BaerConsulting LLC Blog

First, we’d like to apologize for not keeping up with the Tip of the Week category. It’s football season and we made the grand mistake of putting them out on Monday nights. We’ll try to keep up to date with them from here on out….it just may not always be Monday nights.

This week, we’d like to talk a little about wireless keyboards and mice. There are a lot of mixed reviews out there pertaining to these technological wonders and a lot of them are not praise. We’ve run across many sets of wireless keyboards and mice and think that there’s no sure fire way to tell whether the one you’re buying is worth the money you’ll be spending on it. We ran across a $200 pair made by Logitech a few years back that was absolutely horrible. It simply wouldn’t stay connected to the computer. When it was connected, dropped keys and loss of mouse movements was evident and unbearable. However, we’ve since owned a few wireless Logitech wireless mice that performed like a dream. The current pick is a Logitech Performance Laser Mouse. Not sure of the model number as it’s not printed on the mouse (odd) but it’s widely available, very compact, and phenomenal battery life. We also have numerous sets of Microsoft Laser Keyboard/Mouse combos that have yet to catastrophically fail on us. This particular set uses laser technology as well, there seems to be a trend developing here. We’re partial to laser because it tends to play well with WiFi and Bluetooth. Bluetooth pairing is not fun and it’s something you’ll have to do countless times with Bluetooth keyboards and mice.

We’re hoping someone will make a type of WiFi keyboard and mouse combo that works with client software. It’s a little radical, but could you imagine sitting in your family room with your keyboard and mouse and controlling your computer on your TV? It will be one of the next steps in the evolution of computers.

The true tip here is to read reviews. Listening to other peoples’ experiences with the product you’re considering is one of the best ways to see if the product suits your needs. Stay away from review SPAM though. Review SPAM is when someone takes the features of a product and spins them to their unique situation. For example, someone stating “The mouse is uncomfortable” is a good example. This is an opinion, not a fact about the mouse. Someone saying that the battery life is awesome or that it sucks is not review SPAM, this is something that can be proven and is very rarely an opinion.