The Asus TUF M4 is a truly no-nonsense gaming mouse, unlike most gaming mice these days the M4 doesn’t have any in your face RGB, nor does it have a futuristic looking form factor. Instead for all intents and purposes, the TUF is your ordinary looking mouse. Sure, it has a slight angular design at the front, but apart from that it’s your everyday mouse in terms of design.
However, looks can be deceiving. The Asus TUF M4 is absolutely a gaming mouse. With 6 programmable buttons and adjustable polling rates the Asus TUF M4 does everything you need it to when gaming. It doesn’t waste time trying to be overly flashy which in turn helps keep it priced very reasonably, and its ambidextrous design makes it perfect for both left and right-handed gamers
Ad mentioned the design of the M4 wireless is very understated, it’s a mid-sized yet lightweight mouse that features premium PBT polymer top covers and side buttons with a very classy and durable matte black finish. I’ve been using it a lot for work due to the fact it does in fact still look a lot like your average office mouse, and in 2022 there’s one thing that’s extremely important in any workplace and that’s being clean and sanitary. So, the fact that the TUF M4 Wireless comes with ASUS’s Antibacterial Guard keeps it just that. Clean and sanitary, so of course that’s a major plus.
Now, one thing you may not notice straight away is just how much effort Asus has gone to here to make the TUF M4 as lightweight as possible without compromising the design like a lot of other mice do. So much so they even include a battery converter. So, the mouse runs on a single AA battery, however in order to achieve a 10% weight reduction, ASUS have included a lightweight plastic AAA to AA battery converter which allows you to use a AAA battery instead of a AA one. This might not be a huge deal to some, but when it comes to competitive gaming, lightweight is always better for shaving off even milliseconds off your reaction times. This combined with the silky-smooth movement thanks to 100% virgin-grade PTFE mouse feet really make the TUF M4 feel weightless when you're using it.
Being 100% battery powered is something I both love and hate about the ASUS TUF M4, while yes it is nice to be 100% cable free and if I run out of battery I simply swap it out and am up and running again wirelessly with immediate effect. In fact there’s no way to even plug a cable into the TUF M4 Wireless at all. But at the same time, that means there’s both an ongoing cost involved in keeping it running with the purchase of $10-15 packs of batteries every 6-12 months depending on usage, but if you run out and have no spare batteries as a backup, youre PC is effectively rendered unusable until you buy some. Most mice allow the ability to run via cable if battery power is not an option. I like this emergency backup option and in my opinion the way to go over 100% battery powered.
As far as gaming performance goes the M4 Wireless features 6 tactile, programmable buttons with an onboard memory for customization and making the mouse suit your personal style. It has a gaming grade 12,000 dpi optical sensor for pixel precision when moving the mouse and an on-the-fly button to quickly switch between the 4 levels of sensitivity. If you're new to gaming mice etc. this is super important for competitive gaming etc. For example, this switching allows you to be playing a game like call of duty and have it set to real sensitive when running around and manoeuvring through windows etc. and really allows you to move much quicker and more precisely. Then when you're aiming down the sights (specifically when using snipers) you can now slow the sensitivity down to allow for way slower moving and a much more accurate aim.
One thing I love, and something that a lot of gaming mice at this price point don’t seem to worry about is the dual connectivity, whether it be via the USB 2.4 GHz or Bluetooth 5.1 the connectivity options are endless. Now obviously for gaming you're going to want to use the low latency of the 2.4 GHz of the USB but if you're just casually creating content and /or game with a controller then the Bluetooth 5.1 connection is super easy to set up and extremely responsive.
One more important thing it's worth mentioning, the battery life on the ASUS TUF M4 is capable of up to approximately 230 hours on Bluetooth and 134 hours on 2.4GHz wireless. This isn't a huge battery life, considering once every 16 days of work-day use you have to swap out the battery. Sure it's better than the likes of the ROG Chakram that we recently tested and that I use every day. It comes in at around 40 hours, but that allows for charging which I do every few days and in fact supports wireless charging that, I now do on my Cold Drawer side table which has a wireless charger built in to the top, and depending on your mouse pad, could be happening while you use it so you never have to worry about charging again.
The combination of everything above; the lightweight design, the virgin grade PTFE feet, the programmable tactile buttons and the toggleable dpi, will have a surprising impact on your gaming experience. So for the price point of under $100 I definitely recommend the Asus TUF M4 as a perfect starting gaming mouse. I’ve wasted time and money on cheaper mice from brands like Kogan etc. and aside from a bunch of malware that came with it, the performance was nowhere near what it is with brands like ASUS. If you're looking for an effective and affordable way to improve your keyboard and mouse game, the ASUS TUF M4 Wireless is a perfect way to do so.
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