Verdict

The AW959 gaming mouse offers good value, and what it lacks in performance it makes up for in overall look and feel

Pros

• Solid feeling mouse buttons
• Fantastic build quality
• Competitively priced

Cons

• A little lacking in DPI by comparison to its competition
• The sidepod accessories are a little fiddly to use

What is the Alienware Elite AW959 Gaming Mouse?

The Alienware Elite AW959 is the latest wired gaming mouse from Dell-owned PC gaming specialist Alienware. It features a decent DPI range from 100 right up to 12,000, and when combined with its great build quality and a nice feel, it seems like an excellent peripheral.

Related: Best Gaming Mouse 2019

Alienware Elite AW959 Gaming Mouse – Design, build & features

The AW959 Elite presents itself in a really lovely design. Its build quality is second-to-none and the metal buttons and scroll wheel complement the hard plastic shell nicely.

It fits rather nicely in my hand, and with the additional magnetic side-pods, Alienware has you covered if you’ve got larger hands. These black magnetic side-pods also add a couple of extra side-mounted buttons that can also be programmed as other macro keys. What’s more, there’s some nifty weights present in the box that click into place on the underside of the mouse. These give the AW959 a bit of additional weight so it doesn’t fly across the desk flippantly. There’s a braided USB cable that comes in at 1.8 metres, meaning it’ll meet all your cable needs too.

Also present on the mouse are the typical buttons that allow you to move forwards or backwards when navigating web pages, while a little black button atop the mouse allows you to quickly change the lighting colour of the three-pointed star embedded into the mouse.

The metal mouse buttons complements the soft-touch plastics on the mouse perfectly and the extra magnetic macro keys are a joy to use

Alienware Elite AW959 Gaming Mouse – Performance

The AW959 is rather responsive given its price, although once you get up to the maximum 12,000 DPI, it does become a little erratic. This isn’t the most responsive gaming mouses around, with similarly priced rivals such as the HP Omen Reactor boasting a DPI of 16,000, but most people should be fine with 12,000 DPI.

What the AW959 lacks in performance, it makes up for in design and quality. It works perfectly on the wooden desk surface here at the office, while it’s also happy on a mouse mat and even a glass desk at home.

Moreover, its plug-and-play nature helps with the overall accessibility and usability of the mouse. The AW959 also features Omron switches that are guaranteed to last 50 million clicks. Although that may sound a lot, with hours of intense gaming, all those clicks will add up.

Related: Best Gaming Keyboard 2019

Alienware Elite AW959 Gaming Mouse – Software & lighting

The AW959 runs the Alienware Command Center which allows for adjustment of the 16.8 million RGB colour lighting that this mouse boasts. The software allows for eight different lighting preset options, so those who wish to fiddle around with the mouse’s lighting options can do so to their heart’s content. There’s also 512KB of on-board memory that allows for the storage of both lighting settings and macro-key bindings.

In testing the Command Center, we found the Alienware software to be both intuitive and easy to use. It presents the user with options for both lighting and macro keys, as the functions of the two side-mounted mouse buttons can be customised to whatever you fancy. That’s pretty nifty!

The two little magnetic weights that come with the AW959

Should I buy the Alienware Elite AW959 Gaming Mouse?

If you’re looking for a simple and affordable gaming mouse, then this is great option. For its price, the AW959 gives you plenty of features and what it lacks in software performance, it makes up for in overall look and feel.

Trusted Score