14 DAY TRIAL // With Apple said to be dropping the mouse real soon (in favor of multi-touch), the Cupertino-based Mac maker has one more solid reason to do so: the ever-clogged-up-with-dirt Mighty Mouse scroll-ball.
A recent Apple Discussions thread reveals that while some users experience malfunctions after just two weeks of use, others go for years without ever having a problem with the Mighty Mouse. Nevertheless, that retched scroll-wheel always fails at one point - a problem touch-screens / touch panels would forever eliminate.
"Well its been a little over 2 weeks since ive purchased my mighty mouse," one user posts. "Everything has been well and I love the mouse, The problem im having with it is that it wont scroll using the little ball and if in the rare occasion it does its very jumpy, ive read they get dirty and pretty much stop working, I dont want to pay 50 bucks every 3 weeks for a new mouse, Does apple cover the replacement of these mouses due to this problem?"
Sure, just call 'em up and have it replaced. No company, no matter how small, forgets its customers after just two weeks and this is Apple we're talking about. However, I was quite surprised to see another post on the same page saying a totally different story:
"I have a Wireless Mighty Mouse that I have used for about 1.5 years," the poster says. "Once I took it to the Apple store because it wasn't reading when I scrolled down. The Genius took some tape and turned the Mighty Mouse upside down and rubbed it on the tape to clean the ball and ever since then it has worked like normal."
Sure, it's just a short term solution, but when everything else fails, why not? A long term solution would be to actually pop the thing open, clean its insides (particularly the magnet wheels around the scroll-ball) and put it back together. This is a bit more risky though. The Mighty Mouse sports some sensitive inner parts that can get easily damaged or lost, so whatever you do, be careful.
This just proves once again that Apple would be pretty darn right giving up on the mouse (should this happen soon, as the rumors say) and have everyone embracing multitouch. After all, touch-screens / touch panels have no moving parts, they don't get clogged up with dirt, they're so compact it's virtually impossible to damage by mistake, you can't misplace them, etc.