What is the gain of laser mouse over infrared mouse if you don’t play PC games?

[O-Harshini]

I just want to know that what is the difference between a laser mouse and an infrared mouse when you don’t use it while playing games. Or in other words what gain does laser mouse have over the infrared one. I know that when laser mouse first come out there was some problem with certain surface. And I think Logitech immediately fixed that problem. So what is the difference between them? If anyone has used both of them then please do reply to this query as I am waiting for your solutions.

[Crespin]

I went through the query that you have posted and I feel that there are few differences between laser mouse and infrared mouse. I feel that the laser mouse does have some advantage over the infrared one where the laser mouse has a better tracking which is very important while dealing with multi-monitor resolutions. Also the other advantage is that it has a less lag as compared to the infrared mouse. So clearly the laser mouse has some lead over the infrared one.

[Kickapoo]

As far as I know even for gaming there are people who prefer infrared mouse. This is because it’s actually a question about how good the sensor is and not really about what technology it uses. If you are using it for normal usage then it doesn’t really matter what kind of technology your mouse is using but at the same time it’s very needless to have a good sensor. If you play games a lot then you just need a mouse with an accurate and precise sensor which you do find on both the mouse.

[Odalis]

I feel that there are better tracking issue can go in either ways. But this actually is dependent on the specific sensors in question and surface on which you are keeping the mouse. According to me you just can’t conclude that the laser sensors are better than optical sensors because they are new and all the latest gaming mouse use laser sensors. So I feel that there is not really much of a difference between them.

[Abenaki]

I would like to speak on the lag issue. I feel that the lag is determined on basis of report rate. So if there are two mice that are running at 500Hz then they won’t be having much of a difference between them. Also I doubt that many people lift the mouse much in normal desktop use. So in case if you pick the right mouse pad for the laser sensors then there is not a huge drawback to it. So in general both are at same level even though you are not playing the games.

[Huron]

According to my knowledge the reason why people go for optical mouse rather than going for laser mouse is that the optical mouse posses a redefined technology wherein they can track everything even during immense acceleration. This makes a huge point in favor of optical mouse. But if you compare it with the laser mouse they can’t do it as good as the optical mouse. Sometimes the laser mouse just moves all over the screen and won’t track anything correctly. But currently I don’t know about have they fixed it or not.