Hardware Microsoft BlueTrack - under the hood

The 13k sample rate of the sensor helps the mouse determine movement before that movement can ever be sent over the USB/wireless connection. So in this case, the mouse takes 26 samples to determine 1/500th of a second of movement. Makes sense to me.

Doesn't mean the mouse isn't a piece of junk.. I'm just saying that the 13k sample rate should not and can not be tied to the USB transfer rate. They are two entirely different stages of the process.

I'll lay it out in simple terms:

Step 1: Take samples at 13khz sample rate
Step 2: Determine movement from those samples by comparing ~26 samples
Step 3: Send movement to computer via USB connection (500 hz transfer rate)

That said, this article does read like a company propaganda piece.

 

really, is there any negative to increasing tracking rate? and resolution? yah the data is limited to 500hz and well the refresh rate on monitors is usually 50-60 hz and human reaction time is what? 10-12hz? so it's all kinda arbitrary, but my guess is that a faster tracking rate would = better results for the "pro's" who use a very big mouse pad and really move their mouse.


I don't doubt that a lot of it's hype and if your mouse is giving accurate tracking results on the surface you use then your set. personally my older 1st or 2nd gen optical mouse goes ballistic whenever it picks up a piece of dirt (which seems like it happens a lot) and i want to upgrade it. I don't like the angular look or feel of the sidewinder mice, so i would never get them.

but the surface i use (white resin table) gives some mice troubles and I would just like a newer mouse with more buttons and good tracking, everything else is hype

 

Oh, I see - it doesn't really exist!

(The word "really" is there as a sop to pedantic people who will undoubtedly now explain that actually, what we see in CSI etc. is completely true, since in episode 123 they did actually show the CSI team spray with Luminol before using an ALS. Whatever - it's still nothing like what really goes on in a police department who's annual budget is less than one hour of CSI...)

 

you just said 'it doesn't exist, except it does.'

circular, self-contradictory statements FTL.

 

this new technology phrase seems a bit of a stretch to me, but as always feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...
1. Replace red LED with Bloooo1 = increased contrast...
2. Replace standard optics with more precision crafted optics = increased resolution
3. er... Nooo Name! ...
4. Profit...

Unless the price tag is easy to swallow this is heading right off the edge of diminishing returns, targeted right at the uberleet* kiddies...


You know who you are "

"no fair I shoulda won that but [insert below standard excuse] was throwing me off!!!1"

Mouse input lag
Monitor Lag
Keyboard Lag
Pings were in the teens
sun was shining on the screen
dead pixel
mouse mat too shiny
Mouse mat too rough
background tasks eating my cpus
I forgot to turn all my grafix to min to get moar frames
there was a power spike in my grid causing a temporary reversal in 10% of the electron spin in my graphics subsystem...

too far... yes... I need coffee . and its time for my bitter anti-cynic pill

 

Yeah right.....Plain nonsense!!!

Does MS really think other laser mice would be made with high precision sensors but with "oops we forgot to focus"? I can remember the pictures in the news when the laser mice came, claiming and showing very sharp pictures. This MS marketing is just "we are soo better than the rest". Someone should really check out the difference, if any.

 

Unless you have a blue mousemat... then it will probably decrease contrast.

But blue sells.

There is an argument that shorter wavelengths (blue is shorter than red) can yield a higher resolution image.. but seriously... we're not trying to resolve the individual atoms that make up the desk it's sat upon.. this is just crazy. It's all marketing hype. I could argue, with good reason, that blue light is FAR more prone to scatter than red light, and hence harder to resolve.

And as for these "special" optics... LOL... It will be a plastic, single element lens like every other mouse.

This is why I still maintain that laser light is superior in applications like this, as a single wavelength source can be more precisely focused. With a wideband light source such as a LED, each discreet wavelength will yield a separate focal length, resulting in aberrations. It's for this reason that camera optics use multi-element lenses using many different types of glass with individual refractive indexes, so different wavelengths can be brought to a single focal point (or closer to one). With a single wavelength source... you get rid of these problems totally, and even a cheap lens will resolve an image to a single point.

Special optics my arse!


Just get a G5 and spend the rest on crisps or something.... or a decent mouse mat.