The well-known company for their monstrous gaming PC’s, the Dells’ hardware subsidiary Alienware, is trying to make their name in the peripheral device market. The elite gaming mouse, model AW958, is their first try and it turned out pretty good. This gaming mouse is created with lots of attention to detail and performance quality, but the price tag is what doesn’t appeal to me. It costs $90, and I believe that you’ll be able to find a more comfortable, have same efficiency and half the price of this product.
I don’t say that it’s not good, I actually think that it’s perfect looking, but a price tag of $60 would’ve been the perfect price, because it’s surely a competitive mouse in terms of performance, but the price tag is what’ll mainly drive users from the idea of buying it. The good parts of it is that it’s a gaming mouse with 12000 DPI optical sensor. Featuring AlienFX technology with RGB lighting and up to 13 programmable buttons all combined in a striking Alienware design.
Design and buttons
Looking from the top, you first see that it’s a bit wide and has the form of a futuristic aircraft. The size could be adjusted and you can make it wider, depending on how big is your hand. By default, it’s 5.1 x 3.8 x 1.6 inches, but you can swap out components on either side of the mouse.The Alienware Elite Gaming Mouse was built with superior materials such as anodized aluminum and soft-touch paint for ultimate comfort, and durability. It’s been engineered with 2 interchangeable right wings, an extended grip for thumb support and Omron switches to ensure reliable gameplay up to 50 million clicks. The wire is not protected with rubber coating, but from textile, which is the key feature that I always search for in a gaming mouse. They also don’t tangle so easily and have an extended life offered, as they don’t get twisted and the material is more durable than rubber.
For even further gaming experience and reliability, there are 6 customizable buttons included on the inside part of the mouse, where your thumb rests if you are a rightie and different lightning color schemes that you can customize via a driver software that comes with the box.The device is attractive enough, in a futuristic and innovative-looking kind of way.
With 2 main silver buttons and a dark-gray chassis, the AW958 looks refined and decidedly intended for gaming-related purpose, that’s more exciting than everyday office work. You can have up to thirteen buttons: a left button, a right button, a scroll wheel that clicks three ways, a dots-per-inch (DPI) sensitivity adjuster that clicks two ways, and either two or six thumb buttons, that you can all customize depending on the game that you’re playing, or set them as default system shortcuts while not playing.
Performance abilities
With a mouse that comes from Alienware, you can expect nothing but to experience incredible response speed and sensitivity control with 12,000 DPI, 50G, 250 IPS and 5 on-the-fly DPI settings, a feature that allows you to change your DPI setting in the heart of the action. And never miss your target thanks to the best-in-class Pixart PMW 3360 optical sensor, that works and feels great with a comfortable and reliable gaming mousepad underneath.
This optical mouse simply works as it was advertised by Alienware, as it shows maximum responsive and accurate levels. The fact that there are plenty of buttons that you can customize by your gaming preference is great, but I personally don’t like the placement of them. Six buttons, tucked into such a small place may result in clicking the wrong one, and in some gaming situations, it may be crucial for both you and your team. You’ll get used to that in a hurry, but for $90 you’ll definitely be able to find a better option.
The 12,000 DPI sensitivity could be adjusted and you can create different profiles and save/load them, whenever you happen to need them. It may take a while to adjust the mouse to a level that’ll suit you the best, but once you’re done with it, you’ll be one of the top-performers in your team for sure. Like all things in life, this requires time and practice as well, so don’t blame it on the mouse if you’re just a weak gamer.
