By Gareth Butterfield

Copyright scotsman

For a long time now, if you wanted to buy the best computer mouse on the market, you’d pretty much have to buy the Logitech MX Master 3s.

It’s a little pricey but pretty much perfect productivity mouse with everything set up exactly how you’d like it, and everything functioning brilliantly.

Only, something has now come along to ruin that. It’s the Logitech MX Master 4. In short, it’s the same recipe, but with some new ingredients. And it’s as near to perfect as I think we’re going to get.

It looks almost identical at first glance. And that’s a good thing, because the physical design and layout were one of the Master 3s’s best attributes.

Look a bit more closely, though, and you’ll see subtle differences. There’s a transparent line around the two now translucent finger buttons, the thumb-scroll wheel has moved up a bit, there’s a third button in front of the back/forward buttons on the side, and a large button where your thumb sits.

It’s also made of a different material. It feels less soft and rubberised, which you might think is a bad thing, but it’s by no means uncomfortable, and it should mean it’s less susceptible to wear marks.

It still charges off USB-C, it still doesn’t have a place to store the USB dongle, and it has the same 8,000 DPI sensor.

You might think, then, that little has changed, other than some superficial tweaks and a few buttons you’re probably never going to use. But oh, how wrong you’d be.

Because somehow, Logitech has taken the best mouse in the business and made it not just a bit better, but leaps and bounds better.

The battery life is better, the clicks are quieter, the connectivity is better, it glides more smoothly across your desk, and the slightly altered control layout is better.

And we haven’t even got to the really good stuff yet. A lot of the headlines with the new MX Master 4 are centred around that new thumb button. As with the Master 3s, you can programme in gestures using the Logi+ desktop app, but now there’s a new actions wheel, which pops up on your screen, giving you a ring of configurable shortcuts. You have to invest some time setting this up, but it’s a marvellous little productivity tool, and very easy to use.

You can buy the MX Master 4 mouse for £119.99 direct from Logitech here.

Haptic feedback is another clever addition. Moving around the action ring, for example, is acknowledged with a faint buzz on your thumb. You can add haptics to other actions, too, but I’ve not really bothered with that.

Where it becomes very useful, though, is with the new plugins feature. Certain software developers can add tools to their apps that interact with the mouse and use the haptics for all sorts of clever tricks.

For example, in Photoshop, if you push an image up against a guideline, you’ll get a little tap to tell you you’re lined up.

Truth be told, very few plugins are available at launch, but the more popular this mouse becomes, the more likely we are to see some very imaginative functionality develop.

More than anything, though, the best attributes of the Master 4 lie in your hands, quite literally. Because of the plethora of customisation and configuration options, you can set it up exactly how you like it. And, if you upgrade from the 3s to the 4, for example, the Logi+ app will move your setup over seamlessly.

It’s quite hard to pick fault with the Master 4, but it is a bit heavy, it’s not available in a left-handed layout, and that thumb button is easy to press accidentally if you ever pick your mouse up.

But nit-picking aside, Logitech has pulled off something remarkable with the MX Master 4. It’s taken the best mouse you’ll ever use, a genuine five-star product, and it’s significantly improved it.

I don’t often give out five stars in a review, but I can’t think of a consumer tech gadget that’s deserved one more than this. It’s absolutely magnificent.