Dots per inch (DPI) is a measurement that defines the overall sensitivity of the mouse you are using. The higher you set the DPI of the mouse, the faster your cursor will move. A mouse with more DPI settings identifies and acts to smaller movements.
However, higher DPI doesn’t always mean that it will always better. You certainly don’t want the cursor of the mouse to move across all the way to the screen when you move the mouse slightly. A higher DPI, on the other hand, helps the mouse identify and act to small movements so that you can point at a particular thing more accurately.
DPI and the simple mouse sensitivity are two different things. DPI denotes a mouse’s hardware capabilities, the sensitivity, on the other hand, is just a set of the software. If you want to point on a small target, the cursor will jump across as you move the mouse. The hardware of the mouse is not that sensitive, this is why it doesn’t identify the smaller movements. The operating system of your device compensates that by sliding the cursor further when it identifies the movement, but the movement isn’t just smooth.
Does the DPI of a mouse matter in Gaming?
Today every mouse comes with a minimum of 1600 DPI which is great for a normal screen. If you have higher DPI than this then it will be hard for you to control the mouse. However, if you have got a high pixel-density screen like Mac Retina screen along with 300 pixels per inch, then you might want a mouse with higher DPI. First-person-shooter gamers generally need low DPI mouse probably as low as 800 DPI. This allows precise movement control of the mouse.
Gamers of Low-DPI generally use a big mouse pad. The width of the mousepad is generally similar to the keyboard. So, they move their arm to use the mouse with low DPI.
For example, if you are playing with a mouse for MMO games, you normally don’t need that high of a DPI, then you would need when playing an FPS game.
How To Change the DPI of a mouse?
Changing DPI means you can directly change the speed of the pointer to efficiently do your particular tasks like photo editing or gaming. Higher the DPI number faster will be the speed of the pointer. Some mouse models come with separate buttons that will help you instantly change the DPI of the mouse. If you want to change the sensitivity of a mouse, then you should look for an option in the software or the game you are using.
Steps to change the DPI settings of the mouse
- If the mouse has a dedicated DPI button, press one of the buttons to get a new setting. Some mouse will change colors, some will just simply make the change.
- For a mouse that doesn’t have dedicated DPI button on it, you should be able to set the
