What Is a Laser Mouse?

Video Transcript

"I'm Jonathan Ayres with Network for Success and today we are going to talk about what is a laser mouse. Now this is an interesting question because when we think about mice, which we use to operate our cursor on a computer, there are different types of mice. And this question came about because people are looking at mice and when they lift them up off the table a little bit they see a light underneath. And then they think well that's a laser. Well actually it could be one of three things. It could be a light emitting diode, an infrared light or a laser light. What's the most common? The most common is what we call an LED a light emitting diode light. And that's what you see underneath when you pick up a mouse and you look at it and you see this red light underneath. Now I have a PC mouse here in front of me and it has a red light underneath, it has an LED. Here's another one from a Macintosh and you lift it up and it has the same thing. They're both doing the exact same thing which is to provide a means of measuring the movement of the mouse across the tables. So as you move it across your table or counter or where ever it is, these two little lights inside measure the distance and then show you were your cursor is on the screen. Now you could have a mouse that has a laser in it and the laser would just be a more intense light. Laser lights are used to be more precise but gosh you know when you are using a mouse on a table top or on the counters, something, that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is can you see your cursor move, can you use it comfortably and does the mouse work all the time. That's probably what we most worry about. So when you talk about using a mouse there are three different types of mice that use lights. And the laser mouse is one type but the most common is the light emitting diode type."