Hacker News Reader

Comment by falcolas | Hacker News Reader

I'd love to see this revisited since Bluetooth has taken over the keyboard and mouse world.

It would be interesting to see concrete tests. Gamers have long preferred wired keyboards and mice supposedly for latency reasons, with the only wireless models they’ll accept being proprietary 2.4Ghz RF protocols designed specifically for lowering latency (e.g. Logitech’s Lightspeed lineup).

I have a Lightspeed mouse as part of my gaming setup and it does feel very responsive, easily good enough for my needs, but I’m not a chart topping FPS player who’d be pushing these devices to their limits.

The big problem I have with bluetooth that wires resolve is the seemingly-saturated 2.4Ghz in proximity to my mac. My mice (logitech MX Master3 and others) have a tendency to fritz out when they're on the other side of my desk from my laptop. Ditto keyboards. It's silly-frustrating.

What's funny is my bluetooth headphones work fine the whole time. They generally only freak out when I'm close to a running microwave.

It's a bit wild how variable experiences are between users with any flavor of wireless (Bluetooth, WiFi, RF). Over the past 18 years or so they've all been mostly trouble-free for me, save for software weirdness like how Windows 10/11 will cut off the first 0.3-1.5s of audio played to a Bluetooth device, but I've encountered several people over the years that wireless has been nothing but trouble for.

I randomly purchased a Logitech G305 (with Lightspeed) to replace my wired B100 (I wanted a mouse with a similar shape). I figured I'd sacrifice latency for losing the wire.

Turns out that this mouse feels exactly the same as using a wired mouse to me (not gaming). Lightspeed is absolutely not a gimmick!

(I too would like to see tests done with wireless devices.)

Here's a good video you may be interested in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWL4nU-vtWs

Reply on news.ycombinator.com