Choice between wired or wireless keyboard/mouse for powerbook

[excalibur313]

So my dad just ordered a 20" imac and due to a screwup he is getting a wireless keyboard and mouse and also a wired keyboard and mighty mouse. I have a powerbook and he offered to give me a combination of keyboard and mouse. Which do you think I should take? My ideal setup after the new powerbooks come out will be a 12ish inch powerbook with a 20" screen that I can just hook it up to when I'm in the room and then take the computer with me to class or whatever.
Thanks,
Stephen

 

[jadekitty24]

So my dad just ordered a 20" imac and due to a screwup he is getting a wireless keyboard and mouse and also a wired keyboard and mighty mouse. I have a powerbook and he offered to give me a combination of keyboard and mouse. Which do you think I should take? My ideal setup after the new powerbooks come out will be a 12ish inch powerbook with a 20" screen that I can just hook it up to when I'm in the room and then take the computer with me to class or whatever.
Thanks,
Stephen

As long as your computer is capable, take the wireless if he's willing. Wires suck, as I well know. I made the grave mistake of ordering the wrong airport card for my iBook, yeah I'm STUPID for not checking into it like I should have. I hate wires, as I have a wired G3 iBook when connecting to the internet. (yeah, I know, but like I said, I ordered the WRONG card, and as of now don't have the loot to buy the right one untill I sell the one I purchased)

 

[PlaceofDis]

you will want the wireless mouse for sure, up to you on the keyboard though i suppose

i very much enjoy my wireless keyboard and mouse set up at home though, makes things that much easier, and less for me to plug in.

 

[excalibur313]

How good is the mighty mouse though? It seems cool that it has the two bottons on it as well as the scroll weel. Also how frequently do the batteries need to be changed if I plan on using rechargable? They are bluetooth right?

 

[James Philp]

I prefer wired - more reliable & less background resources.
I also found i sometimes got interference with the wireless apple kb & m.
I have both, and have gone back to wired. The mighty mouse rocks too.
It is also so annoying to have to dig out the wired kb/m when something goes wrong with B/t (software update/firmware update etc.) - but you won't have that problem with the PB at least.
At least get the mighty mouse - a friend bought one for me (windows user), I already had one, and now even he goes on at me how cool it is! - I just smile and say; "It's like that for every Apple product"

 

[James Philp]

How good is the mighty mouse though? It seems cool that it has the two bottons on it as well as the scroll weel. Also how frequently do the batteries need to be changed if I plan on using rechargable? They are bluetooth right?

You actually have 4 buttons that you can configure.
Right now I have click, ctrl-click and command-click (great for opening links as tabs in safari!). I also have an expose of all windows when i squeeze the sides of the mouse - lovely!
So I squeeze, click the window I want - and I'm there. Or I click and hold squeeze (a bit harder than normal) hold the file over the window I want to put it in and let it zoom up, then put it where I want.
Or I squeeze-hold point the cursor over the window I want and let go and that window comes up - great stuff!

 

[mms]

I don't know that the wireless takes up significantly more background resources than a wired mouse; if anything, the difference is likely to be miniscule. That being said, I would take the wireless combo, unless you find the Mighty Mouse to be superior to the wireless mouse.

I tried the Mighty Mouse out in an Apple Store for a quite a bit of time and all I can say is that although the scroll wheel is cool, it's small and a bit strange and the buttons take quite a bit to get used to. Overall I myself felt that it was not really worth it and that I would definitely stick with my Logitech, which I find to be both more comfortable and easier to use.

 

[JeDiBoYTJ]

I love my wireless keyboard and mouse setup. The only real problem I have with it, is battery life. The Mouse batterys last, no more than a month for me, it sucks. I would recommend rechargeables for the mouse, and always turn it off when you leave it for an extended time. As for the keyboard, it works great. battery life lasts months upon months. I think in the 1 year, 3 months ive owned my powerbook, ive changed the keyboard batteries maybe 3 times.

Now all im doing is tapping my foot, waiting for the Mighty Mouse Bluetooth Edition......

 

[excalibur313]

Wow thanks guys this is really interesting. It seems like quite the battle. So how often does the bluetooth connection cut out? Is it based on distance or why does the milage vary so much? Also is it true that the mighty mouse buttons can be insensitive (especially the right mouse button) to clicking on it?

 

[James Philp]

In the beginning the mighty mouse is a bit strange, as there is only one physical button, but after a while you get used to it. Having 3 buttons AND expose all on your "mouse hand" really helps - it means that your left hand can be firmly glued to the lower-left of your keyboard - where it should be! (q,w,a,s,z,x,c,v all within reach). In fact, the norm is to use the middle button to show the dashboard - so in that configuration you would not need to go to the F9+ buttons unless you wanted brightess/volume/eject - in which case the Mouse hand is better. (Sorry all you lefties out there!)

I really did have problems with my (Apple no less) wireless mouse/KB when there was hefty traffic from my Airport card (running a card-card network). The response was jumpy and not nice - I suppose it could have been a bunch of other things though!

Quick Question - how often do you BTers need to pull out the old wired kb/m when there's an update/something goes wrong (batteries dying can do it!)
I know things are a lot better with Tiger (it tries to find BT peripherals during the startup right?).

I guess you are in a perfect position to try them both out though (if your dad is a kind fellow!). So let us know what you liked the best.

 

[excalibur313]

I've started trying out the wireless first and I have a question. It seems when I turn off the keyboard and mouse and then want to use it again I have to go through the hassel of setting it up again. Even though the computer remembers that I've used those before it doesn't seem to recognize their existance when they are close unless it's setup. What should I do?

 

[Will Cheyney]

Should have gone with good old, non-laggy wired

 

[JeDiBoYTJ]

I've started trying out the wireless first and I have a question. It seems when I turn off the keyboard and mouse and then want to use it again I have to go through the hassel of setting it up again. Even though the computer remembers that I've used those before it doesn't seem to recognize their existance when they are close unless it's setup. What should I do?

I had that problem when I first started using my wireless mouse and keyboard. usually when im reconnecting my mouse to my computer, i just simply hold the mouse button down, and it should detect it fairly quickly. and for the keyboard do the same (hold a key down). works perfectly for me now.

 

[Project]

I love my Mighty Mouse, however I dont love the short lead, particularly when the iBooks USB ports are on the left side. Its pretty annoying. You wouldnt have that worry though as the ports are on the right side. Id love a wireless Mighty Mouse, but im contempt at the moment.

 

[excalibur313]

Okay one last question. When I put my computer to sleep do I need to shut of both the mouse and the keyboard or do they go into a hibernation mode?