The laser mouse is that type of mouse which uses the laser beam for tracking the hand movement of the person who is using it. Practically, the ball is replaced by the laser beam. Its advantage stands in higher accuracy in tracking the movement. Another great advantage is that laser mice are less probable to gum up or get signal distorted and even get damaged.
The “father” of the laser mouse is the optical mouse of the late 1990s. Most of the users were increasingly pleased with the new device which they claimed made their work much easier. A popular format of the optical mouse is the wireless type. This increases the mouse’s flexibility and versatility.
The need for creating a mouse appeared in the late 1980s, once the graphical interface was introduced to computers. Users felt the need to interact easier and faster with the computer, other way than by the text-based interface. It is no wonder why the mouse gained such a success. Though it is still possible to use the keyboard for commending the computer, there are very few computer users who don’t use a mouse now. Every person who used a ball mouse at some point knows how it can start to malfunction if it gets inside any kind of material just from the workspace. In this case one needed to open it and clean the roller ball, in order to get the mouse function again. By contrast, optical mice and laser mice are less likely to be affected by the interference with the working space, which made them an excellent invention.
Optical mice have a red or blue LED to detect the user’s hand movement. The laser mouse is also a sort of optical mouse, but instead of the LED, it uses a laser beam, not visible or very few visible to the eye. The first mouse to work with a laser beam was introduced to the market in 2004 by Logitech and it was called Logitech MX 1000. The laser beam of the mouse moves together with the hand and sends a signal to a system based on an optical sensor. This sensor works together with another system which detects the distance of the mouse movement throughout hundreds of images per second. It constantly updates the mouse’s position and transmits this position to the cursor on the screen.
Laser mice have a smooth and accurate move. However, they can cause lags to the cursor if the system memory bogs down. Laser mice can be used on almost any kind of surface, so you won’t need a mouse pad any more.