I've been tied up with all sorts of work and personal stuff, so I haven't had enough time to take the Ferrari laptop for a proper spin until the past couple of days. So at long last, I can start reporting on my experiences with it.
The Acer Ferrari is one nicely tricked-out machine. It comes with all sorts of accessories, from little protective sleeves and pouches for the laptop and all its peripherals to a built-in camera at the top of the screen to a couple of nice Bluetooth goodies: a Bluetooth phone mini-handset and a Bluetooth mouse. I've been meaning to get around to trying some VOIP telephony, but that's not an immediate need. However, as someone who prefers using a mouse to a trackpad, I figured I'd start with it.
The mouse is a little bit smaller than I like — it doesn't fit as nicely in my hand as the Logitech MX's — but it's covered with something like black neoprene which makes it easy to grip. The mouse wheel, whose wide design suggests a radial tire, has a satisfying feel. Matte black with red trim, it's a good-looking mouse. I think it might look better without the garish Ferrari logo.
I fired up the Bluetooth Wizard in Vista, pressed the activation button at the bottom of the mouse and saw it light up, clicked the button on the Wizard to detect the mouse and got this dialog box seconds later:
Clicking the “Search Again” button — once, twice, three times — did no good. The mouse was a total stranger to the computer it had been bundled with.
On a lark, I decided to try it on the PowerBook. I fired up the Bluetooth Setup Assistant and got this immediately:
That's right: Acer Bluetooth Wireless Mouse. Not only did the Mac recognize that there was a Bluetooth mouse in range, but it ID'd its make and model.
Don't forget: Vista is a next-gen OS, while Mac OS 10.4 “Tiger” is almost two years old. And I'd bet good money that its predecessor, “Panther” would've picked up the mouse too.
In the meantime, Vista's still unaware that there's a mouse in the room. This is like one of Apple's “I'm a Mac / I'm a PC” ads, de-anthropomorphized.
3 replies on “Tainted Vista Review #2: Vista Can't See the Bluetooth Mouse”
There's something extra you have to do, some clicking to get the mouse to show up. I recently added a bluetooth mouse and I had the same issue. I didn't find it very intuitive, either. I can't recall exactly what I did, but you're about 1 or 2 clicks away from it working (I vaguely recall it had something to do with bluetooth security “device password”, that I disabled for the device?)
[…] might remember my difficulties with the Acer Ferrari 1000’s Bluetooth mouse from this posting. I reported that the mouse was invisible to the computer, even though I had confirmed that there […]
I am having the same problem with Vista. I have a Ferrari 1004 and upgraded to Vista Ultimate and now my bluetooth mouse won’t work. It is seen when searched but then Vista says “Click here to Finish” I do but still the mouse won’t work.