Toybox: Little mouse does it all, except running around

For those of you out there who are required to do lots and lots of presentations, Microsoft’s little wireless notebook presenter mouse could possibly help relieve the pain. If not, you could at least impress your colleagues with it, depending on how much they appreciate an integrated mouse, slide presenter, laser pointer and media remote control.

This is a very Microsoft-looking device, dressed in a black and grey suit, so no extra brownie points for design. However, it does sit quite nicely in the palm of your hand.

The mouse-hybrid comes in a hard plastic case, which doesn’t look very exciting, but serves its purpose, I suppose. The case also holds the Bluetooth receiver, which conveniently plugs into a USB port on your computer. You don’t have to use the Bluetooth receiver if your laptop already has Bluetooth built in. It is pretty easy to hook up the mouse if you have installed the drivers for your laptop.

When used as a traditional mouse, it scrolls four ways, thanks to the tilting wheel. The smaller button next to the left-click button turns on digital ink in PowerPoint, allowing you to highlight important information on the screen, which is pretty cool. You can also enlarge details in your presentation using the customisable magnifier button.

To switch to presentation/media mode, press the little centre button on top of the mouse, and now you can use the media buttons on the other side of the mouse — the mouse’s belly as I see it. There are previous and next buttons, volume control buttons and a blank screen, or play/pause, button. There is also a laser pointer button.

So, in addition to making multimedia presentations run more smoothly, the device is perfect for controlling your home entertainment system from the comfort of your couch.

According to Microsoft, the mouse-presenter device works up to 10 metres away from your PC. The recommended retail price for the mouse-presenter hybrid is $159 including GST.