Software

The Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse is compatible with Alienware Command Center, which is the staple software suite for everything Alienware. The experience with Command Center can only be described as miserable. Simply getting the software to run already requires patience, as loading the main Window takes a while, and interacting with any UI elements should only be done in moderation, as crashes are rather frequent when doing that. In particular, selecting the "calibration" tab at the wrong time will invariably crash Command Center. From a design perspective, it is puzzling as to why the mouse Window is so large, yet the actual settings section is cramped to where scrolling becomes necessary. Functionally, the sliders for CPI adjustment are the biggest offender, as certain values such as 400 or 3100 CPI are skipped over, and manual input is not possible. Mundane tasks such as setting up a macro are done in the most confusing and unintuitive fashion imaginable. In addition, a nearly unlimited number of background processes is spawned by Command Center, which amass a RAM footprint quite like no other software. In summary, Command Center easily qualifies as one of if not the worst mouse software ever conceived.

All settings are distributed across two tabs. The first one allows for button remapping to mouse or macro functions. The second tab has all other settings, which in turn are distributed across a second set of tabs. CPI adjustment is possible for five steps at a range of 100 to 26,000 CPI, albeit only in increments of 100, as the software imposes this limit despite the sensor natively supporting increments of 50. Polling rate may be adjusted separately for each step, with 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz being available in wireless operation, and 8000 Hz being exclusive to wired operation. Lift-off distance may be set to 1 or 2 mm, though this setting is not functional and defaults to 1 mm. Windows pointer settings are present as well. One may also define the idle time needed to pass before the mouse enters sleep mode, as well as the battery charge percentage at which polling rate is reduced. The latter option is interesting in that the battery charge indicator is not percentage-based.

All settings changes are saved to the on-board memory when applied, so the software does not need to be running all the time. On my system, the software had a RAM footprint of 855 MB on average when running in the foreground, which doesn't change when minimized to the task bar. Upon exiting the application, almost all processes (double-digit number) continue to run, resulting in a RAM footprint of 685 MB. This includes multiple services installed by Command Center.

Battery Life

Alienware cites a battery life of 120 hours at a polling rate of 1000 Hz and 32 hours at a polling rate of 4000 Hz. Since the battery life indicator included in the software lacks any sort of percentage or segmentation, I'm unable to gauge expected battery life to any degree.

Sleep mode is entered after three minutes of inactivity by default, but can be adjusted within the software.

Using the included USB Type-A to Type-C charging cable, I measured the charging speed during the constant current stage. However, even during the bulk stage, readings were far from consistent, as they started out at more than 0.3 A, and then continually decreased. The battery has a capacity of 370 mAh (3.7 V) and utilizes a 3-pin JST connector.