Nowadays Cherry is known primarily for its mechanical switches for keyboards, but the company also manufactures its own range of peripherals and accessories as well, some of which are unique. This week Cherry introduced its MC 4900 mouse that features an integrated fingerprint reader compatible with Microsoft’s Windows Hello aiming individuals and organizations concerned about security that want to take advantage of easy biometric authentication.

The Cherry MC 4900 (JM-A4900) is an ambidextrous mouse for office and other business environments. The pointing device does not feature the extravagant design or tailored ergonomics found on premium and gaming mice, but it still features rubberized side panels and a wide scroll wheel for added comfort. The Cherry MC 4900 uses an optical sensor with a sampling rate of 1375 DPI, which is nearly in line with the performance offered premium office/professional mice by other manufacturers (e.g., Logitech's MX Master has a 1600-DPI sensor). But while performance is important, is not the key feature of the product.

The main advantage of the Cherry MC 4900 over competing mice is the integrated Crossmatch TouchChip TCS2 fingerprint sensor that uses capacitive sensing technology. The sensor has a 508 DPI resolution and can capture fingerprints ta a rate of 12 FPS. The TouchChip TCS2 supports AES128 to encrypt fingerprint data when it is transferred over the USB bus, but it is unknown whether Crossmatch's software uses secure environments such as those enabled by the Intel SGX and Microsoft Windows 10 VBS to process fingerprint data.

Cherry’s MC 4900 mouse is compatible with Windows Hello and Windows Biometric Framework, but there is an SDK that can enable the biometric authentication on other platforms, including Apple’s MacOS or Linux.

Cherry said that the MC4900 mouse is available now with silver or black finish from select retailers at a recommended retail price of €110/$130/£100.

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Source: Cherry

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  • BvO - Tuesday, December 5, 2017 - link

    All your replied are absolute nonsense. "Hurdur muh fingerprint scanner price"

    Make it 5$ more expensive and actually turn into a good office mouse.
  • DanNeely - Saturday, December 2, 2017 - link

    Without the forward and back buttons it's lacking key functionality of any good mouse from the last 15+ years. It doesn't matter how awesome it is at extra stuff if it can't fulfill the basic requirements of a decent entry level mouse.
  • ddrіver - Sunday, December 3, 2017 - link

    I will say it again: the crappiest chinese fingerprint readers out there cost $30 and up. A good ones, with proper encryption and fast, hi-res sensor cost around $100 or more.

    I'm willing to bet a kidney (not my own, but a kidney) that most of the people around here never stepped foot in a big business office. One of the most popular office mice is this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-Optical-Wheel-USB-...

    Notice how big businesses don't actually care about giving you frills but functionality. And if you have to ask this mouse is probably not for you anyway ;).
  • igavus - Sunday, December 3, 2017 - link

    Yup, keyboard, mouse & headphones are among the first things you'll change on your company supplied standard desk if you don't want to be miserable for the next 8 hours per day times however long you decide to stick around. Good peripherals are worth it at the office. But this, this is not it. If you need a fingeprint sensor, get it on your keyboard. The microsoft modern one is not too bad. But then again, I think most enterprises are using dongles and not fingerprints these days.
  • ddrіver - Sunday, December 3, 2017 - link

    I'll keep it short with a few questions.
    a) "This isn't it" because you already saw 3 pictures of it, read a review, or actually used it?
    b) How much does a comparable dongle cost?
    c) The mouse sucks because it has "just" 3 buttons but a keyboard with no programmable buttons, no mechanical switches, tiny functional keys is worth it?
    d) Does the MS sensor have encryption?
    e) Do you think you're allowed to bring your own peripherals in those places where you need a hires fingerprint sensor with encryption?
    f) If most enterprises aren't doing something should all others just quickly switch for conformity?

    Jeez, all ATers these days only think about the toys they have at home. This isn't a "consumer" mouse. It's not meant to replace your wireless gaming mouse with RGB and 50 buttons. You can always blow their mind with an expensive enterprise feature.
  • DanNeely - Sunday, December 3, 2017 - link

    The Dell equivalent to that was the default mouse at my last job (~1500 people at its peak) given to new hires. I'd estimate somewhere between half and three quarters of the people I worked with either fought their way through the bureaucrazy to get a better one via the ergonomics program or just bought an alternative for their main system out of pocket. A significant fraction of the remainder used their laptops touchpad and stuffed their mouse in a drawer.
  • TheTurboFool - Sunday, December 3, 2017 - link

    You of course realize WHY those mice are so common, right? It's not specifically BECAUSE they lack extra buttons, or they enjoy standardizing on limited equipment. It's because they're incredibly cheap. Something this mouse is not. So your counter example isn't relevant here. If one is going to spend this kind of money on a mouse, it should absolutely have the basic standard functions of a mouse even close to its price range. Also, probably shouldn't look like one you would get at a drug store.
  • Lord of the Bored - Sunday, December 3, 2017 - link

    If it stores the fingerprint profiles in an onboard Optane SSD, it is worth every penny.
  • ddrіver - Sunday, December 3, 2017 - link

    You heard that Optane word here on AT and it sounded so cool you need to use it more? Yeah... AT is definitely not the place to go if you want to discuss about a product a 12 year old wouldn't use...

    RGP lighting, thousands of DPI, adjustable weight, at least 15 buttons, this is what a business needs. Oh and wireless, especially in very sensitive business areas.
  • Death666Angel - Sunday, December 3, 2017 - link

    Dude, you have way too much time. Stop being a dick to everyone around here, even if their comments are a bit off.

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