An Attractive Mouse Alternative
The Orbit Trackball offers a stylish, less-expensive alternative to Kensington's popular Turbo Mouse (see Reviews, February 1997). Instead of employing the typical rectangular shape of most trackballs, the Orbit's contoured case is flared at the top and narrow at the bottom and fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. The Orbit is less bulky than the Turbo Mouse, with a lower profile and a footprint that isn't much larger than most mice.
The Orbit is designed to be operated with your middle three fingers, which Kensington claims is easier than using your thumb. The ball itself is smaller than the one on the Turbo Mouse. The Orbit's two large, curved buttons are positioned within easy reach of your thumb and pinkie. Both buttons provide an ideal amount of resistance, plus audible and tactile feedback.
The Orbit's symmetrical design makes it suitable for right-handed users and southpaws alike, a boon if you share your Mac. Like its larger sibling, the Orbit ships with version 5.02 of Kensington's MouseWorks utility, which lets you customize cursor response and program the trackball's two buttons. In addition to the button shortcuts provided by earlier releases, the new version sports a feature called Instant Menu that displays a pop-up window containing the current application's menus, making it easier to work with large monitors by limiting trips to the menu bar.
I put the Orbit through its paces running a wide variety of productivity applications and games. Cursor tracking was consistently smooth and predictable, even when my hands were slightly greasy. To test the trackball's durability, I dropped it from desktop height onto carpeted and tiled floors without causing any visible damage. Like Kensington's other products, the Orbit carries a five-year limited warranty.
While reading through Kensington's online product literature, I was surprised to discover a feature not mentioned in the manual. As its name implies, AutoScroll allows you to scroll through windows by rolling the trackball up and down. Unfortunately, this function isn't supported on the Macintosh. (According to Kensington, AutoScroll takes advantage of a feature built into the Windows versions of some Microsoft applications.)
Macworld's Buying Advice
The Orbit offers a well-designed solution that should suit most trackball users' needs. If you don't need the two extra buttons that the Turbo Mouse provides--and it doesn't bother you that people who buy the PC version get a feature that you won't--then the Orbit Trackball is a strong contender.--FRANKLIN TESSLER
RATING: Four Stars/7.5
PROS: Comfortable palm rest; can be used right- or left-handed; less expensive than most competing products; improved MouseWorks software.
CONS: AutoScroll feature not implemented on Macs.
COMPANY: Kensington Microware (415/572-2700, www.kensington.com).
COMPANY's ESTIMATED PRICE: $69.95.
August 1997
page: 70
Copyright © 1997 Macworld Communications, Inc.
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