The differences between laser mice and optical have blurred over the past couple of years. While many will opt for a laser mouse because a laser mouse is much more precise, in theory at least, and is much better at tracking on a wide range of surfaces while the optical mouse are generally cheaper while retaining much of the laser mice qualities. Both technologies are 'optical' in nature with the difference being the illumination type; laser mouse use a laser to illuminate the surface while optical mice use an LED. Enhancements in both technologies are such that the differences are very difficult to measure in real world use. After all, can anyone really make use of a DPI (or CPI as SteelSeries prefer to call it) higher than 3 or 4k? We doubt it. With DPI's on high end devices now going well beyond 6k, the battle is fought not with manual articulation but merely with numbers.