Skip to main content

The Microsoft Classic Intellimouse could be your next office mouse

Ladies and gentlemen, one of the great ones is back. The original Microsoft Intellimouse was released way back in 1996 and was one of the first mice to feature additions like a scroll wheel. Subsequent versions helped popularize features like optical sensors and side buttons.

Drawing inspiration from its predecessors, the Microsoft Classic Intellimouse is a new generation of ergonomic mouse that has a refined, understated look and reasonable specifications. It’s evolved from the previous versions and features modern additions like a little bit of lighting and upgraded sensitivity.

The Microsoft Classic Intellimouse features a grey shell with some black accenting and has a large main body panel that tapers into two separate buttons for left and right clicks. It has five buttons in total, three of which are customizable — though that feature is said to not be available to those running Windows 10 S. Its ergonomic shell should cater more to palm and finger grippers than claw-style grips.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The sensor is an optical one, though it’s been bumped up to 3,200 dots per inch (DPI). That’s not adjustable, however, so don’t expect to drop into “sniper mode” in your next game with this rodent at your fingertips. (Have you considered a real gaming mouse?) It does support a polling rate of 1,000Hz though, so this should be quite a responsive mouse. It also features Microsoft’s BlueTrack technology, meaning it can work flawlessly on glass mousemats and surfaces.

The overall design of the mouse is quite understated, with no dash of color or flair beyond the smooth layout of the black and grey paint job. Microsoft has included a little lighting at the rear, however. Called a “tail light,” it’s not customizable and is merely a little white accent for the overall design.

This is a wired mouse, so there are no batteries or docks to worry about; it connects to your system over a USB 2.0 cable.

The Microsoft Intellimouse Classic is now available on the Microsoft store with a list price of $40 plus shipping. If you’re an active student or member of staff at a university or faculty though, you can secure a small discount to get one of these new Intellimouse mice for $36 instead.

Editors' Recommendations

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
Your next MacBook Air could be even faster than expected
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 laptop propped up at an angle on a desk.

Apple’s upcoming 15-inch MacBook Air could be launching sooner than expected, which is encouraging for anyone who has been waiting for this much-rumored device. But the good news doesn’t end there, as it could also get a sizeable chip upgrade that would leave rival devices in the dust.

For months, it had been suggested that Apple was working on a new 15-inch version of the MacBook Air that was going to be released at a spring event. However, now that Apple has announced it will host its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) -- but not a spring event -- it seems that the latter isn’t happening. That suggests the 15-inch MacBook Air will have to wait until WWDC before seeing the light of day.

Read more
Microsoft will launch ChatGPT 4 with AI videos next week
ChatGPT AI bot running a phone.

ChatGPT has been inescapable in recent months, and it looks like Microsoft is about to upgrade the AI tool with an update that could thrust it into the spotlight once again. That’s because the company is set to launch GPT-4 as early as next week, and it will potentially let you create AI-generated videos from simple text prompts.

The news was revealed by Andreas Braun, Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft Germany, at a recent event titled “AI in Focus -- Digital Kickoff” (via Heise). According to Braun, “We will introduce GPT-4 next week … we will have multimodal models that will offer completely different possibilities -- for example videos.”

Read more
Your next MacBook Pro could be even faster than expected
The MacBook Pro on a wooden table.

If you thought Apple’s existing Mac chips were impressive, wait until you see what’s coming next. According to a new report from DigiTimes (via Wccftech), the next generation will be better than anything Apple offers at the moment -- much, much better.

That’s great news for Mac enthusiasts. Right now, Apple’s M-series chips are made by TSMC using a 5-nanometer process. They’re widely expected to shift to a smaller 3nm process soon, and according to DigiTimes, TSMC’s testing shows its 3nm process is surpassing even its own expectations.

Read more