Build Quality

Overall build quality is solid. When shaking the mouse, a minor rattle comes from the main buttons. When applying lateral pressure, no creaking or flexing of the shell can be observed. Activating the side buttons by squeezing the sides is impossible. Lastly, accidental clicks when slamming down the mouse do occur regardless of the set debounce time, albeit not consistently.

Buttons

Main buttons on the ML903 NearLink are good. Whereas the left button has moderate pre and low post-travel, the right one has moderate pre and post-travel. Button response is fairly firm and snappy nonetheless. Despite being visually separated from the shell, button movement is fairly low even when provoked. Button stiffness is light. A pair of Kailh switches (transparent white shell, white plunger) are used here.


Side buttons are excellent (forward button) to good (back button). Both buttons have very low pre-travel and even actuation, but the back button suffers from significant post-travel to where the button can be pushed into the shell by a decent amount. Button size and placement are quite good, as actuation is possible rather easily by rolling one's thumb across. A set of Kailh switches (cyan plunger) are used for these.

At the bottom of the mouse is a single button for cycling through the set CPI levels, which works fine. A seemingly unbranded tactile switch is used for this one. In addition, a slider switches between NearLink, Bluetooth, and off-state, which also works fine.

Scroll Wheel

The scroll wheel is subpar. Noise levels are acceptable, but tactility is essentially completely absent, as the steps lack separation almost entirely, which makes controlled scrolling rather difficult. The encoder comes from Kailh (gray) and has a height of 13 mm. The middle (scroll wheel) click requires medium force for actuation. An elevated switch from Huano (green plunger) is used here.

Surface

The ML903 NearLink has a chalky matte surface all over. Grip is fine, and it doesn't attract fingerprints or dirt too much. A dot pattern that is part of the mold on the sides provides additional grip. The surface is easy to clean, and there are no signs of wear left after doing so. All in all, excellent materials.

Button Sound Test

Disassembly

Disassembling the ML903 NearLink is very easy. First, all the skates and the screws beneath them need to be removed. Top and bottom are now easily separated, though caution is advised to avoid ripping the cable going from the main to the side-button PCB.

The internal design is very simple. The side buttons sit on their own PCB screwed to the top shell and connected through a 3-pin connector. Everything else sits on the main PCB, including the battery, which is stuck to the rear. Four screws are used to affix the moderately thick main PCB to the bottom. The MCU has the marking VTTQ2Q3U7 and appears to be manufactured by HiSilicon, which is wholly owned by Huawei. Production date for the main PCB is the 42nd week of 2023, whereas the side-button PCB was manufactured during the 31st week of 2023.


As for the soldering and general quality of the PCB, I'm unable to find any noteworthy flaws.