’s polling rate. Ultimately, it all falls down to what kind of connection the mouse has to the computer. PS/2 ports have a polling rate from 20Hz to 200Hz. USB ports on the other hand have a default polling rate of 125Hz, adjustable to 250Hz, 500Hz, and 1000Hz.
With that in mind, PS/2 mice have a maximum of only 200Hz polling rate. While USB mice can fully utilize the USB’s maximum polling rate of 1000Hz. That’s why mice with more than 200Hz polling rate come with a USB connector, only having a PS/2 adapter as an option. With the question of PS/2 or USB, clearly, go for the USB mouse for higher polling rates.
Optical or Laser
The basic difference between an optical mouse and a laser mouse is the type of emitter they use. An optical mouse uses an LED while a laser mouse uses a… well… laser. I won’t get into further detail as to how each works because that is beyond the scope of this article. Anyway, they both function similarly albeit a laser mouse has significantly increased image resolution compared to an LED mouse. What this enables the laser mouse to do is have a much more detailed image of the mousing surface. Because of this, a laser mouse will be able to reveal differences in surface finish of glossier surfaces than an optical mouse. Which means laser mice can function on almost any surface, while optical mice can’t function properly over shiny or glossy surfaces resulting in “jumpy” cursor movement.
The question of what to choose from either type definitely comes down to the user. Either one can work perfectly in the right hands. An optical mouse can function as well as a laser mouse if used on the right surfaces. Logically, you wouldn’t use a glossy paper as a mouse pad, would you?
Programmable Buttons
Most mice nowadays, even non-gaming mice, come with programmable buttons, sometimes having extra 4th or 5th buttons. The most buttons I’ve seen in a mouse total up to 9. These are more of options for you to place functions of hard-to-reach keys on the keyboard to the mouse for convenience. Software is often bundled with the mouse that enables the user to customize the function of each button, even the left, middle, and right mouse buttons.
If you need a button for every important command, or spell, or action, placed on a convenient spot on your mouse, then buy one with lots of buttons. Of course, don’t ignore the keyboard; it has a LOT of keys.
Some Things to Consider:
Sensitivity
Mouse sensitivity is the rate of movement of the mouse cursor in relation to mouse movement as translated by the software (OS or in-game). Sensitivity measures movement in divisions using its value. Moving the mouse makes the cursor move on the screen by “skipping” points as indicated by the sensitivity value. With a low sensitivity value the cursor will skip fewer points on screen. With a high sensitivity value the cursor will skip more points on screen. Having a high sensitivity in-game will make your cursor move “faster”, skipping points in the process, making you lose precision.
Acceleration
There is a setting in Windows where you can turn mouse acceleration on or off. It’s a tick box called “Enhance cursor precision” under the Motion tab in the mouse settings. When acceleration is turned on, it exponentially decreases or increases mouse cursor acceleration. There’s a movement speed threshold that the OS reads from moving the mouse. Move the mouse slower than the threshold and the cursor will move slower than the intended rate of movement. Move the mouse quicker than the threshold and the cursor will move faster than the intended rate of movement. If this is turned off, the mouse cursor will move at a steady rate regardless of mouse movement speed.
DPI + In-game Sensitivity
What’s the difference between sensitivity and mouse DPI? Basically, mouse DPI is sensor (hardware) inherent while sensitivity is software related. This means you can’t “force” a 400 DPI mouse to read a higher DPI than what it’s capable of, but you can change the software sensitivity to whatever value the software allows, in most cases, 0.1 to 100.
So how does mouse DPI relate to software sensitivity? I mentioned earlier that sensitivity is how many divisions on screen the mouse cursor will travel when moving the mouse. The lower the sensitivity, the less divisions the cursor will travel, and the more precise it is. The higher the sensitivity, the more divisions the cursor will “skip” or travel, the less precise it is. With DPI, the higher it is, the more counts it can cover in an inch of movement.
For the following examples, we’ll use a Logitech G5 for our mouse (400-2000 DPI, 6400 FPS, 1000Hz polling rate), Windows mouse sensitivity set to default (middle notch), and the game we’re playing is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Setting 1a: 400 DPI, In-game sensitivity 1
With this setting, the mouse cursor will travel 400 points in an inch with a division count of 1. But the distance traveled in an inch is too short.
Setting 1b: 2000 DPI, In-game sensitivity 1
The mouse cursor will travel farther because of 2000 DPI, while retaining the division count of 1. You’re actually moving the mouse cursor farther on the screen with the same 1 inch mousing surface distance, while not losing much of the precision.
Setting 2a: 400 DPI, In-game sensitivity 10
This means that the mouse cursor will still travel 400 points in an inch, but since our sensitivity is 10, the software will translate movement in increments of 10, not 1 – which means you’ll lose much of the precision.
Setting 2b: 2000 DPI, In-game sensitivity 10
The results are worse. The mouse cursor will travel 2000 points in an inch with increments of 10. You could do a 3600 turn in Call of Duty 4 in less than an inch of mouse movement.
How does this information apply in-game? Well imagine playing Call of Duty 4, you’re using setting 1a. Using an M16 rifle, stand at the edge of a map and aim down the sights facing the other end of the map. Look for an edge of a building to base your crosshair movement on. Try to aim at the very edge of that building. You’ll find your aiming very smooth, accurate and precise. Next use setting 1b, you’ll find that your crosshairs moves farther in an inch of movement yet your aiming remains smooth, accurate and precise. Now use setting 2a and try to aim directly at the same edge of the building you aimed at using setting 1a or 2a. You will find it harder to do since the increment is much larger than before. You’ll find your crosshair skipping pixels on the screen and aiming directly at the same edge proves more difficult. It’s likely that you’ll skip the edge altogether and end up aiming at either side of the edge, unable to put the crosshair directly at the edge, unless you move. Of course it’s going to be much more difficult with setting 2b.
There is a compromise between high DPI and low DPI. They will both have the same cursor speed although the higher DPI will have more precision. To come up with this “compromising” value, we’ll use the following formula:
[(Low DPI) x (Sensitivity for low DPI)] / High DPI = Sensitivity for high DPI
Low DPI – your low DPI preference
Sensitivity for low DPI – your sensitivity preference while using low DPI
High DPI – the new DPI you wish to try out
Sensitivity for high DPI – the sensitivity you should use while using high DPI
With this formula, you’ll notice that the high DPI setting will have a lower sensitivity value than the low DPI setting. Both sensitivities offer the same “speed” of mouse cursor movement on-screen. But the high DPI + low sensitivity setting offers a smoother and more precise movement than the low DPI + high sensitivity setting.
So, should you buy a gaming mouse?
If you are a gamer, at least a competitive gamer, and haven’t tried a gaming mouse at all in your entire life, you’ll find it a valuable addition to your arsenal. But if you’re just an average gamer, with no interest in competitive gaming at all, a common 800 DPI mouse will suit your everyday needs. And only buy a gaming mouse if you want more precision out of every mouse movement you make, or frag your friends relentlessly in Call of Duty 4.
References and further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_mouse
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/mouse.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/documentation/default.aspx
http://www.computer-engineering.org/ps2mouse/
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000832.html
http://www.overclock.net/computer-peripherals/173255-cs-s-mouse-optimization-guide.html
Also, try visiting different tech forums and blogs on the net.
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