Introduction

There are thousands of types of mice in the market these days. Some are big, some small. Some are cute and some just downright conservative. Although less obvious, some are fast while others are sluggish. So, which mouse is good? It's getting really hard to tell these days, really.

We all know that Logitech and Microsoft manufacture high quality mice. And don't we all just love that Razor BoomSlang? :D But these mice come with a very high price tag and not everyone is willing to fork out hundreds of dollars just for a mouse.

While professionals or hardcore gamers might consider the mouse to be an extremely important device, the casual home user just doesn't care if his or her mouse is an el-cheapo mouse made in Estonia! Just as long as it can still move around and click those icons, it's fine to them.

Today, we will be reviewing a cheap... err... competitively priced mouse. Most of you have probably never heard of the XNTech Play Mouse II Wheel 800 PS/2 mouse. In fact, I've never come across this breed of mice until Mr Tay of Integrated Micro Devices (IMD) Sdn. Bhd. introduced it to me.

The XNTech Play Mouse II Wheel 800 PS/2 was manufactured by XNTC New Tech Corp. from Taiwan. It is quite unknown here in Malaysia and from the extensive use of Japanese characters on the packaging, it was probably made for the Japanese market. So, what's so special about this mouse?

First of all, it's cheap. Much, much cheaper than most mice in the market. Although it retails at less than RM 50 (USD 13), it looks a lot more reliable than other el-cheapo mice. However, it pays not to judge a mouse by its exterior appearance. It was not possible to test the reliability nor the lifespan of the mouse but during our trial period, it performed quite flawlessly.

In addition, it has a resolution of 800 DPI! So, what does this mean? Well, it means that for every inch you move the mouse, the cursor on the screen moves 800 dots / pixels. The higher the DPI, the less movement is needed to reach the four corners of the screen.

Finally, it comes with a free little mouse pad! Well, let's take a look at the mouse right now and see how well it does.