In today’s market a company cannot maintain a single vertical portfolio and survive. We have seen this more times that we can count. You just cannot do it. If all you make is motherboards, you are eventually going to get left behind. If all you make is power supplies… well you get the point I am making. So it is not surprising to see companies begin to branch out and manufacture different products. Sometimes these products do not even seem to be related, but if they are good they can increase sales and also bring in new customers for the core business. Cooler Master did this not that long ago. The branched off their PC Enclosure business and created a new “gamers” line of cases dubbed CM Storm. Almost right after this line launched they began making peripherals for gamers as well. These products have included Mice, Head Sets, and Keyboards. So far we have spent some quality time with three of their mice and the Sirus headset. Today we are looking at another gaming mouse called the Xornet. This product shares a similar style with their Spawn mouse but not the same level of hardware. Let’s take a look and see if the new Xornet is a worthy addition to the CM Storm line.
Value -Value is another very subjective topic. What is expensive to some might be a deal to others. You can look at this topic in multiple ways. One is raw price and the other is what you get for the money. Each is accurate and both are correct ways to look at price/value. We tend to look at features, performance and real-property when we discuss value. However, we also take into account the raw cash cost of the item.The Xornet will set you back a mere $30. This is really a drop in the bucket for a mouse of this quality. Of course for only $15 more you can get programmability and 3500 DPI from the CM Storm Spawn. This is something to think about if you are a heavy gamer. If, on the other hand you are on a tight budget and want the same feel and comfort of the Spawn then the Xornet is an excellent option for you.Conclusion -As the Xornet is based on the same design as the Spawn I like the comfort and ease of operation that it provides. Although the 2000DPI Optical sensor made the Xornet “feel” slower in reality it was not that bad and you had the added benefit of better accuracy (or at least the perception of accuracy). I do wish that there was a way to program the controls, but then again that would push the price up and that would not be good either. Speaking of price, the $30 price tag is great, but I think that to make this really move and to not see the Spawn outselling the Xornet due to the small price difference Cooler Master might want to drop this down to $25 or even $20 (depending on the cost of manufacture). At those prices the Xornet would be a steal and it would only make people want to drop the extra $20-25 to get the Spawn later. So to wrap things up, the CM Storm Xornet is a nice little mouse that will not cost you a ton of money. It is a solid gaming mouse and excellent for Photoshop/ Production work. We can highly recommend this to anyone looking to pick up a nimble, comfortable and inexpensive mouse.Discuss this in our Forum
