The laser mouse uses an infrared laser diode instead of a LED to illuminate the surface beneath their sensor. As early as 1998, Sun Microsystems provided a laser mouse with their Sun SPARCstation servers and workstations. However, laser mice did not enter the mainstream market until 2004, when Paul Machin at Logitech, in partnership with Agilent Technologies, introduced its MX 1000 laser mouse.

This mouse uses a small infrared laser instead of a LED and has significantly increased the resolution of the image taken by the mouse. The laser enables around 20 times more surface tracking power to the surface features used for navigation compared to conventional optical mice.

— Wikipedia on Optical mouse

2012.05.18 Friday ACHK