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Razer recently debuted its very first tempered glass mouse pad — the Razer Atlas. Now, while many people think mouse pads these days are just superfluous desk decorations (because optical mice can track on just about anything), gamers, at least, can still appreciate the value of a dedicated, consistent playing surface. Like most gaming peripherals, the best gaming mouse pad is pretty personal — there’s no single, perfect product for all (or even most) users.

Or, well, there wasn’t…

I’m not saying the Atlas is the best mouse pad I’ve ever used, but it might be the best mouse pad I’ve ever used. Trust me, I do not say these words lightly, and I started from a place of deep, deep skepticism. After all, not only is the Atlas essentially just a Razer-branded slab of glass, it’s a $100 Razer-branded slab of glass. To be fair, the Atlas isn’t the first glass mouse pad ever , it’s merely Razer’s first glass mouse pad. There are a handful of glass mouse pads already on the market, including the Superglide from Pulsar and the Mousepad 3.0 from SkyPad — both of which are priced very close to the Atlas.

But $100 is $100, and the Atlas is ultimately a piece of glass – a large, heavy, somewhat boring-looking piece of glass with some optical sensor-optimized micro-etching and a smudge-resistant oleophobic coating. It’s also possibly unusually fragile, based on the various safety guidelines and warnings Razer has provided thus far. It hardly seems worth a second look — on paper, at least.

But it feels amazing , and it tracks like a dream . Not that my old mouse pad had any issues with tracking, because it didn’t (doesn’t — it’s still here, sitting next to the Atlas on my desk), but the Atlas just feels so good to use that even recognizably identical performance just feels better, somehow.

What’s even crazier is that I don’t really like hard mouse pads with their smooth, sexy, low-friction surfaces. I don’t need to move my mouse across seven screens in the blink of an eye. In fact, I much prefer soft, textured mouse pads, which offer detailed, precise pointer control, at the expense of speed. I don’t mind feeling like I’m dragging my mouse through a muddy gravel driveway if it means pixel-perfect accuracy. Or, at least, I didn’t, until I spent approximately three minutes gliding my mouse across the silky-smooth surface of the Atlas.

Unboxing the Atlas

The Atlas arrived in a slim, poster-sized shipping box, though the actual retail packaging is only slightly larger than the product itself. I’m not sure if all Atlases will ship in such large boxes, or if this was just all they could find for the review unit (the packaging wasn’t otherwise ostentatious — if anything, it looked pretty hastily put together).

This is an entirely analog mouse pad. It has no RGB and it (thankfully) does not connect to Razer’s Synapse 3 software ecosystem. And it thus does not come with any cables or accessories. It didn’t even come with Razer’s usual instruction booklet and Chroma stickers (because it doesn’t have Chroma, I suppose).

The Atlas’s lack of RGB and fancy, all-glass construction does give this mouse pad a refined, premium look — but I’m not sure that’s what people want as part of their blinged-out Razer gaming setup. I placed the Atlas on my desk next to my current mouse pad — the Razer Strider Chroma — and the Atlas does sort of seem like a black hole next to all my spectrum-cycling peripherals and accessories.

The only thing inside the foam-lined box aside from the product itself was a slip of paper outlining safety guidelines and maintenance instructions. Here are the full safety guidelines:

• When placing the mouse mat, gently lay the entire mouse mat on a fully leveled surface. Don’t place the mouse mat on surfaces where its sides or edges will protrude.
• Don’t place (or drag) heavy, sharp, or rough items on top of the mouse mat, as this may scratch or damage its surface.
• Don’t strike the mouse mat using hard or pointed objects.
• Don’t place very hot or cold items on the mouse mat.

I guess that means using the Atlas as a cutting board, trivet, or coaster is out. In addition to the safety guidelines outlined on this sheet, Razer includes a handful of more dramatically illustrated safety warnings on the Atlas’s product page:

That’s right, the Atlas is a sheet of glass. Therefore, Razer thinks it’s important for you to know that it carries a risk of starting fires under direct sunlight, that it should not be used as a sunshade (?), and that it can hurt people if you bash them over the head with it. I’m not sure why Razer felt it necessary to illustrate these particular warnings, as they seem kind of ridiculous (but maybe that’s why I’m not a lawyer). The first two seem especially irrelevant, as the back of the Atlas is covered in a thin anti-slip rubber backing that renders the entirety of the mouse pad opaque.

Design and Size of the Atlas

The Atlas is… a gaming mouse pad. It’s a large, rectangular slab of CNC-milled tempered glass, with rounded edges and corners. Its surface is micro-etched with 2μm texturing that’s “optimized for optical sensors” and “specially treated for quieter swipes.” On top of this micro-etching, there’s a protective oleophobic coating that resists smudges and scratches and gives the Atlas a smooth, matte finish.

The Atlas comes in black and white colorways (my review unit was black). The Atlas isn’t particularly jaw-dropping when it’s sitting on your desk — it doesn’t have built-in RGB lighting, after all — but the micro-etched texturing does give the surface a sparkly, glittery quality when you shine a light over it. A 1.5-inch (38mm) black Razer triskelion snake logo adorns one corner of the mouse pad. Note that the logo is black on both colorways, so it’s much more visibly prominent on the white version.

The Atlas comes in one (large) size, measuring 17.72 inches (450mm) long by 15.75 inches (400mm) wide. This is the same size as Razer’s other large mouse pads, and is similar to what you’ll find from other gaming companies: SteelSeries’ large QCK (opens in new tab) has the exact same measurements, while Logitech’s G640 measures 18.11 x 15.74 inches (460 x 400mm).

The Atlas is a little thicker than many mouse pads at 0.19 inches (5mm) thick, including the anti-slip rubber backing, which is black on both colorwaysSo yea, it’s not particularly portable — it can’t be folded or rolled (obviously), and it weighs approximately 4.41 pounds (2kg).

I love large mouse pads — though I prefer XL mouse pads, which are large enough to fit under both a mouse and a keyboard. But the Atlas is a little too large. Yes, I realize it’s basically the same size as other large gaming mouse pads. But it feels larger than those, thanks to its rigid glass construction and various constraints: it can’t be placed on an uneven surface, nor can it be squeezed into a space that’s slightly too small — and you’re not supposed to let the edges or corners hang off of a desk.

I don’t know about most people, but I don’t have a lot of wide-open real estate on my desk. Finding space for a large mouse pad can be tricky, even on a desk that’s relatively free of clutter. For example, my main rig is currently set up on Cooler Master’s GD160 ARGB gaming desk , which has a 3-inch lip along the front and back edges — and I can’t place the mouse pad over this lip because it isn’t level with the rest of the tabletop.

And you can usually place things on other mouse pads — most pretty easily double as desk pads, place mats, or coasters. But while “very hot or very cold items” maybe doesn’t refer to a cup of coffee or a glass of ice water, the Atlas doesn’t really seem like the kind of mouse pad you should set a drink down on, regardless.

Tracking and Performance

This mouse pad is amazing, and I love it.

It feels incredible . The surface feels a lot like the smooth, matte glass back of an iPhone 13 or 14 — it’s soft and slick, with low static and dynamic friction. The Atlas offers just enough resistance to still function as a mouse pad, but otherwise it’s basically the mouse-surface equivalent of a perfectly tranquil, mirror-reflective lake.

The mouse pad’s surface features micro-etched, 2μm texturing that’s designed specifically to work with optical sensors and “avoid spin outs.” For the best performance, Razer recommends using one of its recent mice with its latest Focus Pro 30K Optical Sensor, which has a 99.8% resolution accuracy and is capable of tracking “flawlessly” on clear glass that’s at least 0.16 inches (4mm) thick. But any of the top picks in our best gaming mouse lineup will have a sensor that tracks well on the Atlas. Of course, if the Focus Pro 30K Optical Sensor will work “flawlessly” on any moderately insulated window, this raises the question of why you would spend $100 on a fancy, micro-etched, optical-sensor-optimized piece of glass — but I digress.

Current Razer mice with the Focus Pro 30K Optical Sensor include the DeathAdder V3 Pro , Viper V2 Pro , and Naga V2 Pro .

I tested the Atlas using a variety of mice, including premium gaming mice from Razer (Basilisk V3 Pro, DeathAdder V3 Pro), Logitech ( G 502X Plus , G705 ), and Asus ( ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition ), as well as some lower-end gaming mice that were sitting in my cable drawer (Redragon M601, M901). The Atlas’s performance was consistent across the board: Silky, dream-like gliding; low static and dynamic friction; accurate, reliable tracking; and impressive stopping power, especially for a hard surface. None of the mice had trouble tracking on the Atlas. The mice with Razer’s Focus Pro 30K Optical Sensors didnt’ feel any more precise or accurate on the Atlas’s surface — at least, not more than they normally are on any surface — compared to those with older, lower-end sensors.

Razer claims the Atlas’s surface is “specially treated” for “quieter mouse movements.” While mouse movements weren’t particularly loud, this is a hard, glass mouse pad — if you’re picking your mouse up and slamming it down, it’s going to sound like you’re slamming it down against a piece of glass. Flicks and swipes were relatively quiet, but this also depended at least somewhat on the individual mice.  The gaming mice I tested all had PTFE skates, and all sailed almost silently across the Atlas’s surface. A $6 Bluetooth mouse I bought on Amazon a few years ago, however, was pretty noisy as it moved over the surface — it definitely did not have PTFE skates (or… any skates, really). Razer recommends using mice with PTFE (“or equivalent”) skates with the Atlas, but even my skate-less Bluetooth mouse performed pretty well, considering. You will want to avoid using glass mouse skates on the Atlas, however, as glass-on-glass will scratch. And no one wants that on their $100 mouse pad.

The Bottom Line

Stop reading and buy this mouse pad, right now.

Just kidding — the Razer Atlas has inexplicably changed my entire outlook on mouse pads, but it’s not perfect (and it’s definitely not perfect for everyone). Moving a mouse over it feels like a dream and just about any mouse you throw at it tracks perfectly, but there’s more to a mouse pad than performance. My main issue with the Atlas is its size — it’s just a little too large for, I expect, most gaming setups. It may have the same dimensions as other large gaming mouse pads, but it’s less forgiving and it takes up more space because it’s a rigid piece of glass. I understand why gamers go for bigger mouse pads in general, and I don’t think the Atlas needs to shrink a full size — I think Razer could easily shave off an inch or two and find a size that still offers plenty of space without being so unwieldy.

Also, while the Atlas’s lack of resistance feels fantastic, there is such a thing as too little resistance. I didn’t love using ultra-lightweight mice, such as the DeathAdder V3 Pro and the Asus ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition with the Atlas — I wanted some resistance to, I don’t know, ground my movements, perhaps. Using a mouse that feels like nothing on a mouse pad that feels like nothing is just too much… nothing.

The Atlas is a fantastic mouse pad for an aspirationally roomy, clean, and clutter-free battlestation — and I really do love it. But for those who aren’t quite as picture-perfect — myself included — $100 is a lot to spend on something so high-maintenance and demanding of your desk space.

Until now, you may never have considered sticking your motherboard into the dishwasher, but there are people who do it often: and it works! However, unless you know exactly what you’re doing and accept the risks, it’s a bad idea.

Warning: Before you read the rest of this article, we strongly recommend that you don’t put your motherboard in your dishwasher. Leave it to the professionals!

Why Would Anyone Do This?

Before we can discuss putting PC components in a big wet home appliance with any seriousness, we have to establish that this isn’t a theoretical idea. Extreme overclockers cover their motherboards in petroleum jelly (e.g. Vaseline) as a way to (somewhat ironically) prevent condensation from shorting out the board while they use extreme cooling during benchmark runs.

Getting that gunk off the board is a huge pain, and so well-known names in the overclocking world such as der8auer use a dishwasher to make it easy. These aren’t just folks who are too lazy to dust!

RELATED: Why You Should Overclock Your RAM (It’s Easy!)

Why Doesn’t This Destroy a Motherboard?

Water and electronics seem like they should under no circumstances mix, but usually the problem isn’t so much that electronics get wet, it’s that electricity goes where it’s not supposed to and destroys sensitive components.

Assuming the device is off and the water dries completely, then in theory it should work just fine when you do finally make the electrons flow. This comes with a large list of caveats, however. For example, though the water is gone, it may leave behind corrosive or conductive materials that can still destroy metals or cause short circuits. Some of the damage may not be immediately apparent, but it’s not mere wetness that’s at issue here.

That being said, you could run a working computer in a bath of distilled water (briefly) or in a vat of mineral oil (pretty much indefinitely), and there wouldn’t be any issues because those substances don’t conduct electricity well enough to allow for short circuits,

The folks who have done this also aren’t just using the dishwasher normally. They use low or no heat settings, reduce the strength of the water jets, don’t use any detergent at all, rinse the dishwasher first, and so on. Presumably, each dishwasher model would need different precautions and overclockers are often careful with their secrets lest the competition get ahead of them!

The Risk Are Too Serious

The people who use the dishwasher method are fully aware that the working motherboard they put into the dishwasher may very well come out as a broken one. This makes sense in the world of extreme overclocking since the motherboards are considered disposable anyway. They can break at any time for any reason.

So, again, unless you simply don’t care whether your motherboard is toast, you shouldn’t attempt cleaning it in this way. Even if you follow all the advice of people who do it, there’s a significant chance that heat, residue, water spray force, or simple human error can turn your expensive computer components into trash.

There Are Safer and Better Ways to Clean Your Filthy PC

As people who use computers and gadgets far more than the average person, we have to contend with technology that gets really dirty. This also means we have heaps of collective experience cleaning that gunk:

• Cleaning a TV or monitor safely
• Sanitizing gross VR headsets
• How to properly clean a keyboard
• Really cleaning your desktop PC
• Getting all the dust out of your laptop
• Cleaning your keyboard in a dishwasher

Hey, wait a minute. Another dishwasher cleaning guide? Well, it turns out that keyboards are actually a good candidate for dishwasher cleaning, if you follow our guide to the letter! For everything else, it’s best to stick to approved computer cleaning equipment.

Falcon Dust, Off Compressed Gas Disposable Duster

It’s full of air, and, if you aren’t an overclocker, that’s all you need for a good motherboard cleaning.

Have you received an email that won’t show up on your iPhone? You’re not alone. Here’s what you can do to try and address the pesky “Message Has Not Been Downloaded From the Server” error that shows up when an email download is interrupted.

First, Try Restarting Mail

There’s a common theme among these fixes, and it’s restarting things. Since Mail doesn’t have a means of attempting to re-download a message, you should try restarting the app instead.

To do this on a modern iPhone (with a Face ID sensor and no Home button), swipe up and hold to reveal the app switcher. You can also swipe up and flick to make a sort of half-circle with your thumb. Find the Mail app in the list of apps, then flick up on it to close it (as if you’re throwing it away).

Now try opening the mail app and navigate to the message that gave you the problem in the first place.

Try Restarting Your iPhone

If that doesn’t work, you should take the next step. Restarting your iPhone will hopefully cause the Mail app to spring back to life when your phone starts up and re-download any incomplete messages.

The easiest way to restart your iPhone is to ask Siri to do it. Tap and hold the side button, then say “restart my iPhone” and confirm. Wait for the iPhone to restart, then launch the Mail app and try again.

Got an older device with a Home button, or don’t use Siri? Learn how to restart any model of iPhone .

Remove and Add the Account Again

If you still get the “Message Has Not Been Downloaded From the Server” error, it’s time for drastic measures. Head to Settings > Mail and tap on the “Accounts” button, followed by the account that’s giving you trouble. Make sure you’ve got the correct account, then remove it from your iPhone using the “Delete Account” button at the bottom.

Be aware this will remove the account from your iPhone entirely. Any drafts saved on your device that have not been pushed to the server will also be deleted. As long as messages exist on the server, you shouldn’t lose any email messages in your inbox.

Now head back to Settings > Mail and tap on Accounts again. Tap the “Add Account” button and follow the instructions for adding a new account to your iPhone. Once the account has been added, make sure that “Mail” is enabled. Your iPhone will now attempt to download your mail messages, which can take a while.

Alternatively, Use a Dedicated App or Web Browser

Using your email provider’s dedicated app is another option you might want to try. Though apps like Gmail and Outlook lack the privacy protections you’ll find in Apple Mail , they work flawlessly with their respective services.

Most webmail services also work in a web browser too. This includes Gmail , Outlook , and even iCloud Mail (because Apple’s own service is also not immune from the issue).

Apple Mail is Still a Worthy Client

Though this issue is annoying, we’ve only noticed it occasionally, and it usually requires a restart at most to get things moving. If you can use a web browser or dedicated app temporarily, by the time you get back to Apple Mail things will be working again.

There are some good reasons to keep using Mail, like the tracking pixel-blocking feature, the ability to schedule mail as of iOS 16 , and native integration with Apple’s Hide My Email service for iCloud+ subscribers .

Dark mode is a feature on pretty much every device and app you can imagine. Android , iPhone , Windows , macOS , Chromebooks , you name it. But in the real world, you’re stuck in light mode half the time. Let’s fix that.

Dark Mode for Your Eyes

Your eyes don’t have the ability to adjust to lighting conditions, but there’s a handy accessory called “ sunglasses ” that can do the job for you. They have tinted lenses embedded in a frame that sits on your nose, darkening anything you look at through them. Despite the name, they can be used to block more than just sunlight.

SOJOS Aviator Polarized Sunglasses

A classic shape of sunglasses for any face. Durable metal frames and polarized lenses will help dim the world around you.

Dark Mode for Your Room

Pretty much any building you’re in—including your own home—has rectangular boxes scattered around the walls. You’ve probably been curious about the purpose of these mysterious boxes, especially the ones with switches. You can actually use these switches to turn off the lights in a room, effectively enabling dark mode.

But what about those large cutouts in the walls that let light from the sun inside? It’s not as simple as flipping a switch. Thankfully, there’s a clever solution called “ curtains ” or “ blinds .” Curtains are usually long pieces of fabric that can be slid on a rail above the wall opening. Blinds usually operate in a vertical fashion to block the opening.

NICETOWN Thermal Blackout Curtains

Long pieces of fabric that can be installed over a window to block the sun.

CHICOLOGY Mini Blinds

1-inch slats of plastic that can open or shut to let sun from the outside through the window.

Dark Mode for Sleeping

Typically, people use dark mode on their devices at night, when bright light is not welcome. Features such as “ Night Shift ” and “ Night Light ” are also useful before bed. However, these features don’t address light from other sources while you sleep.

Curtains are useful for blocking light, but they’re not always 100% effective. A more direct approach is something called a “ sleep mask .” No, we’re not talking about Halloween masks! A sleep mask is a piece of padded material shaped to fit over your eyes, secured by a strap around your head. While some dark modes simply dim the environment, a sleep mask provides a pure black dark mode.

Mavogel Cotton Sleep Eye Mask

Wear this piece of padded material over your eyes to put your bedroom in pure-black dark mode at night.

Automatic Dark Mode

The dark mode methods outlined above are effective in their own unique ways, but they have one thing in common—they need to be toggled on manually. There are a few methods you can use for enabling dark mode in real life automatically.

Taking sunglasses on and off throughout the day is a pain. The good news is you can get sunglasses that automatically darken when they detect bright light. Simply keep them on all day and dark mode will automatically be enabled when needed!

TJUTR Photochromic Sunglasses

Sunglasses with polycarbonate lenses that automatically detect light and darken when needed.

Those switches on your walls don’t need to be manually flipped, either. Smart switches can be used to set up schedules or follow sunrise and sunset for turning on and off the lights. A house full of smart switches can quickly go into dark mode.

The Best Smart Light Switches of 2023

Best Smart Light Switch Overall

Lutron Caseta Smart Start Kit

Best Budget Smart Light Switch

Kasa Smart Light Switch HS200

Best Smart Light Switch for Alexa

Amazon Basics Single Pole Smart Switch,

Best Smart Light Switch for Google Assistant

Lutron Caseta Smart Start Kit

Best Smart Light Switch for HomeKit

Eve Light Switch

You also don’t need to manually open and close curtains or blinds to block the light. Smart blinds can be programmed to close when the sun is brightest so you never have to live with light mode in your home.

The Best Smart Blinds of 2023

Best Smart Blind Overall

IKEA FYRTUR

Best Budget Smart Blind

SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2

Best Voice-controlled Smart Blind

Serena by Lutron

Best Solar Powered Smart Blinds

MySmartBlinds

Best Smart Blind Kit

MySmartBlinds Automation Kit

Dark mode on the many devices in our lives with displays is just one piece of the puzzle. To truly live the dark mode life, you have to think beyond glowing screens. Thankfully, with such technology as sunglasses, light switches, curtains, and sleep masks, it’s now easier than ever. Happy April Fools’ Day!