I review gaming mice for a living — this is my new favorite gaming mouse

Gaming mice are designed with varying purposes, and depending on what you spend most of your time playing, you should invest in what suits those needs. If you’re helplessly addicted to “World of Warcraft,” mice designed for MMOs with a dozen side buttons can make performing macros and quickly using abilities easy as pie.

Lovers of first-person shooters might prefer the lightest thing possible. If you have diverse interests, a mouse with adjustable weights would be perfect. And if you happen to be left-handed, or simply want a smaller mouse to accommodate your hand size, products exist out there for you.

As for me, I’ve experienced intermittent addictions towards “osu!” since 2014, a fast, yet precise rhythm game where the player moves their mouse cursor and clicks circles to a beat. Within that 10-year span, and after testing several different mice, I’ve kept a mental note of the exceedingly specific collection of features needed to best suit my aggressive circle-clicking gameplay.

I believe my search is finally over, and I’ve finally found my new favorite gaming mouse. I made a similar statement back in 2021 about the SteelSeries Rival 5, thanks to its exceptional design and ergonomic grip. But after two and a half years, it’s finally time to meet the new champion: Alienware’s Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse is the best of the best, and here’s why.

Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse is near-perfect

The Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse is not cheap, coming in at $149.99 on Alienware’s website, but it is worth it for anyone with similar needs to mine. Beyond obvious qualities like a comfortable grip, smooth feet for effortless gliding, and premium features like a high polling rate (up to 26,000) and DPI (4Khz wireless, 8Khz wired), my wishlist for the perfect “osu!” gaming mouse has only grown over the years.

It needs to be wireless to avoid any unnecessary weight and discomfort, especially if it gets caught on something during a song. It must have a smooth right base with no protrusions — for the sake of my pinkie. Its primary and secondary clicks need to be designed with frequent actuation in mind — “osu!” songs can get overwhelming, and if a mouse’s click feedback prevents me from pressing as fast as I need to, I can’t use it. Finally, it needs to be light enough to accommodate gaming with as little effort and friction as possible.

I’ve found mice that hit most of these criteria in the past, but it wasn’t until now that something has got a perfect score. The Alienware Pro’s most bewildering quality is that it weighs 58 grams, yet doesn’t utilize the honeycomb design (where several holes exist atop the exterior of a mouse shell), nor is it a mini-mouse. How the company has even managed that is a feat of engineering in and of itself, but it’s hard to put into words how frictionless it feels, practically disappearing in hand while knee-deep in an “osu!” song.

Not to be an absolute “The Lord of the Rings” nerd, but the Alienware Pro is effectively Mithril armor in the gaming mouse world. Its lightness exceeds all reason, yet it’s the highest quality out there.

But gaming for hours on end with a smooth, frictionless mouse is worth far less if the fatigue sets in elsewhere. For many gaming mice I’ve used, my pinkie rests exactly on a protrusion at the right base, creating a painful indent on my finger when playing “osu!” for more than an hour. I’ve tested mice that address this issue in the past, but the completely smooth and rounded right base is another reason why the Alienware Pro is excellent.

I must admit, my method of playing “osu!” is a tad uncommon among frequent players. Whereas most press their keyboard keys to the music, I still use left and right click. This puts additional strain on my right hand, but I’ve played for far too long in this way to switch now. As a result, it’s absolutely vital that a mouse’s primary and secondary clicks feel perfect.

Alienware utilizes magnetic force keyplates and optical switches to create clicks that you can actually feel, alongside providing a consistent bounciness that lets me press both in quick succession without being slowed by poor design.

And just as a little cherry on top, the Alienware Pro is wireless. I simply turned the wireless mode on, plugged my 2.4 GHz dongle into a USB-C slot on my computer, and it worked nearly immediately.

Bottom line

Through a combination of effortless use, practically nonexistent friction, an exceptionally light design, and gloriously tactile, clicky feedback, the Alienware Pro is my favorite gaming mouse thus far. It perfectly suits my needs with its smooth, painless design, ideal for long gaming sessions, only adding fuel to the fire for my potential return to “osu!” addiction.

If you’re in a similar position and need a gaming mouse with precision as a priority, allowing you to flick headshots with incredible accuracy and little to no pushback, I could not recommend the Alienware Pro more. While its $149.99 price point is undeniably steep, it is a worthwhile investment for anyone serious about competitive gaming.