Are you serious? Mac Gaming?  That's as ridiculous as casting Ryan Reynolds as the Green Lantern...wait.  But yours truly is one of these rare breeds where gaming on a Mac is not that foreign (and Reynolds as GL isn't too disconcerting either - maybe I'm just crazy!)  I won't get into the specifics of gaming on a Mac but for the few of you out there looking for a gaming grade mouse that will "just work" have been sorely disappointed because such a device doesn't exist - until now.

On the surface, the DeathAdder doesn't read like a very sophisticated gaming mouse.  With only 1800 dpi and still operating under 3G infrared optical tracking, it's not going to cause any riots.  But, the thing you need to remember is that Razer has still one of the fastest response times when compared to even laser mice.  The DeathAdder is listed at 1000Hz, which is equivalent to a 1ms response time.

The real winner here is that the Mac edition of the DeathAdder (Razer does have a PC only edition) comes with Razer's own OS X driver suite, which allows for complete customization of your mouse, including buttons and sensitivity.  Don't laugh you Win-bots but that's something totally novel for card carrying  members of the Cult of Mac.  As I've mentioned before, you previously needed to purchase additional "driver" packages if you wanted to use gaming grade mice on OS X.  Two of the more popular packages are USB Overdrive and SteerMouse.  Both of these are good options but costs $10-20 on top of the price of a gaming mouse.  And even though they work, there's still a lot of trial and error before you can get the correct amount of acceleration and accuracy that you might be used to on a Windows PC.  To be fair, the Razer software package is nothing special and reminds you of simple PC calibration software for most mice.  But the simple fact that you are actually able to replicate the feel of a Windows mousing experience with nothing more than a few sliders is a dream come true for OS X gamers.

Besides the OS X software, the Mac edition of the DeathAdder is exactly the same as the Windows version save for a white LED glow scheme versus the blue LED of the Windows version.  Not being a fan of super flashy computer parts, thankfully the LED for both the scroll wheel and the palm logo can be turned on and off independently. The DeathAdder is a right hand only mouse and features two thumb buttons, two main buttons, and a notched scroll wheel that also serves as a middle mouse button.  These buttons can be assigned via Razer's utility for use as functional OS X buttons, which is something that's hit and miss with third party software.  The DeathAdder is capable of storing user profiles for sensitivity and settings and allows for on-the-fly switching via a button on the bottom of the mouse.  Unfortunately, there is no visual cue to distinguish which profile you're currently using.  The DeathAdder is completely treated with a semi-rubber finish so that it provides a very nice tactile grip while in use, which complements the extra long cord for those intense gaming sessions of...Spore.

You wouldn't be mistaken in believing that this a mouse worthy for the gaming elite on the Mac platform.  But the DeathAdder isn't all sunshine and roses when it comes to core of the device.  Being infra-red driven, you're not going to get the precision from Laser engines such as the Logitech G5 or Razer's own Lachesis.  I really didn't understand why Razer didn't incorporate a Laser engine into their DeathAdder.  Even though the polling and response times are almost as good with their 3G Infra-Red technology, there are accuracy benefits that you can only get with a Laser optical engine.  As an example, when using my standard SteelSeries cloth mouse pad, the DeathAdder's cursor would skip on the screen every so often.  But after pulling out my 3M optical mouse pad from 2001 that was designed for "optical mice", the cursor was rock solid.

Overall, the DeathAdder is the best gaming mouse you will find for the Mac, in fact, it's the only gaming mouse you'll find that can be customized for OS X.  Which give Razer some serious market share - a whole 4% of the market to be exact.  All joking aside, if you're looking for a mouse that can handle the precision required for Call of Duty or World of Warcraft, but you're not interested in tinkering with third party drivers, then the DeathAdder is the mouse for you.  And at a MSRP of $59.99 USD, it's not a price for a gaming mouse, but it would have been even better if it wasn't built with four year old technology.  What you do get for your $59.99 is a gaming grade mouse that will function exactly the same in Windows or in OS X, which is more than you can say for any other offering from Logitech or Microsoft.