said by signmeuptoo:Ryan, you ARE wrong. Do you know what "optical" means? First of all, a diode LASER **IS** a type of LED!!! DIODE LASERs are Heterojunction DIODE LASERS. The mouse might or might not use some of the same interferometric or other principles, but if it uses light, it IS optical. Period.
I am a photonics technician you are arguing with, BTW, are you an optics specialist? I am.
The reason the DPI is greater with LASER mice is because of the rectilinear quality of a LASER beam compared to the highly divergent nature of all other types of light sources, including non LASER LEDs.
LASER mice do NOT necessarily get better battery life. LASER DIODES consume much more electricity, depending upon the given diode. My MS Wireless Intellimouse Explorer 2.0 lasts 3 months or even more of HEAVY use on one set of batteries. I know that many LASER mice's batteries go dead and must be recharged within mere days or even hours.
Furthermore, if you knew what you were talking about, you wouldn't have types the term "Laser". They are "LASERs". LASER is an acronym for Light Amplification through Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
You are wrong sir.
Not sure why your arguing with me I realize that both use optics what im trying to say is there is a difference between laser mice and standard optical mice and thats exactly what you have stated in your post above. Have you ever heard someone say they bought a laser mouse and it just was a standard optical led mouse? There is a difference between the two and the difference is the light source.
