Repairing and Upgrading Your PC

Mice and Trackballs

Mice and trackballs are members of a class generically described as pointing devices. All pointing devices have the same purpose—allowing you to move the cursor (or pointer) around the screen and to click to select items or perform other functions. A great variety of fiendishly clever pointing devices are built into notebook computers, but nearly all desktop systems use mice. Those few that don't use a trackball, which is essentially a mouse turned on its back.

All modern mice and trackballs are optical, which provides better precision than earlier mechanical models and eliminates the need for cleaning. Don't even consider buying a mechanical mouse or trackball, no matter how little it costs.

Choosing a mouse or trackball

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