Ship Date: Now

Although we've mentioned Microsoft's Intellimouse before, we've not yet delved deeply into the technology behind this innovative product.

With the new Intellimouse Explorer (and it's sibling the Intellimouse Pro), Microsoft set out to deliver the highest level of control to those that need it most: gamers and professional designers, by exploring a new approach to tracking the mouse's movement. Enter the IntelliEye, a small optical sensor, which replaces the mouse ball found in conventional mice.

The IntelliEye sensor is coupled with a powerful RISC processor that delivers up to 18 MIPS of raw processing power, which is pretty impressive for a mouse. This combination allows the Intellimouse to provide unequaled accuracy by delivering up to 1,500 "scans" per second, which is about twelve times what a conventional mouse offers. If that's not enough, at an impressive 1200 dpi, the Intellimouse Explorer is also far more sensitive than any conventional mouse on the market today, with the exception of the rescently reviewed Razor Boomslang 2000 from kärna which holds the crown at 2000 dpi.

Old mouse

IntelliEye mouse

Often times a product is hyped to be something it's not, luckily though, this isn't one of those times!

The Intellimouse Explorer actually offers a very noticeable improvement over a standard mouse. Hooked up to your USB port, it delivers unequaled accuracy and precision. The difference between the Intellimouse Explorer and a normal mouse is night and day. Once you've gotten accustomed to the increased resolution and sensitivity the Intellimouse Explorer offers, it's actually painful to go back to useing a non-optical mouse.