Techquickie: Optical vs Laser Gaming Mice as Wrong As Possible

[Toby]

Okay, not as wrong as possible, but still pretty wrong.

Everything up to the laser section is pretty much correct, but it seems pretty weird to state the DPI limits of non-gaming mice considering anyone that cares enough to ask the optical vs laser question is probably in the market for a gaming mouse, of which only Zowie mice are capable of less than 3500DPI (they have a limit of 2300).

1:06 is where things start to fall apart. Lets go through this line by line...

They are also more accurate.

Laser mice, or rather laser sensors, are less accurate. As of the time of writing this, every laser sensor on the market comes with a degree of inherent mouse acceleration, including the A9500 and A9800 sensors found in all current Corsair, Steelseries, Roccat and Mionix laser mice...This acceleration can not be disabled and is not the same mouse acceleration you can switch on and off in the software or control panel.

Meanwhile, every optical mouse I'm aware of on the market* is using the A3090 sensor, which is entirely free of acceleration. In terms of accuracy, optical mice win.

They are able to achieve DPIs up to - as of the time of filming this - 8200, which is significantly more than any optical mouse on the market.

Assuming this is a separate statement and not trying to explain how laser mice are supposedly more accurate, then this is pretty much correct.

And are generally regarded by gamers to be "more precise"

Which gamers? Misled gamers? Keeping in mind the difference between accuracy and precision, optical and laser mice are equally precise. If you're using "precise" to mean "accurate" (as many do), then this might be correct, but they are wrong. Pro gamers tend to prefer optical mice because they're aware of their increased accuracy. The exceptions are often due to being sponsored by some peripheral manufacturer and thus obliged to use a certain mouse (and on the subject of pro gamers, they don't tend to use astronomical DPI either).

Source #1

Source #2

* Specifically, I'm referring to these mice...

Razer Deathadder 3.5G/Black Edition/4G

Razer Krait 4G

Razer Abyssus

Logitech G400

Logitech G400S

CM Storm Recon

CM Storm Spawn

Zowie EC1/EC2 Evo

Zowie AM

Zowie FK

Roccat Savu

Puretrak Valor

MadCatz R.A.T. 3 Optical

[WindyDays]

That is an interesting idea, but I have no idea how true it is. Your information MAY be outdated as the first source is considerably dated and technologies may have changed by then. I simply skimmed through the relevant topic in the first article and didn't bother with the second since it was so long, so I am NOT presenting any sort of argument. I did, however, bookmark them for reading later.

The main thing I wanted to point out is that perhaps this is in the wrong section? As a response to a Linus video, I think that this thread should be in the Linus' videos section.

[Toby]

That is an interesting idea, but I have no idea how true it is. Your information MAY be outdated as the first source is considerably dated and technologies may have changed by then. I simply skimmed through the relevant topic in the first article and didn't bother with the second since it was so long, so I am NOT presenting any sort of argument. I did, however, bookmark them for reading later.

The main thing I wanted to point out is that perhaps this is in the wrong section? As a response to a Linus video, I think that this thread should be in the Linus' videos section.

This information still holds true. The only exception is the Phillips Twin-Eye and Razer 4G sensors, which come with their own issues (and are arguably still optical sensors).

I tried to make this in the Linus' videos forum, but regular users can't seem to create threads there.

[WindyDays]

That is an interesting idea, but I have no idea how true it is. Your information MAY be outdated as the first source is considerably dated and technologies may have changed by then. I simply skimmed through the relevant topic in the first article and didn't bother with the second since it was so long, so I am NOT presenting any sort of argument. I did, however, bookmark them for reading later.

The main thing I wanted to point out is that perhaps this is in the wrong section? As a response to a Linus video, I think that this thread should be in the Linus' videos section.

Oh ok then... never realised all those posts were by Linus, sorry about that. Interested in hearing others' opinions.

[Scia]

Just bought a G400s, my Sensei seems to jump from time to time [ofc only when I do care, like in the middle of a teamfight in dota] and the right click is lose. If I even look at it, it activated [1 yr old].

And since I really loved my MX510 back then, and I recently turned off my accel and found it to be a much more pleasing experience especially in FPS [uT3 FTW], I decided to go back to optical :D