Peripherals

Your computer and you interact through the peripherals. The keyboard and monitor are prettymuch the barest minimum you can go with and still be able to interact with your computer.Your choice in peripherals very much depends on personal preference and the complexity ofthe interactions you intend to have with your computer.Keyboard & MouseWhen choosing a mouse, there is generally no reason to not choose an optical mouse. They areconsiderably lighter (and as such, reduce RSI) as they have no moving parts, they are muchbetter at smoothly tracking movement, and they don’t require constant cleaning like ballmice (though it may be wise to brush off the lens with a q-tip or other soft tool on occasion.


Make sure that you spend money on a decent-quality mouse made by companies such as Microsoft or Logitech, as lower-end optical mice will skip if moved too fast. Mice of mediumto-high quality will track the movement almost flawlessly.Although three buttons are generally enough for operating a computer in normal circumstances,extra buttons can come in handy, as you can add set actions to extra buttons, and they can comein handy for playing First Person Shooter games. One thing to note is that with some micethose extra buttons are not actually seen by the computer itself as extra buttons and will notwork properly in games. These buttons use software provided by the manufacturer to function.However, it is sometimes possible to configure the software to map the button to act like acertain keyboard key so that it will be possible to use it in games in this manner.Wireless keyboards and mice do not have a hugely noticeable delay like they once did, andnow also have considerably improved battery life. However, gamers may still want to avoidwireless input devices because the very slight delay may impact gaming activities -- thoughsome of the higher end models have less troubles with this -- and the extra weight of thebatteries can be an inconvenience.