Gear

Who Gives a Frag About Mousemats?

The chances are it’s the cheapest bona-fide gadget on your desk, and the chances are you don’t even need it. For many, the mouse pad is dead. To some, however, it’s a critical piece of gear, essential to success. These people would be gamers, to whom a skipped pixel can mean the difference between life […]

Picture_2The chances are it's the cheapest bona-fide gadget on your desk, and the chances are you don't even need it. For many, the mouse pad is dead.

To some, however, it's a critical piece of gear, essential to success. These people would be gamers, to whom a skipped pixel can mean the difference between life and death. Well, their character's life and death.

ExtremeTech takes an absurdly in-depth look at this most humble product, and the not-so humble prices that some are prepared to pay for a top of the range model (pictured is the $40 Razer eXactMat). And, as in anything, your choice of technology matters:

"According to some gamers, certain surfaces are more precise depending on the mouse used with them—or vice-versa. Even some experts have concluded that laser mice work better on smoother surfaces while LED mice prefer more porous, textured surfaces."

I play UT with an elderly Logitech MX500 slapped on the plain, unfinished surface of a pine desk. If nothing else, I at least have an excuse for those sub-100 PPH days.

A Glance at Mousing Surfaces [ExtremeTech]