Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse

The good: Long battery life; easy to install; stylish design; innovative scrollwheel; ambidextrous.

The bad: Wordy instructions; no user manual.

The bottom line: Microsoft's new Wireless Optical Mouse is the ultimate choice for everyday mousing.

Price range: $29.99 - $40.69

Priced at a reasonable $45 and available in a variety of shimmering colors, Microsoft's updated Wireless Optical Mouse may be the ideal everyday mouse. Plus, it's cord-free, so there's no need to worry about dreaded desktop entanglements.

Though Microsoft's instructions are overly wordy, our test setup for this mouse was simple and quick, taking less than 10 minutes. The base, which is housed in a cool-looking opaque case, comes PS/2 and USB ready. It is not, however, a recharging station for the mouse, which instead boasts more than six months of estimated battery life, as compared to the average of three months for most other wireless mice, before you'll need to replace the two AAs.

The overall look of the Wireless Optical Mouse is slick and stylish. It sports a comfortable ergonomic design, with added points for being ambidextrous. Perhaps because of the latter, Microsoft sticks to a simple three-button layout, which you can configure however you desire.

The most notable feature of this mouse--and of all new Microsoft mice--is the Tilt Wheel Technology. This nifty attribute allows you to scroll through windows horizontally by simply tilting the scrollwheel to one side or the other. Another unique trait is the smooth movement of the scrollwheel, which doesn't continually click like those of other mice we've used.