Looks

While the regular XM1 in black is by no means an ugly mouse, it goes for a decidedly reserved aesthetic of gentle elegance rather than fancy flashiness. The XM1 White keeps this approach intact, but eclipses its less brightly shaded brethren by reversing the color scheme. The black coating turned to white, while the white-silvery logo turned to black. The uniformity of color is broken up by the side buttons and the scroll wheel, which are still pitch black.


Keeping these elements black could be seen as a point of contention, as a truly all-white approach may end looking more striking over what some may deem a bland two-tone design. Given these elements will see a good amount of use, and the scroll wheel in particular its fair share of dust, hair follicles, and dead skin cells, I firmly believe that function trumping form should be given higher regard in this context. In similar fashion, the base is kept in black as well, which makes it identical to the regular XM1. This too has practical reasons since a non-black bottom plate may end up refracting some of the light emitted by the sensor LED, which may result in tracking being affected negatively.


Although the footage shown here already gives some indication, the actual shade of white used on the XM1 White merits a more detailed description. Instead of recreating a plain white, Endgame Gear opted for slightly mellowing the white, which makes it look less aggressive. Whether one prefers the stark plainness of the Logitech G305 in white, for instance, or the fuzzy and soft white of the XM1 White is, as always, entirely up to oneself.