For years I used standard mice without paying much attention to them. Then I found a 5 button mouse, and it was delightful for web browsing. It broke and for a couple years i had to conform to standard until I could afford better devices.

Right now I use a Logitech Marble Mouse (a trackball actually), and a VX Revolution (10 button cordless laser mouse) by Logitech as well, and both are fully customizable. I too wish there were more and better trackballs in the market. As of now, Logitech has discontinued the popular Marble Mouse, probably the only affordable one left.

It wasn’t too easy to hand down US$45 for a mouse right after spending $20 on the trackball, but it’s worth it. The more buttons on a mouse, the less you have to move it to reach buttons on screen or recurr to keyboard shortcuts.

For whatever it’s worth, the functions I have on the mouse are: back, forward, copy, paste, show desktop, switch application, and play/pause.

Another reason to consider is ergonomy. I use both devices simultaneously, so whenever I feel fatigued with one, I switch.

I’ve also been craving a small wireless keyboard with an integrated trackball, it’s $90. Since I have a laptop, it’s probably wise to have a second keyboard for heavy use, and not wear down the integrated one.

As a bottomline, I’d say: never go cheapest, treat yourself.

[…] I believe that if you are going to be using something a lot, then it’s probably a good idea to invest a little bit of money into it. For example, I spend most of the hours in my day typing on a keyboard and using a mouse. I go to work, and I type and mouse around for about 8 hours. Then I go back home only to type and mouse around some more. […]

I’d say the IBM model M was is and will always be the best keyboard a guy can get.

For me, there are two important questions on a keyboard. Where is the \ key, and how good is the tactile feedback.

I hate clunky keys that drag down my typing speed, and I really hate it when I can’t tell if I’ve pushed the key or not w/out looking. And of course, the \ key being in the lower right ALWAYS slows me down and throws me off.

So, I generally go with a fairly inexpensive keyboard. I do have a Belkin split keyboard that works pretty well at home, but frankly not as well as the straight keyboard I have at work.

As for mice – I hate em. I use a trackball. My favorite is the Logitech Trackman Marble FX. I have one at home, I’ve had it for over something like 8 years now.

Sadly, they no longer make them, and they go for over a hundred dollars on ebay. So at work I have a Microsoft Cordless Optical Trackman. I do like having the extra keys, I have them mapped to various handy x-windows functions. But I’d trade it for the logitech in a heartbeat.

I don’t get why people don’t make good trackballs anymore. Granted, it’s probably not as great for most gaming, but when you like to know where your mouse is at all times and make rapid precise movements it’s really nice.

Ah, ok. I don’t particularly like them either but they do save space. :)

heh, I meant the feature is small in scope. The tiny Dell keyboards… eurgh. :)

Actually some of te Dell keyboards are even smaller. Some of their keyboards basically have no extra space above and below the keys. So there is no landing strip below the space, or that huge space above the function keys.

Nah, I’m not talking about the OLED keyboard. The OLED keyboard is cool, but a real keyboard lover isn’t going to get much use out of it since they rarely look at the keys.

I’m talking about the HP netserver keyboard. The LED for numlock is actually on the numlock key, scroll lock LED on scroll lock and same with caps. It’s a small thing, but I like it. In the link you can see a small dot on the scroll lock and another small dot on the shelf of the caps lock keys.

I’d like to try a natural, but I’m not sure I’d like it permanently, since I often type one-handed, whether out of need or laziness.

@jambarama – the daskeyboard is awesome, but the price is a bit steep for a coat of black paint over the IBM Model M. Then again if you look at their website they talk about gold plated key switches and etc… So I guess the price might be justified.

I hate touchpads and those little laptop nubs. I probably despise the nubs more than the pads, but both are horrible. I usually carry a small MS mouse in my laptop bag. If it seems like I will be using the machine for longer than 15-20 minutes I take it out. Otherwise it’s just a pain.

@vacri – do you mean that keyboard that has keys that light up with different symbols and etc? That one is pretty awesome as well.

I use a split keyboard (the ms 4000) and could never go back to a normal one for my own personal work, so I got one for each desktop I spend time with. Mice are less of an issue for me though, a decent, accurate laser one is about all I ever use although I’m forever contemplating shelling out for a ‘pro’ one…