Is the optical resolution of the mouse high or low?

The mouse resolution (dpi) refers to the positioning accuracy of the mouse, and the unit is DPI or cpi, which refers to the maximum information that can be accurately positioned every inch when the mouse moves.

Influenced by the manufacturer's propaganda, more and more users prefer higher DPI parameters when purchasing mice. Some users even have the consumer psychology that the higher the DPI value, the better their cognition of the mouse, so non-DPI mice are not needed.

The DPI parameter in the mouse refers to how many pixels the mouse cursor can move on the screen when the mouse moves 1 inch on the desktop. Take 1000DPI mouse as an example. When the mouse moves one inch on the desktop (metric unit is 25.4 mm), the mouse cursor can move 1000 pixels on the screen. If the resolution of the user's display is 1920× 1080, the user needs to move two inches (about 565430) on the desktop.

Different mouse DPI parameters bring different intuitive feelings to users, that is, the moving speed of the mouse is different. A mouse with high DPI can move the cursor from one side of the screen to the other only by moving a little distance. The mouse with low DPI often needs to move several times more than the mouse with high DPI to complete this operation. This is why the manufacturer claims that the game mouse with high DPI parameters has faster response speed. However, is this really the case?

On the surface, it is easy to conclude that a mouse with high DPI has faster reaction speed, because moving the same distance on the screen requires moving a shorter physical distance. However, this is not the case. When users operate the mouse with their palms, they don't move at a uniform speed. Different DPI mice move at different speeds because of their different distances on the desktop.

At the beginning of the movement, the moving speed of the mouse rises rapidly. When the cursor approaches the target, the moving speed gradually decreases and stops completely when it reaches the target position. Because of the short physical movement distance, the high-DPI mouse can't move to a higher speed. Even after the movement starts, it will gradually slow down to ensure that it can stop accurately when it reaches the target position.

When the mouse cursor with low DPI moves the same distance on the screen, due to the long physical movement distance, after a complete acceleration process, it can reach the maximum movement speed that the palm can reach (generally around 1 m/s), and then it will enter a deceleration state, and finally stop after maintaining this speed for a period of time. Compared with the high DPI mouse, the low DPI mouse needs to move a longer distance, but because of its fast moving speed, it is not inferior to the high DPI mouse in response speed.

Although a mouse with high DPI can greatly shorten the physical moving distance when users operate the mouse, for example, on the current 4K display, a mouse with 400 DPI needs to move 243mm from the edge of the screen to the far right, and a mouse with 8200 DPI only needs to move 12mm on the desktop. But when doing some subtle operations, its operating efficiency is lower than that of a mouse with low DPI. Take the operation of Microsoft Word software as an example. Some commonly used keys, such as alignment and font color, are only 24x22 pixels in size.

Use the current 4K monitor to pay more attention? Two kinds of mice with different DPI parameters were tested.

If the user needs to accurately rest the mouse on the button, the effective click area of the 400DPI mouse (referring to the size when the button area is mapped to the desktop) is (24𻫘抿抿抿抿) × (22 彸抿) ≈ 2.13mm2. For the same size, when operating with a mouse with 5700DPI, the effective position of the cursor is mapped to the size on the desktop, which is only (24 ÷ 5700× 25.4 )× (22 ÷ 5700× 25.4) ≈ 0.005 square millimeter.

0.005 square millimeter! It's crazy to move the mouse to the corresponding position quickly and accurately in such a small area. All the user can do is "move" the mouse to the button a little. On the other hand, the operating area of a low-DPI mouse is 420 times that of a high-DPI mouse, so users can easily move the mouse to the exact position and then click the button.

For special users, such as photographers and graphic designers, the operation efficiency brought by high DPI mouse is more obvious. This kind of users often need the cursor to stay on a certain pixel accurately when operating. A mouse with high DPI often makes users lose patience in repeatedly dragging and positioning, while a mouse with low DPI often achieves this goal more easily.

For users, it is not feasible to blindly pursue the high-DPI mouse, which will not only lead to unnecessary waste of funds because of personal discomfort with the high-DPI mouse, but also make it easier to buy a "fake" high-DPI mouse, thus losing its due meticulous feel and precise operation. Some players are used to buying a mouse by referring to the size of the display, but considering the different point distances of different displays (at present, many 2 1.5-inch displays have reached the standard of 1080P, but the resolution of early 24-inch displays is often only 1680× 1050), users are advised to buy a mouse by referring to the display resolution.

With the help of some tools, users can measure the moving range of the mouse up and down, left and right when using the computer. Divide the measured width of the mouse moving left and right in daily use (the measurement unit should be millimeters) by 25.4 and convert it into inches, and then divide the horizontal pixel value of the display by the number of inches to estimate the ideal DPI value of the individual.