wrote in message
ups.com...

I've never been fond of wireless keyboards and mice
because of the basic need to keep them powered.

Completely routine when they are properly designed.

Routine if properly designed. Still annoying to change the battery
when
you really have better things to do. Even if it takes 10 seconds,
it's
simply not an issue with a wired keyboard. And 10 seconds means
something in games.

Exactly why I quit using wireless mice (and keyboards). The keyboard
rarely moves anyway so what's the point of having it wireless? The
only time wireless makes sense is if the system unit will be farther
away than the cord, but then wireless devices don't come with very
long cords, either. I've yet to see one that notifies you BEFORE
voltage gets too low to affect behavior. Remember when inside a game
that you won't see a tray icon that may show you voltage level of the
batteries (and I've yet to see such a tray icon which means you have
to periodically go check using the Control Panel applet). Also, the
polling rate for wireless mices is much slower. You might try to up
the sampling rate and buffer size but that won't affect the polling
rate between the wireless mouse and the receiver. I've tried 7
wireless mice from IBM, Microsoft, Logitech, and a couple of the
low-name brands and ALL were more jerky in gameplay than a wired
mouse. Some are much better than others but then most folks don't go
switching between them and wired mice often enough to see the small
jerkiness in movement that remains with wireless mice, or they play
undemanding and slow games.

Wireless mice never have the longevity claimed by the mouse
manufacturer. I found the Logitech are more responsive than IBM or
Microsoft but that's because the Logitech doesn't go to sleep as often
and it also wakes up faster, and I've found Logitech to be less jerky
(but still jerkier than wired but tolerable and probably not noticable
by lots of users).

And because they're less reliable than wired keyboards,

Pure drivel.

EVERYTHING wireless is vunelrable to inteferece and limits of range.
Cell phones are less reliable than land lines, cable is more
reliable
than rabbit ears and sattellite. Reliability is sacrificed to
portability. At a pricehike.

That isn't the only problem. Wireless mice are supposed to have a
working range of up to 15 feet. True and not true. Some won't work
if the mouse if more than 3 feet away from the receiver. Be careful
what you place between the receiver and mouse. Yes, RF mice don't
need line-of-sight but hiding the receiver on the other side of a
metallic system case or behind a monitor can result in poor reception.

There is also the problem of one wireless mouse affecting another.
Since working range if 15 feet, in a company setting with cublicles
and offices close together, one user will wonder why their mouse
cursor is moving without touching the mouse. It's interference from
another user. Hell, in one case at work, we found the culprit
conflicting mouse was up one floor and 50 feet over (so obviously the
working range happened to be pretty far). We managed to correct that
problem but you can't always find different channels on which to set
the wireless mice so they won't interfere, and most only give you 2
"channels". In a home environment with just one computer, this
interference isn't a problem (unless you're in an apartment near the
same wall where the next tenant also has their computer and wireless
mouse), but then 2 channels is probably sufficient when to resync the
devices to eliminate the interference.

For wireless mice, and because they don't last that long, now they're
making cradles to keep the batteries recharged (to hide the poor
longevity). Some, like IBM and Microsoft, make the mouse go to sleep
sooner and wake up slower (than Logitech) in an attempt to increase
battery life. When you game a lot, the batteries deplete much faster
because there are no low-power use times (notice the LED will flicker
between high and low power modes if you have a wireless mouse with
translucent sides). Also, if you use a dark mouse pad or surface then
the batteries deplete faster, and most mouse pads are dark and so are
most desktop surfaces. If you use your mouse for word processing for
6 hours per day at work the batteries will last a lot longer than if
you play games for those same 6 hours.

Also remember that wireless mice weigh more than wired mice. Why?
Because of the weight of the batteries. If you choose to use a mouse
(instead of a trackball), you will invariably end up having to lift
the mouse over and over to reposition it on the mouse pad or desktop.
Yeah, you could up the acceleration and speed but then you loose
granularity and control. So how do you pick up the mouse for all that
repositioning? By squeezing it between your fingers (thumb and pinky
usually). Your pinky can get tired after hours and hours of mouse
use, especially with a heavier mouse that has to house batteries. If
you can arrange that the cord is unfettered so it doesn't snag and
also doesn't hit anything (to eliminate torqueing on the mouse from
restricted cord movement), a wired mouse is much less effort to move
over extended periods of use. My fingers got sore from prolonged use
of a wireless mouse because of the extra weight. I also don't go
deliberately looking for keyboards that have the hardest keys to
press, either.

Wireless mice are pricier. Break a wired one and its replacement is
cheap. Break or lose a wireless mouse and you'll waste time hunting
around for a better price or rethinking your original choice. Also
consider the expense of batteries. Unless you get one with a cradle,
you will need to buy lots of alkaline batteries or you will need to
get the rechargeable batteries (that don't last a long per charge as
the single-use of non-rechargeables) along with a charger. If you get
one with a recharging cradle, you'll get ****ed off everytime you
leave the computer to come back to find that you forgot to cradle your
wireless mouse when you left, and now your mouse is still dead while
you wait for it to charge.

And getting a wireless mouse does NOT reduce the number of cords,
anyway. You're still stuck with the corded receiver. Most users get
wireless mice because it's a fad, cool, more technology, or newer, not
because they need wireless.

Wired keyboards just work. Wireless ones have to be babysat.

Likewise when battery level goes low, you'll start to hear users in
the cubicles start swearing and banging harder on the keys until you
wander over to have a check and then replace the batteries.

There are good reasons of when or why to get wireless devices.
However, few of them come into play for users that choose them.