This is a brief review on the Toshiba mini retractable laser mouse (part number PA3569E-1ETA). There's not really much information out there about this mouse. I picked it up through Amazon for just over £10 with free delivery. For use with Ubuntu GNU/Linux, I wanted something that would work out of the box without requiring pointless drivers. It also needed the middle button to work (most mice are sold as only two-button).
The first mini mouse I had worked well but eventually the retractable cord (on an external 'spiral') broke. The next mini mouse had its left and middle buttons apparently wear out!
As soon as I opened the case I could see that this mouse was not really 'mini'. In fact it is sized like a standard mouse. The USB cable is stored using an internal spiral ratchet as my previous mice used (but they were externally wound). The mouse itself is very light in weight. The laser provides excellent responsiveness with no visible light at all. Perhaps most importantly, and not documented online anywhere, the left and right mouse buttons are microswitched so should last a very long time. The middle button unfortunately requires a lot of travel before activating, and does not feel like it is using a microswitch. This is a minor irritation that hopefully I will get used to.