Comments on: Mac Mini Media Centre – Remote Controls

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:07:01 +0000

Cheers Lewis. Some nice recommendations. I've used a Gyration mouse before. Very slick and more accurate than Air Mouse described above but it does only cost £1.19 assuming you've got an iphone or iPod touch.

By: lewiswlawrence

lewiswlawrence — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:18:20 +0000

Ian, as a long term Media Center user I feel that the best options for Media center keyboards/mice are trackball keyboards, sometimes called “presenter Keyboards”. I used to own a nice one by Auravision, a very well styled product. Neat/small sized full keyboard with a number of media buttons and most importantly a thumb trackball on the top right corner, and two mouse buttons on the top left. So you had to work the mouse using two thumbs. Not sure if you get one that is Mac compatible, but if you do they are a great choice, as there is only once device and one USB receiver for it and they are not too big or ugly to have lying around the living room.
Another nice and much more expensive option is a Gyration air mouse and keyboard, the mice contain a gyroscope and work as you move them around in the air. You get a keyboard and mouse off one receiver with this option as well, and the mouse is much less fiddly to use as it is one handed, and also works as a regular mouse if you put it on a flat surface. I use one at work often enough and they are nice, but not nice enough for me to justify shelling out on one myself.

By: luna25

luna25 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:03:31 +0000

Yes, years ago I used a Trackman Marble (same as the Tracman Wheel now) which is only available in wired version and thus not so suitable for a Media Center. With that one the ball was operated by your thummb and I actually preferred it to a mouse and used it for many years.
I can imagine operating the ball with your index finger must be awkward, maybe even impossible to navigate properly.
But I won't know untill I actually tried one out.
But like you say, a mouse on a couch isn't all that either.
Logitech has an MX Air mouse too, something you move the cursor with.
Now idea how natural that will feel, but if it works it might be a nice option.

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:04:41 +0000

What a good idea. I tried using one a few years ago and just couldn't get used to it. I found it very awkward but as you say it makes a lot of sense on a couch where the surface isn't the best for a mouse.

By: luna25

luna25 — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:39:20 +0000

Ian, what about a Cordless Optical Trackman from Logitech as a mouse?
I saw it has OSX drivers too. You can place it on the couch and just roll the ball.
It's been quite a few years since I used a trackball and the one I used had the ball on the thumb.
The new ones seem to have the ball operated by the index finger I guess, no idea if it's handy or not.