What exactly is Microsoft’s IntelliEye Optical Technology all about?

Well, from what I’ve read at Microsoft's website, this technology is supposed to replace the conventional mouse ball technology. This is because the old mouse ball tends to pick up dusts and lints that hurt the performance of the mouse. As such, these mice would need to be cleaned every now and then.

By removing the need for a mouse ball, there won’t be any more moving parts. And without any moving parts, dust will never collect under your mouse again. And… yes, no more cleaning too. You may celebrate now. :)

Benefits of the Microsoft’s IntelliEye Optical Technology as claimed by Microsoft are "Precision every time, works on hundreds of surfaces, and no more cleaning (yippie!!)".

“But how does the technology works?” you might ask. Well, here’s what I roughly understand.

At the bottom of the mouse, where the ball would usually reside, there’s a teeny weeny lens of the optical sensor. That sensor is actually a CMOS camera that snaps digital images of the surface at an amazing 1,500 pictures per second! (Well, claims are claims, but there’s simply no way that I can test that without bringing it to the physics laboratory at the Science Faculty of University Malaya. But I seriously don’t think the lecturer would allow me to test my mouse. Heheh...)

The light source of the sensor is a red LED located near the sensor lens.

These pictures are then analysed and processed by a 18 MIPS processor (nothing compared to your average Pentium III but on a mouse??!!!) in the mouse. The result of the analysis of the pictures would be the movement of the mouse. Hmm…nothing more from the website but I think I can roughly explain how the movements are analysed from the frames. If I'm wrong here, please don't hesitate to correct me, okay?

Amazing piece of technology... for a mouse, if you asked me.

After using the mouse for a few minutes, I must say that the experience is nothing short of WONDERFUL! The mouse pointer would glide to every movement I make on the mouse. You really have to try it to feel it. Seriously.

Ok, Let's cut the crap and get on with this review.