What do you get when you cross a premium gaming PC brand with a top accessories manufacturer? A freaking sweet mouse, that’s what.

Like most Alienware products, the TactX mouse impresses from the outset. The fact that you can put your hand over that little alien head makes any gamer happy. I’ve been using the mouse ,along with the matching keyboard, for a month now and it hasn’t taken me long to fall in love with it.

The mouse’s appearance is one of it’s biggest selling points. Its imposing, heavy, black design with the lights (we’ll get to those later) are what made the mouse catch my eye in the first place. However for me, the its not just about appearances, the sheer feel of it in your hand communicates meticulous attention to detail, ergonomics and comfort. The mouse in fact weighs a great deal, yet it glides across any surface with ease.

The mouse also features a braided cord made from  a nylon material, as opposed to the tradition rubber,to provide better flexibility. The buttons click with an effortless responce that simultaneously provides a wonderful sense of tactile feedback. Litterally everything is easy to access and comfortable to use, making gaming with it nothing short of pleasure.

When it comes to comfort the only thing that wasn’t completely perfect was the mouse wheel’s click. A fair bit of effort is required to press the button, unlike the effortlessness of the other buttons. However this should not put you off the mouse its not a big deal and, well, at least your index finger is getting a workout.

Another feature is the accuracy. There’s a 5000 DPI laser that is able to pick up even the slightest movement with the greatest of precision. The general behavior of the mouse, as well as the functions of its various buttons, can be tweaked via the included Alienware customization software and then toggled with a press of the “Profile” button on the bottom. Meanwhile, the scroll wheel, which typically clicks via divots at regular rotational intervals (as with most mice), can be adjusted via a second button on the bottom of the mouse (“Dual Mode Scroll”) which instantaneously removes all friction from its movement. Press it again and you’re back to normal.

One of the reasons the mouse itself glides so smoothly, in spite of its considerable weight, is the large size of the Teflon pads on the bottom. These pads occupy probably 20% of the entire bottom of the mouse, and the difference is immediately obvious. It isn’t a light movement, but it doesn’t take much to get it going. For lack of a better explanation, the large Teflon pads simply provide a highly frictionless gliding experience so that you don’t tire as quickly from the use of the mouse. This is wonderful while playing your favorite FPS or doing some heavy video editing.

Above your thumb on the left you will find two buttons for standard back/forward operations within any application, though, as with everything else, they can be customized to your liking. The pressure required to activate these buttons is perfectly tuned—again, as with nearly everything else. Two more buttons on the top of the mouse below the left-click button can be used to adjust the sensitivity of the mouse on-the-fly. It’s an extremely useful addition, especially for gamers or those who will be switching between specialized applications on a regular basis.

Finally, the included software (also usable with the TactX keyboard—not reviewed here), is intuitive and flexible. You can customize the lighting of the mouse with 20 different colors, and, as with the Alienware laptops and desktops, associate certain colors with system events, such as  the receipt of an email.

Whether you’re gaming, editing photos and video, or even just surfing the ‘net, the TactX mouse is undoubtedly the best peripheral for the job. Though it comes at a premium price, there is nothing about this product which does live up to that adjective. Everything about the product is meticulously tuned—weight, movement, ergonomics, tactile feedback, appearance.

Truly, this is one versatile product. There is literally almost nothing wrong with it.

World Of Warcraft is familiar territory for Steelseries. They’ve previously released a WoW-branded mouse that featured fiftenn buttons, but here they are again with a new design to celebrate the release of World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

The Steelseries World Of Warcraft:Cataclysm mouse brings a darker look to the party to match the mood of the upcoming Cataclysm. Whereas the previous WoW mouse was silver with yellow lighting, this one has a brushed aluminium effect with bronze backlighting. If you’re not keen on the colour of the lighting it can be changed to one of 16 million colours with four levels of intensity and the option to make it pulsate.

The new WoW:Cataclysm mouse offers you fourteen programmable buttons upon which you can load your character’s essential macros, and with ten different profiles available you can have a different layout for each of your favourite characters.

The other upgrade is to the sensor, which now works at up to 5,040dpi and is fully adjustable.

Looking at the images the button positioning seems to improve on the old WoW mouse’s weak point, where some of the little buttons were akward to press accurately.

The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Gaming Mouse will be available in stores on the same day as the release of the Cataclysm expansion – December 7th – and will be priced at $99.

The Alienware TactX is a keyboard designed specifically for gamers, gamers with a lot of money. The most obvious feature the keyboard has is that it has the ability to personalize your gaming experience with the exclusive AlienFX two-zone lighting setup. You can Show off your team colors with 20 unique colors and up to 400 possible combinations. continue to read »

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