Best Mouse For Designers 2015

The best Mac mouse of 2020

Which is the best mouse for a Mac? We recommend the finest Apple-friendly rodents for features, design and value for money

1 Logitech MX Master 3
2 Magic Mouse 2
3 Satechi M1 Bluetooth Wireless Mouse
4 Logitech MX Anywhere 2S
5 Magic Trackpad 2
6 Penclic R3

If you're looking for a new mouse for a Mac or MacBook, you've got plenty of options beyond Apple's Magic Mouse (although we do have a soft spot for Apple's peripheral despite the silly charging port on its base).

These days most mice will work on either Mac or PC, so you've got access to just about the entire PC mouse market, from wired to wireless, trackpads to trackballs, and even over-the-top dedicated gaming mice.

A lot of people prefer using a mouse to their laptop's trackpad. A mouse makes things much easier, especially when working on a MacBook.

Beware of the cheapest wireless mice out there. Many require a nano receiver to plug into a USB port on the computer, and newer MacBooks have just one or two USB-C ports, rather than the required old-school USB-A. Ideally, you'll want a Bluetooth-compatible mouse to connect to a MacBook.

But what if you're looking for something special to enhance your Mac browsing experience? We've rounded up a few of our favourite mice below, from Apple and beyond, so take a look.

If you're trying to get the hang of your Apple-friendly mouse, incidentally, you may want to know how to right-click on a Mac.

Logitech MX Master 3 - Best Overall

Logitech MX Master 3

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Logitech's successor to its bestselling MX Master 2S is gorgeous. The MX Master 3 is comfortable and the curves fit perfectly against your hand.

The included Darkfield laser sensor offers fantastic tracking capabilities and will work on almost any surface - including high-gloss and glass - without the need for a mousemat.

The key improvement over the 2S is the machined steel scroll wheel, which now features an electromagnetic mechanism that all but removes resistance from the scroll (and doesn't make a peep). It's actually fast enough to scroll through 1,000 lines of code in a second.

The MX Master 3 can work using 2.4GHz wireless (via an included USB dongle), Bluetooth or a wired USB-C connection.

It features Logitech Flow, letting you move your mouse between displays - even between computers running different operating systems. Copying and pasting files and working across a multi-computer setup is a breeze.

Battery life is an important feature to consider when buying a wireless mouse, but the 3 has that covered too. A single minute of charge will get you three hours of use, and once fully charged, it lasts an incredible 70 days.

Magic Mouse 2 - Best Apple Mouse

Apple Magic Mouse 2

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Buy one of Apple's new iMacs and you'll be given the option of the updated Magic Mouse 2, the latest take on Apple's wireless mouse design.

It's a design that's divided opinion: many find that flat, sleek, symmetrical body shape too insubstantial to be comfortable in the hand, and this can, in turn, make activating its gestures tricky. But plenty of others enjoy the Magic Mouse, and peripherals are after all a thoroughly personal matter. Try it before you buy it, we'd say.

It has one glaring design error, unfortunately - to charge it you need to turn it upside down to connect the Lightning cable, thus rendering it useless while it powers up!

The mouse is also available to buy in sexy Space Grey - previously exclusive to the iMac Pro - but that brings with it a higher price. You can buy something similar for a lot less money if you consider Satechi's M1 Wireless Mouse.

Read our full Apple Magic Mouse 2 review

Satechi M1 Bluetooth Wireless Mouse - Best Cheap Wireless Mouse

Satechi M1 Wireless Mouse

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Satechi's USB-C aluminium M1 Bluetooth Wireless Mouse comes with an old-fashioned scroll wheel, which the company claims will offer faster and more accurate scrolling and tracking.

The cursor fairly flies around the screen as I move the M1 - much faster than my Apple mouse, and almost disconcertingly at first. It feels like it floats across my desk, and allows for more accurate scrolling than Apple's.

As it can also be a Windows mouse, it has a right button - handy for the extra controls that you'd usually need to press Ctrl to access using Apple's one-button device.

The M1 mouse has a pleasingly curved ergonomic design, making it fine for both left- and right-handed users. Its aluminium body is available in silver, something similar to Apple's Space Grey, Gold and Rose Gold colours so can attractively match your Mac or MacBook.

There are no removable batteries, so you recharge via USB-C (cable included), which is better placed than the Magic Mouse 2's frustrating equivalent. Satechi's use of USB-C rather than a Lightning cable is also a more modern move.

It uses Bluetooth 4.0 so has a range of 32 feet.

Logitech MX Anywhere 2S - Best Portable Wireless Mouse

Logitech MX Anywhere 2S

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Logitech's updated take on its portable mouse features a few hardware and software tweaks that make it one of the best wireless mice on the market.

It features a Darkfield sensor with up to 4,000 DPI that works on just about any surface you try, and Logitech boasts that the batteries will last about 70 days.

The slim design boasts five buttons, including a scroll wheel that can swap between smooth and clicky scrolling, and it's available in three different colours.

All of that would be impressive enough, but we haven't even mentioned Flow, the new software innovation that allows the MX Anywhere 2S to connect to up to three devices at once and seamlessly move the cursor from one device to another, just as if they were multiple monitors for one computer.

It even works across both macOS and Windows, and it lets you copy and paste from one device to another.

Magic Trackpad 2 - Best Trackpad

Apple Magic Trackpad 2

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The second in Apple's raft of 'Magic' peripherals, the Magic Trackpad 2 brings Force Touch to desktop Macs for the first time. It comes at a cost, mind you.

The design is beautiful, with the whisper-smooth white matt top surface a particular highlight, and the ability to use harder Force Clicks to activate application-specific special commands, while a little confusing at first, is lots of fun and occasionally genuinely useful. This will only get more useful as more software companies develop for it.

Like the Magic Mouse 2, the Bluetooth trackpad has a rechargeable battery that's charged via a (bundled) Lightning cable, and pairs with a Mac automatically the instant you plug it in. Assuming the Mac is running El Capitan or later, that is.

Read our full Apple Magic Trackpad 2 review

Penclic R3 - Best for avoiding RSI

Penclic R3

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Here's one for anyone fed up with mice that look like, well, mice - or, more importantly, anyone worried about repetitive strain injury (RSI).

Penclic claims the R3 helps stave off RSI by allowing your wrist to rest at a more natural, comfortable position on the desk, rather than hunched up into a claw. The base operates essentially like a normal mouse, which you move across the desk, but you hold the stem much like you would a pen.

We haven't developed RSI yet, but that probably doesn't tell you much. What we can say is that after a tricky adjustment period of a couple of days we learned to use the R3 just as quickly as any other mouse and found it impressively comfortable to use.

It's powered by a single AAA battery and comes with a rechargeable one included, topped up via Micro-USB.

The R3 comes with three buttons and a scroll wheel, but if you want something with more functionality the R2 is essentially the same but comes packed with five buttons.

This connects to your Mac wirelessly through an included USB dongle, but if you prefer there are also versions that connect by Bluetooth or wired. MacBook users will need Bluetooth, remember.

Author: Lewis Painter, Senior Staff Writer

Lewis Painter

Having covered Apple for five years, Lewis reviews the latest hardware and provides helpful buying advice. His focus is on iPhone, but he also dabbles with Apple Watch, Apple TV, iPad and AirPods.