Aorus Thunder M7 MMO Gaming Mouse Review

Aorus Thunder M7 MMO Gaming Mouse Review

Manufacturer: Aorus
UK Price (as reviewed): £67.77 (inc VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $87.99 (ex Tax)

Being able to execute commands quickly in PC gaming is crucial to success. Whether it's switching DPIs or executing a macro, mouse manufacturers are constantly striving to strike a balance between ergonomics and features. These two aspects come to a particularly pointy head with MMO-orientated mice but Aorus has been focusing on just this issue with its new mouse, the Thunder M7.

We're not ones to comment often on packaging, but the box is quite possibly one of the best we've seen of any peripheral and was akin to opening up an Apple product. The mouse comes hidden in a soft-lined zip case with the cables expertly hidden away and the paperwork tucked inside the main box. It's an exquisitely neat affair and while this obviously doesn't impact on performance, it's a nice touch indeed and thrown in is a spare set of mouse feet too.


A lot of other button-bristling MMO mice we've seen have their main programmable button set located directly under your thumb - Razer's Naga and Logitech's M600 spring to mind, but this invariably makes them a little uncomfortable to use if you're not in gaming mode and just web browsing.


The Thunder M7 on the other hand has them resting above your thumb so that outside of casting spells and generally annihilating your enemy, the Thunder M7 feels like a normal mouse. It's quite squat though, and isn't for the large-handed. At 116mm long it's a good deal shorter than your average FPS mouse such as Func's MS-2 and Asus's ROG Gladius, making it more suited to claw and fingertip grip types.


Unfortunately, the DPI shifters are miles back meaning you have to completely lift your hand off the mouse to use them. In addition, any attempt to use a palm or flat claw grip sees them push into your palm. Other than this oversight, the Thunder M7 is quite comfortable although for such a small mouse it's also a little heavy. That said, the Teflon feet do a good job of keeping friction to a minimum while movement is smooth and predictable.


This is possibly just our brains playing tricks - you expect it to be lighter due to its size but there are no weights included and while it actually weighs a little less than some FPS mice at 110g, it may take some getting used to. Aorus claims the Thunder M7 has 16 programmable buttons and for a few minutes we were bemused as we could only see 14. A quick ramble through the very clear instructions revealed that the company actually counts the scroll up and down movements as buttons, which is a tad misleading.


If 14 buttons is still enough for you then this won't matter but if you'd already drawn up a list of 16 commands then this could come as a bit of a blow. Eight of the buttons are located on the left hand side with the standard back and forward thumb buttons being numbers three and four, above the row of four buttons.

The DPI buttons in the centre make up another two, along with the standard left and right buttons with the scroll wheel itself able to be depressed bringing the total to 15. The final button sits under your ring finger and again, our natural position has this sitting just above our finger. It sports a 1.8m braided cable, 8,200 DPI laser sensor and has a claimed 30G acceleration and 150 inches per second maximum tracking speed.