![]() ![]() (This feature is optional and can be disabled by the user). SmoothCursor will display a system notification every time a different profile is activated using Growl or Mountain Lion's (10.8) Notification Center. ![]() SmoothCursor is a status bar application that provides separate controls for customizing the mouse and trackpad accelerations - It is the perfect tool to use in combination with drawing applications and FPS games. The application offers good value in an attractive package for anyone who needs to customize and save multiple mouse and trackpad accelerations.Įditors' note: This is a review of the trial version of SmoothCursor for Mac 2.1.4. SmoothCursor for Mac makes customizing mouse and trackpad controls quick and intuitive. We tested this app using Apple's Magic Mouse and trackpad on our MacBook Air and were really satisfied with smooth, trouble-free performance. We especially liked the Global Hot Keys option, which let us alternate between two previously set profiles using the assigned key combination. The app has several advanced settings, which add to its overall functionality. Any options you set will be associated with that particular profile and you may recall it at any time by selecting it from the menu. Once added, the profile name appears in the drop-down menu in the application window. To create a custom profile, you just click the plus icon and enter a profile name. There is also an option to add and delete profiles, which is especially handy if you share your Mac with others. A click on this icon brings up a well-designed interface where you can easily switch the application on and off and alter your mouse and trackpad acceleration using sliders to your preference from inverse to normal ranges. You can access SmoothCursor for Mac easily via an icon in your Menu Bar. This app is free to try, but it will shut down after 20 minutes without saving your settings unless you pay. The main problem of mouse movement in Mac OS X is not acceleration - it’s lag.SmoothCursor for Mac allows you to easily customize mouse and trackpad acceleration settings from the OS X Menu Bar. * * * SmoothMouse, the long-awaited fix for mouse problems in OS X, has been released.įurther discussion about mouse lag continues on the SmoothMouse Forum.īy that I mean a delay between receiving movement data from the mouse device and rendering the on-screen cursor. The lag of a Mac OS X cursor is at least twice bigger than Windows’ cursor and yes, a human eye can surely notice that. I mentioned acceleration because a lot of people often confuse it with lag. The truth is, in Mac OS X you can change acceleration to whatever you want using many programs and techniques. In ControllerMate, for instance, you can manually draw your own acceleration curve.īut it’s all pretty much useless as long as mouse movement is literally retarded, because it takes a lot of time for your brain to get used to it. The problem I’m talking about affects all mouse and touchpads since at least Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. It still exists in Snow Leopard and Lion. ![]() The problem is caused by a bug somewhere at the windowserver level of Mac OS X, and not by a mouse driver. You can supposedly avoid the issue by disabling QuartzExtreme. The problem is as well closely related to the cursor jumping issue that has alone been fixed in Lion thanks to all our bug reports. ![]() The problem has been confirmed by an Apple engineer. I’ve also heard that they are supposedly working on a solution. Yes, Mac OS X (any version) is less suited for gaming and design.Lag gives “floating” feeling which is often confused with acceleration.No, you can’t do anything about it other than switch to Windows or Linux.ģ2ms… that sounds like the time taken to display two screen frames at 60 Hz.Observation: when I quickly select text using the mouse, there is no lag between the mouse cursor and the selection of text. I’m assuming Mac OS X uses double buffering for graphics. Here’s what I think is happening in the worst case:ġ. You move the mouse just after this is done. A new frame is drawn onto the back buffer, with the new mouse position. After the next vsync, the back buffer is drawn. If the assumption is correct, this leads to the following conclusions:ġ. The mouse itself does not lag, but merely the graphical representation of it.Ģ. Your statement “Yes, Mac OS X is less suited for gaming and design.” is false. Regarding Windows: I suspect Windows uses a different, ancient technique to draw the mouse cursor: sprites.Īll games and design apps use double buffering (or in some cases, triple buffering), otherwise incomplete frames would be shown. With active sprites, the GPU draws them on top of the displayed frame without having to manually draw them into the back buffer. If this is true, selecting text (like the observation above) will result in the selection lagging after the mouse cursor. ![]()
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