Design
Razer's DeathAdder for Mac is, unsurprisingly, nearly identical to the standard DeathAdder, the only real difference being that the pulsing Razer logo and the scroll wheel glows white instead of blue.
It's an all-black mouse with a moulded rubber top, a high grip scroll wheel and two buttons positioned just under the thumb. Like most gaming mice, it's designed for right handers, but unlike recent mice, it uses infrared instead of laser to track. As a result, the DeathAdder doesn't track perfectly on as many surfaces as our standard Logitech G5, and we had to go in search of a mousepad to enable reliable performance. Also of concern is the weedy cable, which while functional looks and feels a little frail.
Features
Apart from the mouse itself, inside the box is a bunch of advertising, a driver CD, two Razer stickers and a manual.
While the product is aimed at Mac users, the included CD doesn't have any Mac drivers (or Windows drivers for that matter), instead pointing you towards the Razer website to download them — it's a bit silly, but it does make sure you get the latest version — just make sure you're online first.
Razer's drivers are famous for customisability, and are now available on OS X.
The software opens up a realm of configurability that as far as we're aware has not been offered to Mac users before, including separate X and Y axis sensitivity, and overall sensitivity as well. Not to mention the ability to turn acceleration on or off, customisable scroll speed and buttons, on the fly sensitivity adjustment (which can be controlled from the mouse rather than through the software), double click speed, three different USB polling rates and DPI switching up to 1,800dpi for greater accuracy. It also has the ability to turn off the logo and scroll button glow; and being able to store custom settings in five different profiles, all accessible through the driver control panel, or pressing the button found under the mouse. Unfortunately there's no visual representation on the mouse to let you know which profile is loaded, something you'll have to go back to the control panel to find out.
Performance
The DeathAdder had already established itself as a decent mouse in the PC world, and it carries this reputation over to the Mac side with flair.
While the gaming community isn't as big on the Mac, with the upcoming releases of StarCraft II and Diablo III, as well as the benefits designers and video editors can gain from a highly responsive and accurate mouse, this is one device you should check out — just make sure you pick up a decent mouse mat first.
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geoff
19/07/2008, 05:44 PM
rating
7/10
the mouse is supposed to have a "weedy" cable. Its a gaming mouse, the cable is thin so that it doesnt kink and push back on the mouse. Makes it less likely to get in the way. User experience is the difference here. Having used lots of mouse in a professional gaming scene, the razer cables are by far the best for not getting in the way.
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