Bluetooth Versus Wireless Mice 519
Meneguzzi writes "Having stuck with wired mice for years, I have recently been impressed by a couple of cordless mice I've used on other people's computers so much that I now want to buy one to use with my Mac Book Pro. However, while shopping around for the perfect cordless laptop mouse I was stuck with the question of whether to go for a bluetooth mouse or one of the many proprietary cordless mice with tiny USB receivers. To my surprise, there seems to be little literature systematically comparing these two options for attributes like precision, battery life (both for the mouse and the laptop), RF interference, and whatnot. As a Mac user, bluetooth has the advantage that it won't take up a USB port, and (in theory), would consume less battery than a USB port, but I wonder if this is actually true in practice. On top of that, I noticed that there are far fewer (and less fancy) options for Bluetooth mice than there are for proprietary cordless ones. Logitech, for instance, has a very basic Bluetooth Mouse, while its proprietary options are much fancier. So I was wondering what are the experiences from Slashdotters on this particular type of hardware, and any recommendations."
You ask us a question... (Score:5, Insightful)
...And we'll fight about every little detail, go off-topic, crack jokes about welcoming you to the year 2000, debate form over function, laser over inferred, brand versus brand versus model, and in the end you'll still have to decide for yourself.
Have you at least read the reviews on Amazon? Are we only deciding blue-tooth versus wireless, or do we have to pick the exact model for you? Is your 'perfect mouse' going to be someone elses 'perfect mouse' and vice-verse?
Not actively trying to troll here, but wanting to bring your attention to the fact that it ends up being a very heavy personal decision based on your preferences, hand-size, availability, etc...
Re:RF vs Bluetooth Mice (Score:3, Insightful)
Whether or not a Bluetooth mouse was given CPU cycle precedence would depend entirely upon how the Bluetooth protocol stack was developed, wouldn't it? It's my understanding there is more than just one monopolistic stack available, so it may be a matter of understanding the issue - you do now at least - and choosing to use the better one. This has been the case with Bluetooth on Windows Mobile devices: there was a Widcomm BT stack and a Microsoft one. Guess which one had fewer problems on that platform?
Re:VX Revolution (Score:2, Insightful)
As a mac laptop user, I am satisfied with this mouse (Logitech VX Revolution). The driver, however, is a total disaster, as always with Logitech. Your choices are the following:
- Use the official Logitech driver+software (which takes in this case ~50mB I think), and waste some precious CPU and RAM with them. Also, it randomly resets your scrolling speed, with "randomly" being usually equal to "after a few minutes".
- Do not install any driver, just use the mac os mouse driver, which does not handle those fancy extra mouse buttons that you just paid 50$ or more (it just handles 3 buttons + 2 scrolling directions)
- Use a 3rd party driver. That's what I do with steermouse (easily found on google). It's lightweight and does exactly what the logitech driver should do. Only problem: it's not free (20$).
It's still incredible that Logitech is so great at producing hardware and so awful at writing appropriate drivers, we're not in 1996 anymore ffs.
Re:Wireless Mighty Mouse (Score:5, Insightful)
Mice is the one thing where Microsoft is better than Apple.
Logitech's Fancy BT Mouse (Score:3, Insightful)
I've been using it as a desktop mouse in both windows xp and linux and despite a few small quirks, I love it. I've very much gotten used to the auto shifting scroll wheel and am quickly approaching "how did I ever live without it". It does take a second to start up after idle but never more than 1 second. It has a lot of buttons and a very responsive laser sensor.
Personally I would use a Mighty Mouse Pro or whatever it is in your situation just because it goes with the mac, is a more compact design (for stowage) and has replaceable AA batteries (I think it will even run on only 1 battery). The MX Revolution has a charging cradle (which they finally improved and fixed from the old fiddle-with-it-for-an-hour pain in the ass cradle that would never make proper charging contact) and non-replaceable batteries.
One other advantage (I think it is an advantage) is that bluetooth is better about dealing with interference from other bluetooth devices and from other devices in the same bandwidth area as bluetooth. Thus, if you're working in a public place around other bluetoothers or RF mousers, I think it is naturally more likely that you can mouse in peace with a BT mouse than with an RF one, but this is a partially untested hypothesis. I've seen 2 RF mice fight with eachother at work whereas I've used two BT mice at home without problems. There aren't many good choices for BT mice out there for whatever reason, but keep asking about it and maybe manufacturers will pick up on the trend again and we'll see more and better designed bluetooth mice.
on the road again? (Score:1, Insightful)
i havent a clue why anyone would use a wireless anything on their desktop system, as if the monitor cable dosent exist. between the lag and battery sucking it just dosent make any sense to me. from your post it sounds as if you dont have any BT devices as of now, so i would go with usb mini dongle instead of opening your system up to bluetooth. i could definatly see problems with all kinds of BT phones earpieces and whatnot around, but if your stationary get a wire.
Re:Wireless Mighty Mouse (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I've stuck with corded mice too. Every time I've used someone else's wireless I hear the stories. From the WoW tank who's mouse battery died while the guild had the last boss to 1% hp for the first time, to the intermittent rolling and clicking. It just all sucks. Plus, I don't want to be buying batteries all the time, or plugging my mouse in like its a Norelco razor. I am damn happy with my corded mouse. 100% reliability. Doesn't get much better.
My dad has a cheap USB cordless laptop mouse, one of those super tiny ones with a single AAA battery. It works like a charm. But I would never use one for my desktop.
Re:Bluetooth (Score:5, Insightful)
Same here. On a laptop a thingy in a USB port is very unhandy because if you use the computer on the couch or in bed there is a chance that it will be forced to bend due to folds in the upholstery or the sheets. This can cost you your motherboard. I don't want to risk that.