This Is The Surface Arc Mouse Microsoft Didn't Talk About

The student-friendly Windows 10 S and the not so student-friendly Surface Laptop were, of course, the stars of Microsoft's education-centric show. But in the flurry of announcements, Microsoft ran out of time to introduce something that featured prominently in its PR images and videos. Never fear, Microsoft at least didn't forget to put up a product page for it. The Surface Arc Mouse, basically a redesigned Arc Touch mouse, will be ready to match your Surface Laptop's style when they both launch next month.

For those unfamiliar with Microsoft's mice, the Arc Touch, specifically the Bluetooth model, is perhaps the slimmest Bluetooth mouse you'll ever find. It is thin and mostly flat and you "snap" it to a curved shaped in order to turn it on. It's a perfect travel companion for the Surface Pros and Books, and, now also for the Surface Laptop.

The basic design and mechanism of this new Surface Arc Mouse hasn't changed much from its predecessor, but there is one very critical new feature. The Arc Touch mouse has a thin capacitive strip right in the middle, emulating a scroll wheel and middle mouse button. That strip is now gone and all you have is one, whole, smooth surface.

Don't fret, though. That surface is practically a touchpad, which means you can use the same swiping gestures, both up-down and left-right, to navigate through user interfaces. Yes, exactly like the Apple Magic Mouse.

The Microsoft Surface Arc Mouse is up for pre-order today for $79.99 but won't be shipping until 15th June. That happily coincides with the Surface Laptop's shipping. The association doesn't even end there. The Surface Arc Mouse is available in the same colors as the Surface Laptop, including Burgundy, Light Gray, and Cobalt Blue.