I'd be interested to compare some different mouse pads just to see if there is any difference between paper, a super cheap mouse pad and a "gaming" mouse pad in terms of performance. I'd assume most of the claims that a mousepad will make a significant difference are just marketing, but it could sort of make sense that giving the mouse a texture it can recognize easily could improve it's tracking abilities.
With your setup it would also be interesting to see how different brands of mice compare in terms of DPI, is Logitech's definition of 900dpi the same as Microsoft's, for example?
