Why does mouse DPI matter, when you can adjust sensitivity via software??

Why is it so important to have a high DPI mouse, when you could just get an average mouse and bump up the sensitivity in the Windows (or in the game, if you are gaming)????

 

DPI just means precision. Higher DPI means greater precision/smoothness for your mouse movement.
For example, in lay-man's terms, with a higher DPI mouse, you have a better chance of landing the pointer on a pixel you want vs. a mouse with lower DPI (correct me if I'm wrong)
You can bump up the sensitivity for average mouses (mice?), but you will lose the precision. You will lose precision for a higher DPI mouse as well, but its not as significant.

 

Precision?

Right now I am using a Wireless Intellimouse Explorer 2.0 ( 400 DPI, that's really low right??) but I never see the mouse going the opposite direction I move it, lol... Is that what you mean by precision? I mean, when I move the mouse up, the cursor goes up... and when I move it sideways, the cursor also moves sideways. I think I kind of know what you are talking about, but what exactly do you mean by precision?

Is this the same as when I am photo editing, and I move the mouse, let's say, down and to the right....however it takes a little more effort to get the cursor to move that way because it seems to "stick" a little?

Or does a higher DPI mean that the movement of the mouse is smoother (i.e. the cursor doesn't jump around as much on screen, when making quick movements across the screen?

 

he means precision as in the intervals at which the cursor moves arent too big

 

try picking a small spot on your desktop and then move your mouse to that spot. now try a mouse with a higher dpi rating. according to omni's post, you should be able to hit that spot more accurately.

 

Yeah, you won't notice it with slow movements. But you will notice it with bigger movements. Try to target a pixel accross the screen and then jump to a pixel on the other side of the screen and you'll notice the difference.

 

yes, higher DPI mouse is more precise, and you can set the mouse to be MORE sensitive. in general the cursor move more fluidly, and you don't need to move the mouse too much if you've got a big display.

perhaps you wont notice it if you've got 800x600 or 1280x768 screen resolution. but it matter once you've get to 1680x1050 or higher.

 

Okay, i think some are still not sure what precision is....

open MS Paint and select pencil.
Now try writing your name with it.

You ll notice that the higher the DPI the more finely and easily u can write with the pencil tool.


DPI is not very important in gaming.

In gaming, 1800 DPI is more than enough....


For graphic designers, DPI is important because they need to have very fine @ precise movement.




Its like using a pencil which is not sharpened.When u sharpen your pencil you can write more precisely rite?

this is what DPI/ precision is all about.

 

@above

That's strange, cause the first thing I did when I got my vx revolution was try write in ms-paint. $10 ultraportable mouse, dpi unknown was much more easier to write with than the vx revolution with a very high DPI.

I think a lot more of that has to do with the weight, shape and size of the mouse.
It was like writing with my fingers, vs writing with my entire hand.

I'm not saying I don't like my vx revolution.. but as far as dexterity goes...

 

high DPI is useful for gaming, you can move the cursor across the screen faster and have it land where you want. But sometimes a lover DPI is good for games too, like when you snipe. It will jerk around too much. Thats why I prefer something like the Logitech G5, on the fly DPI change. The Razer series doesnt support that.

 

it's so that the pictures of your friends you take with your mouse come out clearerer.... duh.

 

no offense (i own both also); but the vx revolution is only 800dpi. the G5 on the other hand has 2000dpi. i don't think this matter when gaming ( that much) when i bought the computer but.... high dpi screen (1920x1200 in native resolution) with high dpi mouse (G5) equals plenty of kills in FPS!