OS X

Which brings us to our prized computer for testing, which the DeathAdder was not only designed to play on, but is in fact a "high precision 3G infrared Mac gaming mouse", or so says on the box, with a Mac logo pasted on the top left and "Designed for Mac OS X" just underneath it (Vista and XP logo's are on the back bottom corner). We tested it on an iMac and on a Macbook for normal use, typical gameplay (using Halo) and on the road.

For anyone familiar with Apple's "Mighty Mouse", you'll know that it's suitable and more powerful than the typical Windows mouse, but its features pale in comparison regardless: mediocre dpi (presumed 400 based on our by-feel test, an Apple spokesperson was not available at press time), USB 1.1 connectivity (or Bluetooth 1.2 at 1Mbit/s), four programmable buttons and a glossy shell.

The DeathAdder, suffice to say, was an awesome site to behold on a Mac. It flew across the large 15" and 20" displays fluidly and without hesitation. Either straight out of the box or with drivers installed, the DeathAdder performed exactly as we hoped: marvelously. Drivers were painless to install and modify while the mouse was in use. To the DeathAdder, it made no difference what machine it was plugged into, Mac or PC. And at $60, your wallet will think it is a PC you're playing on.

From our gameplay, there was no difference between gaming on our PC and the Mac. There shouldn't be in the first place if the mouse is compatible, and we found that the DeathAdder was just as nimble, graceful and deadly on the Mac as it was on the PC. Be it the low-friction teflon pads, the large easy-to-press side buttons or the dead-stable pointer, its performance as a mouse was unquestionable.

As if that weren't enough, the DeathAdder did well on the road, though the cable did knot quite easily in my bag. We'd have prefered to see the cloth-like design of the Logitech's G9. It also doesn't shift profiles without the drivers installed on the system in use, which doesn't quite make sense to us, but we expect that to be changed in a firmware update down the road.

Adder of Death

There is no doubt: the DeathAdder is the best gaming mouse for the Mac. Looking at some of the competition, that may not seem like much of a compliment, but if other companies decide to reign in on Razer's newfound territory, they'll find it hard to kick the expert peripheral company out of its number one spot. They're not only competing against the best Mac mouse on the market, but one of the best mice that has come out from Razer. The combination of stability, pointer sensitivity, texture, feel and response makes the DeathAdder live up to its name by queuing up Mac gamers to be fragged now too.