Tech
You couldn’t fix Apple’s annoying Magic Mouse charging if you tried
YouTuber Unnecessary Inventions gave a solid attempt at improving how the Magic Mouse charges, but found out the hard way that Apple has the final say.
It’s like Apple knows people will buy their products no matter what. In the latest attempt at defying Apple’s design, one valiant YouTuber tried to make the Magic Mouse better. The project comes from YouTuber Unnecessary Inventions, but his idea of fixing how the Magic Mouse charges is arguably very necessary.
For those unaware, Apple released a black version of its Magic Mouse earlier this month. Like most Apple products, it’s sleek yet functional, but you’ll soon run into its unavoidable and questionable design choice: It charges from the bottom. So, if your Magic Mouse dies, you have to flip it over, plug it into the charger, and you’re stuck with a mouse that’s out of commission for a while.
While it’s an issue that sees many complaints on Twitter, it doesn’t seem to have prompted Apple to change anything. Surely, there’s some kind of work-around for this, maybe one that includes some DIY craftiness... Surely.
Failed experiment — To remedy this weird design choice, YouTuber Unnecessary Inventions designed a two-piece bracket that was 3D printed and made to house two metal balls (which was inspired by balls found in old-school mouses) and a right-angle charger.
The end result lifted the base of the Magic Mouse slightly, but the mouse still worked as usual. When actually plugged into the charger, however, the Magic Mouse doesn’t work at all. If that’s not evidence that Apple clearly wanted it to be designed this way, I don’t know what is.
Questionable design — Try as we may, we’re ultimately stuck with how Apple’s design choices, even if they don’t make sense sometimes. To be fair, Apple said its Magic Mouse has a rechargeable battery that lasts about a month or more, but that’s no excuse for inconvenient design.
The Magic Mouse isn’t the only example, as the recently-released Mac Studio seems to lack the ability to upgrade internal storage. Apple said it’s weird “jelly-scrolling” effect on its iPad mini was purposely designed like that. So will Apple ever try to make a better design for its Magic Mouse? Maybe. Will we keep buying their products regardless? Probably.