Gaming mouse vs normal mouse

[TheSpartaGod]

What's the difference between a normal mouse and a gaming mouse? I mean besides the over 9000 DPI (which is not really that useful for me) setting and more buttons, there is really not that much of a difference for me. I really would like to know why is should upgrade to a gaming mouse rather than using my 5$ mouse i got from walmart for an active player such as me.

 

[migronesien]

Higher quality > will laster longer
You can adjust some to fit your hand or just buy one which fits your hand best.
Alot of gaming mouses are also a bit weight adjustable.
And at least for me they feel a bit more precise.
Alot of DPI settings.
Aaaaand the design is cooler.

 

[Cazauxx]

Major things about gaming mouses:
More comfortable
Better DPI
Faster clicks (easier to click)
And sometimes lights.

 

[ben001]

The main differences you can notice:

The DPI & sensor used. You can see most gaming mouse uses extra buttons.

 

[Vynavill]

As said already, sensor, build quality and click sensitivity are the main changes.

More buttons, weird or customizable form factors, customizable weights, aesthetics and the possibility of configuring macros are perhaps the other things that come to mind but which you can do without.

That said, it doesn't mean non-gaming mice don't deserve a shot, nor that gaming ones are the absolute must.
I've played the bejeezus out of many games with a generic HP optical mouse and still had a very good experience, while someone else might have got their gaming peripheral dead after a couple weeks, for example.

 

[jaguarskx]

Primarily DPI and more buttons. A mouse with high DPI means the mouse is more sensitive to movements. With very high DPI you can simply nudge the mouse and the mouse cursor flies across the screen or if playing a FPS game, your character will turn more with minimal mouse movement.

Buttons on the mouse allows you to bind keyboard keys to the mouse so that you can keep your fingers on the AWSD keys more often.

Gaming mice are not automatically higher quality than normal mice. There are plenty of low quality "gaming" mice and "normal" mice. But since gaming mice are more expensive than normal mice, people expect them to be of higher quality.