If you happen to have a laptop with built-in Bluetooth, and a short supply of USB ports, Microsoft's latest portable mouse might be just what you need. Aside from the aforementioned Bluetooth, it has the solid feel and design typical of Microsoft's last few generations of mice, including that translucent plastic scroll wheel. However, this model's wheel doesn't do that fancy horizontal scroll stuff, just the straight up (and down) vertical scrolling. Also a nice touch is Microsoft's 1000 DPI "High Definition Laser Technology," to make your mousing (at least potentially) more precise.

Someone at Redmond's advertising and packaging department seems to be confused about this little mouse, though, because emblazoned not once, but twice, on the front of the package is the rather declarative statement: "Exclusively for Bluetooth Notebook PCs." Now, I know they're trying to keep you from buying this mouse if your computer doesn't have Bluetooth, but lest you be averse to picking one of these things up for your non-bootcamped Macbook, you should know it also works under OSX. It's black on-light silver color scheme even looks good next to thy typical white Mac. And, small as this mouse it, it also wouldn't be bad as a desktop mouse. Microsoft should be a little bit more careful with their use of the word "exclusive," unless they're trying to scare away potential customers.

Setting up and pairing the mouse with my Macbook was as simple could be. Insert the (included) AAA's, Turn on a tiny switch in the bottom of the mouse, hold down a similarly tiny button for a few seconds until the top battery indicator light flashes red and green, then search for the device through your computer's Bluetooth. he mouse even uses a blank keychain by default, so you won't have to enter any digits when you connect it. If pairing my Bluetooth headphones with my phone were this easy, I might actually use them more often.

The only potential nuisance I see with this mouse is the tiny on/off switch on the bottom of the mouse. The Startup guide reminds you to turn this off when you're not using it, to conserve battery power. Now, that's nice and all, but in the real world, most people tend to forget those types of things. It would be nice if Microsoft included some type of auto power-down for the 5000, so that closing your laptop, for instance, would turn off the mouse for you. After a couple times forgetting to flip that tiny switch when you're done mousing, the purported three month battery life is likely to be closer to three weeks.

But if you're good at remembering to turn things off, and are in the market for a nice compact Bluetooth mouse, you certainly could do worse than this model. It doesn't quite bring the style of Logitech's VX Nano, but then again the Nano will occupy one of those ever-occupied USB ports. The Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000 is available now for a suggested retail price of $49.95.

Post my Matt Safford