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If
you spend most of your time using a word processor, then this review
isn’t really important for you, so go ahead and click on some
other item in the nav bar up top. And those of you who still use
a mouse with a ball in it, you go ahead with them. Now, we should
have left users who have an optical mouse and actually use it for
some important stuff, like gaming. Oh, yeah, and developers too.
So for you folks, this is important stuff.
If
you have never used a “premium” mousing surface such
as the Ratpadz then you are really missing out. The “pads”
you can buy in the big retail chains, even the ‘special’
ones for optical mice, are just so much crap. Really. Until I got
the Ratpadz GS I used one of those, and the difference is like night
and day.
Now,
you may be asking why you need a mousepad when the mouse manufacturers
all say that the optical mice will work on any surface. Why should
I spend money on a mouse pad when my desk works just fine? These
questions will be answered as you read on, but let us first address
some general mousing issues.
There
are two functions of the interaction of the optical mouse and your
mousing surface that are important: tracking and friction. Tracking
refers to how accurately the optical sensor can track across the
surface. I am sure some people have realized that optical mice track
with different levels of accuracy on different surfaces. This is
due to the mechanics of how the optical sensors work, which we will
not get into here. The other interaction is friction, or lack of
it. The less friction your surface generates on the mouse, the easier
it is to move it around and use. The Ratpadz GS addresses both of
these issues.
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There are several things that make the Ratpadz GS different. For starters
it is a hard mouse pad made out of a high-tech polymer that is very
difficult to break or warp. The UltraSlick ™ surface is just
that, ultra slick and tough. There are also 9 polyurethane feet, that
are countersunk into the base, that keep the Ratpadz GS from moving,
even during the most furious of sessions in UT2003. To ensure the
rigidity and stability of the pad, the base is ribbed, which makes
for a solid construction, light weight, and low profile, only ¼”!
Finally, there is the actual mousing area: 11.5” x 9.3”,
which is huge! Great for when you are really getting into the game.
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