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Does the Apple Magic mouse need to be turned off after use or does it power down automatically?

It seems to use new batteries every month!?!? Can this be right?

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What the heck has objective-C got anything to do with the question ? – Sathya♦ Aug 24 '10 at 16:34
Re-tagged question to be more on topic – Doltknuckle Aug 24 '10 at 16:35
Oh my goodness hahaha sorry mate I am so in my little Objective C world I forgot this was super user lol – TheLearner Sep 2 '10 at 14:50
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It does auto-sleep, however a large amount of use will use more power.

About once a month sounds about right, given you use it every day for about 8hrs or so.

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That's the problem with wireless devices. If you don't want to be swapping batteries, get a corded mouse. – Doltknuckle Aug 24 '10 at 16:49
My Logitec mice (one at home, one at work) go several months at least on a pair of alkali AAs despite regular use - so some wireless mice are better than others in this regard. If you are spending a fortune on batteries try rechargeables, though some mice do not work so well with them in my experience. – David Spillett Aug 24 '10 at 17:07
@David my logitech v450 nano lasted for like 5 months with the default AA's. They lasted almost a year on newer Energizer batteries. Usage was like ~ 10-12 hours on weekdays – Sathya♦ Aug 24 '10 at 19:35
You can bet that the Magic Mouse uses a lot more power than a regular "stupid" mouse. It takes some power to keep the touch sensor working, and there has to be some gesture processing going on too. (Yeah, my stupid mice work for ages too.) – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun Aug 24 '10 at 20:04
Thanks guys. I don't think I will remember to turn off my mouse everyday and I won't be changing back to wired mouses or non-apple products so guess I will have to be ok with the couple of quid it costs to replace batteries. its weird that it doesn't have a little charging station or something or a USB port to charge – TheLearner Sep 2 '10 at 14:56
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up vote 1 down vote

I haven't seen any usage stats, but haven't looked hard either. My personal experience has been this:

  • When I first got the Magic Mouse, I used it for three weeks, turning it off whenever I stepped away from my computer for a significant amount of time. Then, I stored it in a drawer unused for three months. The battery level was at 77% when I retrieved it.
  • I have been using it for the past week without turning it off. The battery level has deteriorated from 77% to 58% in that short time.

That means, when I turn it off when I 'm not using it, it uses approximately 8% power per week. When I leave it on, it uses nearly 20% per week.

That's really dramatic, so I'm inclined to think I've been using my computer more this week than I did then, but I have no way of comparing use time from that long ago. I suspect batteries drain faster when leaving the mouse on, though.

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It is strange though that there isn't a setting in System Preferences to allow me to set a time for how long it must wait before turning off automatically! – TheLearner Sep 2 '10 at 14:52
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