The mx master 4 vs mx master 3s question is simpler than Logitech’s marketing makes it sound. I haven’t bought either, so I read the reviews from Notebookcheck and TechRadar side by side and pulled out the four changes that matter. If wrist comfort is your real goal, our guide to the best ergonomic mouse for wrist pain is a good companion read.
Logitech put out the MX Master 4 in late 2025, and the question every MX Master 3S owner is asking is the obvious one: is the new thumb panel worth replacing a mouse that still works? I haven’t bought either of these myself, so this isn’t a “three weeks on my desk” piece — it’s me reading through the teardown-level reviews (Notebookcheck, TechRadar) and the owner comparisons side by side, pulling out the differences that actually change your working day.
Short version up front: the MX Master 4 is the better mouse, and the gap is narrower than the marketing suggests. If you’re buying your first one, buy the 4. If you already own a 3S that scrolls fine, the haptics alone probably won’t earn the swap.
What actually changed between the 3S and the 4
These two mice share the same body language — the same tall, sculpted right-hand shell, the same MagSpeed scroll wheel that flips between ratcheted clicks and a free spin, the same 8,000 DPI sensor, the same roughly-70-day battery claim. adamtalks.tech put the two spec tables next to each other and the battery line is literally identical. So the differences are a short list, and all four of them are small:
- A haptic thumb panel. There’s a vibration motor under the thumb rest on the 4. It buzzes when you hit a screen edge, when you switch apps, when the Actions Ring opens. Four intensity levels, or off.
- One extra side button. The 3S gives you two custom side buttons plus the thumb button; the 4 adds a third and shifts the first two slightly back.
- A USB-C Logi Bolt receiver. The 3S Bolt edition ships a USB-A dongle. On a 2026 laptop that’s a dongle for your dongle.
- Less rubber. Logitech stripped most of the rubber side coating. Notebookcheck says the replacement is more durable and easier to clean; the adamtalks comparison is blunter and says the 3S rubber discolours over time.
That’s it. No new sensor, no new scroll wheel, no shape change.
The haptics: useful, but narrower than it sounds
This is the headline feature and it’s the one I’d read carefully. Notebookcheck found the vibration genuinely useful — but with two caveats worth repeating. First, it’s limited to the thumb area, so it’s a nudge, not whole-hand feedback. Second, the richest version of it depends on app support: Photoshop and Premiere Pro get the good treatment, your spreadsheet mostly doesn’t.
If you spend your day in Figma, Premiere, or a timeline-based tool where “did that snap to the grid or not?” is a real question, that nudge replaces a squint at the screen. If you spend your day in a browser, Slack, and Excel, you will probably turn the intensity down and forget it’s there.
The Actions Ring is the feature nobody mentions in the headline
Press the dimpled thumb button and an eight-item shortcut wheel opens on screen — volume, lock, whatever you map. TechRadar liked the idea and then said the honest thing about it: it was sometimes laggy, it didn’t always appear when pressed, and it added limited value to a workflow they’d already built around keyboard shortcuts. Worth knowing before you count it as a reason to upgrade.
There’s also a default-behaviour wrinkle that matters on a Mac. On the 3S, that thumb button is set to macOS gestures out of the box. On the 4, it defaults to the Actions Ring. If gestures are how you switch desktops all day, that’s a settings trip on day one.
Where both mice are the same — including the flaw
Both share the MagSpeed wheel, and the adamtalks comparison flags that the 4 did not fix the wheel’s known failure mode: it can loosen and rattle over time. That’s the single most important sentence in this whole comparison for an existing 3S owner, because it reframes the upgrade. If your wheel is already going, the 4 is a replacement, not a fix — you’re buying new hardware with the same wheel design.
Both are also heavy and both are right-handed. TechRadar measured 152g and said it felt imprecise coming from a light mouse; Notebookcheck lists 150g and calls it “quite heavy”. For a productivity mouse that weight reads as planted and stable. If you want something to throw in a bag or flick around in a shooter, neither of these is your mouse — a vertical or a lighter travel mouse is a different conversation, and one we’ve had in our Logitech Lift vs MX Vertical comparison.
Battery: both are “charge it and forget it”
Logitech rates both at up to 70 days of average use. TechRadar’s real-world note is the useful one: their unit hadn’t dropped below 95% after nearly 35 hours of use. The 4 charges over USB-C, works while charging, and a one-minute top-up buys about three hours. Two things to know: no cable is included, and the charge indicator moved to the top on the 4 (it’s on the left side on the 3S).
Pros and cons
MX Master 4 — pros
- Haptic thumb panel is real feedback, not a gimmick, in creative apps
- Third side button and a cleaner, less-discolouring grip surface
- USB-C Bolt receiver — no adapter on a modern laptop
- Quiet clicks, 70-day battery, Logi Flow across Windows, macOS and Linux
MX Master 4 — cons
- 152g is heavy, and thumb buttons are hard to tell apart by feel
- Haptics are thumb-only and app-dependent
- Actions Ring was laggy and inconsistent in TechRadar’s review
- Horizontal thumb wheel is still loud and imprecise — no MagSpeed there
- No charging cable in the box; Logi Options+ is still in beta
MX Master 3S (Bolt) — pros
- Same shape, same MagSpeed wheel, same 8,000 DPI sensor, same battery claim
- macOS gestures on the thumb button by default
- Usually the cheaper of the two
MX Master 3S (Bolt) — cons
- No haptics, one fewer side button
- USB-A receiver
- Rubber side grip discolours with use
- Same scroll-wheel rattle risk as the 4
Who should buy which
Buy the MX Master 4 if you’re buying your first MX Master, you work in creative software where snap-and-grid feedback matters, or you want the USB-C receiver and the newer grip material. For a hybrid worker moving a mouse between a home desk and an office dock, the USB-C dongle on its own is a quiet daily win.
Buy the MX Master 3S if you want the MX Master experience for less, you’re a Mac user who lives on gestures, or you’re buying a second one for the office desk so you stop carrying a mouse at all. The 3S is still, in TechRadar’s words, long considered one of the best mice available — the 4 picks up where it left off rather than replacing it.
Skip the upgrade if you already own a 3S and it works. The honest upgrade triggers are: the shell is worn, the scroll wheel is failing, or you specifically want that third button. “The new one has haptics” isn’t one.
FAQ
Is the MX Master 4 worth upgrading to from the 3S?
Only if your 3S is worn out or you want the third side button. The haptics are thumb-only and app-dependent, the shape and sensor are unchanged, and the scroll wheel — the 3S’s known weak point — was not redesigned.
Does the MX Master 4 work without the Logitech software?
Basic clicking, scrolling and device switching work over Bluetooth 5.1 LE or the Bolt receiver. The haptics, the Actions Ring and per-app button mapping all need Logi Options+, which TechRadar and Notebookcheck both note is still a beta build.
How many devices can either mouse pair with?
Three, switchable from the bottom of the mouse, on both models. Logi Flow can also move your cursor between computers and carry the clipboard across.
Are these mice good for gaming?
No. TechRadar advises against the MX Master 4 for gaming outright — it’s heavy, and the shape is built for long days of pointing, not fast flicks.
Verdict
If I were spending my own money on a first MX Master, I’d take the 4: the USB-C receiver and the better grip material are the kind of small upgrades you notice every week, and the haptics are a bonus rather than the reason. If I already had a working 3S on the desk, I’d keep it and put the money toward a laptop stand at the right height instead — that changes how your wrist feels far more than a vibration motor under your thumb does.
That is the mx master 4 vs mx master 3s decision in one line: buy the 4 as a first MX Master, keep a working 3S. For the rest of the desk, see our best laptop stands for your desk picks.