Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic keyboard + Mac

[carlsLobato]

My two cents:

I have two USB-C adapters, one VGA + USB 2.0 and another one has HDMI and USB 3.0; that I use with my late 2017 Macbook Pro (Mojave).

The Sculpt dongle is terrible with USB 3.0, I have to be no farther than 3 inches from it to get reception, whereas with the USB 2.0 adapter, I am typing this 4 feet away from my laptop with no problems.

Hope that helps.

 

[Darf Nader]

My two cents:

I have two USB-C adapters, one VGA + USB 2.0 and another one has HDMI and USB 3.0; that I use with my late 2017 Macbook Pro (Mojave).

The Sculpt dongle is terrible with USB 3.0, I have to be no farther than 3 inches from it to get reception, whereas with the USB 2.0 adapter, I am typing this 4 feet away from my laptop with no problems.

Hope that helps.

Yes, I found similar issues, but I am not sure if it was USB 3 vs 2 related, but it may be inadvertently. I thought it was proximity. Trying to connect the dongle to the back of my mini or to the hub next to it was unreliable, but once I attached it to the hub (which may in fact be 2.0) on the side of my monitor it worked perfectly. Again, no idea if this was because of proximity or the USB 2 experience you shared, but either way, this was my solution. Good to know about this though for future setups. I am so used to the sculpt at this point trying to switch to another keyboard would be murder! Hopefully there are warehouses full of them!

 

[carlsLobato]

Yes, I found similar issues, but I am not sure if it was USB 3 vs 2 related, but it may be inadvertently. I thought it was proximity. Trying to connect the dongle to the back of my mini or to the hub next to it was unreliable, but once I attached it to the hub (which may in fact be 2.0) on the side of my monitor it worked perfectly. Again, no idea if this was because of proximity or the USB 2 experience you shared, but either way, this was my solution. Good to know about this though for future setups. I am so used to the sculpt at this point trying to switch to another keyboard would be murder! Hopefully there are warehouses full of them!

Dongle-port proximity is something I haven't been able to test because I don't have a USB extension, but it doesn't seem to be the issue in my case and yes, the Sculpt is the best thing that has happened to me in years... can you imagine if the padded area doubled as a (well-engineered) trackpad? It would be the best computer accessory in history!

 

[h3h]

I have also run into these intermittent connectivity issues with the Sculpt and a MacBook Air with the Microsoft USB dongle plugged into a USB 3.0 hub that is in turn plugged into one of my monitor's USB-C ports.

The connectivity issues seem to come and go: sometimes I can't even type two letters in a row without them getting dropped, and other times I can type entire essays without a single missed key.

I wish there were a diagnostic utility where I could see the RF performance from the point of view of the dongle, so I could play with various setups and find what conditions ensure good signal strength, but as it is I'm just flying blind.

I just ordered a USB 2.0 extension cord, so we'll see if changing the location of the dongle alters the behavior at all.