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Is it a shiny dish to sit on your dining table?  Is it a model replica of Cardiff's Millennium Centre?  It is a spaceship?... No, it's Macs latest addition to the Mac family, the Magic Mouse

I was enticed into the new Apple store in Cardiff the other day because I wanted to view Apple's new Magic Mouse and I was intrigued to see just how magic this mouse was.

The "Magical" features of this mouse is that instead of mechanical buttons, scroll wheels or scroll balls, the entire top of the Magic Mouse is a touch-sensitive surface that allows it to be a single or multi-button mouse with gesture support. The gestures let users scroll through long documents, pan across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through a collection of web pages or photos. Magic Mouse works for left or right handed users and can be easily configured from within System Preferences.

The Magic Mouse enables the user to now scroll across or enlarge images on your screen, much like the features on the iPhone or iPod touch, and will only serve to benefit the user to perform tasks easier.

Whether you work in the creative industry, working with web design or graphic design or through to home recreational uses, the Magic Mouse claims to aid your every 'click' and scroll.

The Magic Mouse features:

Click

Magic Mouse is an advanced point-and-click mouse that lets you click and double-click anywhere on its Multi-Touch surface.

Two-button click

Magic Mouse functions as a two-button mouse when you enable Secondary Click in System Preferences. Left-handed users can reassign left and right click, as well.

360° scroll

Brush one finger along the Multi-Touch surface to scroll in any direction and to pan a full 360 degrees.

Screen zoom

Hold down the Control key on your keyboard and scroll with one finger on Magic Mouse to enlarge items on your screen.

Two-finger swipe

Using two fingers, swipe left and right along the Multi-Touch surface to advance through pages in Safari or browse photos in iPhoto.

As graphic designer I can see benefits in using a mouse with these capabilities.  It will make using a Mac easier over time, but it will probably take a little bit of getting used to swiping across the surface of the mouse as opposed to clicking.

The Magic Mouse is only available in Bluetooth form; if you want a wired mouse, Apple has rebranded the Mighty Mouse as the "Apple Mouse" and they are continuing to sell it. Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac and has a suggested retail price of £55 (inc. VAT).