site banner

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 27, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

2
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

A lot of things. There are more exhaustive breakdowns of the problems with bluetooth. This thread on HN is pretty good, if technical breakdown. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39028440 To summarize, its a very low power signal that uses a very congested range. Additionally manufacturers often go as cheaply as possible on the hardware and software controllers as possible. This is BTs main appeal too: its dirt cheap compared to the alternatives. Its extremely susceptible to interference from other devices electronic devices and also from the human body itself. There are some robust software controller options for abating some of these problems but they add to manufacturing costs. For non critical applications like listening to music for leisure its fine. PC peripherals are another issue though. The PC itself creates a good amount of interference, multiple BT devices will interfere with each other, and WIFI also is fighting with BT for the same bandwidth. Tiny hiccups that would be unnoticeable in streaming music, which can buffer audio, when using a BT mouse or keyboard can mean 1-2 second intervals where commands from the mouse/kb either aren't received at all by the PC, or are processed a few seconds late. This might be fine for many applications but if the user is concerned with response times when entering commands while gaming, BT is an exercise in frustration. A good option here is what Logitech uses, which they call Lightspeed, which is radio waves over a dedicated dongle that is permanently paired to its device. https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/innovation/lightspeed.html