Page 2 - A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
Cooler Master is not a rookie at making ultralight mice, as the MM711 and MM710 have preceded this one. However, this is only the second shell they have created for this purpose, since the MM711 and MM710 practically shared the same body. Some of the changes you can see are pretty obvious, such as the overall shape. This is a claw-grip mouse, similar to the older Spawn, Xornet, and Xornet II. As such, we have an extended right side with a resting point for your ring finger. On the other hand, there are a few more subtle changes, such as the size of the holes. While the original ultralight mice had holes that were almost 6mm in width, the Cooler Master MM720 uses holes that are 3.5mm in width. This could still trigger trypophobia in some users, but I like the smaller size of holes to prevent larger particles from entering. Incidentally, Cooler Master has tested the MM720 to give it an IP58 certification. This means that it is both dust and water immersion protected. This is great to see, but it does mean there are some other internal changes, as we will explore later on. Otherwise, from the external outlook, we have the glossy white finish on this mouse, but the MM720 comes in combinations of black or white in glossy or matte.
In terms of dimensions, the Cooler Master MM720 is 105.42mm in length, 76.52mm in width, and 38.3mm in height. This is relatively flat in shape, but the peak height of the MM720 is situated slightly to the back of the mouse with a gradual slope up from the front and a more curved backside. The mouse is even lighter than other ultralight mice at 49g without the cable. The weight is balanced to the middle of the body, lining up with the sensor. Overall, the build quality is improved as the body does not flex as much under pressure due to the smaller holes.
One thing I am happy to see ported over from the other ultralights is the fixed Ultraweave cable that measures 1.8m in length as the other models. As I have mentioned in other Cooler Master mice reviews, this is the lightest, most-flexible braided cabling I have ever used. I really hope I can see this similar sort of braiding used with other manufacturers, as it is the best cable I have seen. Since this is the white variant of the MM720, we have a white cable here. At the end of this cable, we have a typical full-sized, gold-plated USB port with a ferrite bead near the plug.
On the left side of the Cooler Master MM720, you can see majority of the buttons. The main left and right buttons are separated from the rest of the body and are slightly sloped into the middle. This means users will naturally rest their fingers in the middle of each button. Under the primary buttons, we have LK optical switches with a rated lifespan of seventy million clicks. We have seen optical switches employed in other products like keyboards, but it is neat to see the optical switch appear on this mouse. This is also probably why Cooler Master could certify this to be waterproof, as typical Omron switches would not be submersible in water. The scroll wheel here is a dark grey notched wheel. I wish it was white to match the rest of the exterior, but thankfully we have some lighting underneath the translucent wheel to illuminate it. On the left side of the mouse, we have buttons for the standard forward and back buttons. These are black in color and once again stand out from the rest of the body. They offer a good amount of travel with a spongy bottoming out. One thing I observed is a slight plastic lip between the side buttons and the rest of the mouse. This makes it a bit trickier to quickly press them, but they also do prevent accidental presses better.
The bottom of the Cooler Master MM720 reveals the mouse feet and the sensor, as well as one more button on the mouse. The mouse feet are made out of PTFE, which is commonly known as Teflon. These give the mouse a smooth glide. I am quite happy to see Cooler Master also provide replacement feet as they can wear out. In the middle of the base is the sensor. This is the PixArt PMW3389, which is one of the top-of-the-line PixArt sensors out there. The PMW3389 tracks at high speeds of 400 IPS with acceleration up to 50g, although it is not enabled by default. Polling rate is set to 1ms, or polling rate of 1000Hz, and a maximum native resolution of 16000 DPI. Thankfully, there is no sensor rattle in this mouse, which means the sensor should stay firmly in place during use. Finally, the button at the back is slightly recessed, but finished with a different surface to let users quickly find this button at the bottom. This button is used for DPI cycling to let you adjust the current sensitivity. By default, this cycles between seven levels ranging from 400DPI to 16000DPI. With Cooler Master's software, you can change these sensitivity levels, as we will see later on. I actually prefer the DPI switch to be on the bottom of the mouse, as I personally do not change the sensitivity very much.
As with the MM711, the Cooler Master MM720 uses Cooler Master's MasterPlus software. The download size for this utility is now 207MB in size. In general, using the software was a consistently positive experience. In addition, I ended up updating the firmware installed on this mouse during usage. Internally, Cooler Master has provided 512KB of memory on the mouse to store all of these settings. There is also a 32-bit ARM Cortex M0+ processor to control everything.
Specific to the MM720, there are five different configuration pages. The first tab is for Buttons, where you can assign different actions for each mouse button or scroll wheel action. You can enable mouse combinations, which let you add more mouse actions when pressed in combination with the scroll wheel button. The Performance tab lets you change the seven DPI sensitivity settings, USB polling rate, lift off distance, angle snapping, angle tuning, surface tuning, and other operating system specific settings. Thankfully, you can limit the number of DPI settings enabled, as I have done so. This reduces the number of settings the DPI button would cycle through. The Lighting tab lets you adjust the lighting on the MM720. This provides typical LED modes such as Static, Breathing, Color Cycle, and custom modes. You can also use them to indicate the current DPI setting with the "Indicator" mode. The Macros tab is where you create and record macros to be assigned to the mouse actions. Finally, you can save up to five different profiles and settings in the Profiles tab. If I wanted to nitpick the MasterPlus software, I would have liked to see some better scaling for the font and graphics, as I found the words to be too small with respect to the overall size of the window. This is just a minor gripe, as the rest of the utility is a very clean and easy-to-use experience.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
