Page 2 - A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
Cooler Master is quite used to making products in multiple colors, as we have seen from their keyboards, mice, and even cooling fans. The MM731 today also comes in two colors, including their all-black and white-gray color versions. Both of these mice are the same shape and size, although the white weighs an extra gram more. Otherwise, the design shows the two primary buttons at the front flanking around the middle scroll wheel. A Cooler Master outline is found near the back of the mouse with this hexagonal logo illuminating in colors when the mouse is powered on. For the snow edition mouse, it has gray sides with white side buttons here. The black version has fully black sides and buttons. The surface of the mouse is generally smooth with only a slightly gritty feeling. It does an average job of hiding fingerprints, although greasy marks will still show up on the surface. Personally, the MM731 looks decent with a nice feeling shell without being too flashy.
In terms of dimensions, the Cooler Master MM731 measures in at 122.3mm in length, 69.0mm in width, and 39.1mm in height. From this side profile, you can see the peak of the curve occurs closer to the back of the mouse, with a pretty aggressive curve down towards the logo side. The front is much more gradual of a curve so the user's fingers can rest here. From the top view, the width of the mouse bulges out further on the back right so that users have a place to rest more of their palm. On the other hand, the side closer to the front is slopes down more rapidly, so users hoping to find a place of rest for their fingers or thumb will have to rest them on the table. This mouse is clearly for right-handed users with its button placement and asymmetrical mouse shape.
As for weight, the Cooler Master MM731 weighs in at 59g for the black version and 60g for the white one without any cable or USB dongle. As well, the fact Cooler Master did this without needing to use a hole-filled shell is impressive and keeps the structural integrity of the MM731. On the other hand, the weight is not balanced to the center of the sensor or mouse, but weighs slightly more towards the back. This does not affect tracking performance, but when users lift the mouse up, they will find the back of the mouse still on the surface, and thus will need to apply more effort to lift the mouse fully off their table. Overall, the build quality is still quite good with a sturdy shell and no creaks or odd sounds noticed while exerting force on the MM731.
From this side perspective, you can see most of the buttons on the Cooler Master MM731. The primary buttons at the top are separated from the rest of the body to ensure a faster and more agile clicking feel. Each primary button has an LKV2 optical switch underneath with a seventy million click endurance. This is the same brand of switches Cooler Master used on their MM720.
Compared to other optical switches I have felt, including the ROCCAT Burst Pro, the Cooler Master MM731 feels heavier with a slightly more pronounced click. Omron switches, on the other hand, have the sharpest click and strongest tactile feedback. In between the primary buttons is a single notched scroll wheel with a rubber surface to easily grip to. The whole wheel is a smoky gray color on both mice. On the left side of the mouse, we have two secondary buttons mapped to Forward and Back by default. These use Huano mechanical switches that feel surprisingly crisper than you might expect for side buttons. They do not have as much of a squish when bottoming out and provide good audible feedback. Finally, at the top of the mouse, you can see a USB Type-C port to plug the Cooler Master MM731 in for wired operation or for charging. It is offset enough to prevent the plug from dragging on your mousing surface.
The rest of the buttons on the Cooler Master MM731 can be found at the bottom of the mouse along with the optical sensor. There are three primary areas of PFTE feet to keep the mouse gliding on any surface. An additional Teflon ring around the sensor can be seen to prevent this area from catching. The sensor in question is the PixArt PAW3370, a commonly found sensor for wireless mice. This is the same sensor found on the ROCCAT Kone Pro Air. As such, users are offered a sensitivity range of 100 to 19000 DPI in 100 DPI increments. The sensor promises 400 inches per second tracking and acceleration of up to 50G. 1000Hz polling rate is standard, but can be lowered to 500Hz, 250Hz, or 125Hz. Unfortunately, I did notice a bit of sensor or lens rattle with both units of the MM731.
Moving on, the bottom has a few other inputs and slots. The large slot on the left is where you will find the USB dongle for wireless connection. A small plastic door lets you store the dongle inside. On the right side, we have a pairing button and a function switch. This lets users change between different operating modes, whether it is connected to your PC via Bluetooth, wireless dongle, or wired. A small LED indicator light exists above the pairing button to provide some status updates, including when you change the DPI. There is a DPI switch button at the bottom, adjacent to the serial number barcode. This lets users change the operating sensitivity on the fly. Finally, the other accessory included with the Cooler Master MM731 is the Ultraweave cable. Similar to what we have seen on other recent Cooler Master mice, this flexible and soft cable is excellent at providing a drag-free experience with your mouse without needing a mouse bungee. It still is one of the best materials I have seen on a cable and no other competitor comes close at providing as resistant-free of a cable as this one.
As I have mentioned previously, the Cooler Master MM731 is a wireless mouse, which is why we have the aforementioned USB dongle. Cooler Master has stated two different battery life estimates, depending on how the mouse is connected. Over Bluetooth, the mouse should last over 190 hours, while lasting around 72 hours over the wireless dongle. This uses Bluetooth 5.1, but it also operates at a lower reporting frequency of 500Hz. This should be completely fine in day-to-day tasks, and it is great to see this flexibility here. In my testing with the wireless dongle, I found these estimates to be generally accurate, as the mouse sipped power from its 500mAh battery. In addition, the mouse does have a built-in sleep function that turns off the mouse when no activity is detected after a configurable time period. This meant I did not have to always remember to turn off the MM731 before I went to sleep. I personally never needed to worry about running out of battery before remembering to charge my MM731 and I went several weeks of use before even needing to plug it in.
As with other recent Cooler Master mice, the MM731 uses the company's MasterPlus+ software. The download size for this utility is 340MB in size. In general, using the software was a consistently positive experience with a few hiccups. As a public service announcement, I am aware of early reports of the MM731 with regards to poor wireless latency and even clicking issues. I immediately updated the firmware on the MM731 and performed all of my testing with mouse firmware v2.3.4 and dongle firmware v1.4.6. While it is great to see Cooler Master fix issues when they are found, the firmware update process is very odd. For one, it forces users to plug in the wireless dongle and connect wirelessly. You would think connecting with a direct wired connection is the best way to perform an update. Secondly, the fact you need to have both connected in order for any firmware to be updated is a bit strange to me. Thirdly, you cannot launch the program without updating the firmware first, which seems a bit forced. Lastly, you cannot configure the mouse over Bluetooth. That said, once everything was up to date, MasterPlus+ functioned and was able to work with the MM731.
As for the MasterPlus+ software, the program generally works well. Specific to the MM731, there are a total of six different configuration pages. The first tab is marked Wireless, where users can change the sleep timer and low power mode to reduce power usage when the battery is low. The second tab is called 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 will cycle through. The Lighting tab lets you adjust the lighting on the MM731. This provides typical LED modes such as Static, Breathing, and Color Cycle. 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. Unfortunately, Cooler Master has still not addressed the 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 clean and easy-to-use.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
