Think You Need a Wired Mouse and Keyboard for Gaming? Think Again

For many years, wired mice and keyboards have been thought of the one choice for critical PC gaming. Bluetooth was simply too unreliable for aggressive play. At the moment, nonetheless, wi-fi expertise has superior to the purpose the place there’s little motive to stay with wired.

2.4Ghz Wi-fi Has Made Latency Irrelevant

Credit score: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

Many individuals nonetheless affiliate wi-fi peripherals with increased enter lag, however that is not essentially the case. At the very least not anymore.

Proprietary 2.4GHz wireless protocols like Razer HyperSpeed and Logitech Lightspeed, which use their very own dongles, have change into the norm within the gaming world over the previous few years. These wi-fi applied sciences enable for low response occasions which can be akin to wired peripherals.

My Logitech G502 Lightspeed, Ajazz AK820 Pro, and SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless all obtain a latency of simply 1ms due to their 1,000Hz polling fee.

Model

SteelSeries

Wi-fi

No

The SteelSeries Apex Professional TKL Wi-fi Gen 3 is a high-end gaming keyboard geared up with OmniPoint 3.0 Corridor Impact switches that enable for near-instantaneous response occasions. It helps Fast Faucet to assist FPS players with strafing, Fast Set off that dynamically adjusts reset factors, and Safety Mode, which protects towards unintentional inputs.

The keyboard additionally has an OLED show that means that you can regulate settings on the fly or show vital data.

In distinction, Bluetooth sometimes tops out at 250 Hz (125 Hz on older variations), leading to a baseline latency of 4 ms (or 8ms at 125Hz), with extra delays brought on by energy-saving options, frequency hopping, and potential sign interference. That may be an enormous legal responsibility for pro-level gaming, the place even 2 ms could make the distinction between touchdown a headshot and lacking the shot fully.

Surprisingly, 1,000Hz with 1ms latency is not even a lot to brag about right this moment.

Many 2.4GHz protocols now enable polling charges of as much as 8,000Hz, offering a latency of simply 0.125ms. Nevertheless, it is value noting that this low of a latency is complete overkill for most people, particularly on keyboards, so do not buy an excessive amount of into that hype.

I’ve examined how a lot polling fee I would like on my mouse utilizing cpstest.org and located that my polling fee by no means went above 1,700Hz, even when transferring my 8 KHz polling rate mouse as quick as humanly attainable. This implies the advantages of a polling fee above 2,000 Hz are negligible. Nonetheless, these fractions of a millisecond go to indicate simply how a lot wi-fi peripherals have superior in the previous couple of years.

Other than often being pricier, the one sensible drawback of two.4GHz wi-fi peripherals in comparison with wired ones is the slight potential for interference. The two.4GHz band is shared with a whole lot of different units, like your Wi-Fi router, microwave, and different wi-fi devices.

In apply, this not often issues and may be prevented by merely inserting the two.4GHz receiver dongle as near your peripheral as attainable. Within the three years I’ve used my Logitech G502 Lightspeed, I’ve solely skilled a sign dropout as soon as—when my dongle was buried behind a bunch of Scorching Wheels that possible blocked the sign.

Credit score: Tim Rattray / How-To Geek

Transferring the receiver nearer solved the issue instantly. In the identical vein, keep away from plugging the dongle into the again of your PC or behind your monitor if you wish to remove even the slightest probability of a sign dropout. It’s value reiterating that sign dropouts on a 2.4GHz connection are extraordinarily uncommon, and with wi-fi protocols that use a number of channels, like SteelSeries’ Quantum 2.0 Wireless Connectivity, they’re virtually not possible.

On that word, it’s value mentioning that not all 2.4 GHz connections are equal. I’ve observed that my Ajazz keyboard’s wi-fi dongle can sometimes misregister inputs at a 1,000Hz polling fee, however I’ve by no means skilled that situation with the SteelSeries keyboard. This is the reason it may be value investing a bit extra in brand-name gear, as their optimizations typically lead to higher efficiency.

A Wired Mouse May Be Holding You Again

Credit score: Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek

You really don’t know the fun of a wi-fi gaming mouse till you expertise it your self. The twine on a wired mouse drags throughout your desk, and in addition to feeling awkward to make use of, it may really skew your goal sufficient to make you miss a shot. Once you flick tremendous quick, it may even tug and trigger your mouse to leap again. I skilled this typically with my old wired G502, and that frustration finally led me to improve to the wi-fi mannequin.

Whereas a mouse bungee will help alleviate a few of these points, it is nonetheless nowhere close to nearly as good as a real wi-fi mouse—I do know this first-hand. The liberty of motion you get with a wi-fi mouse is unbelievable, and when you get used to it, you may never be able to go back to a wired unit when enjoying shooters.

Actually, even when a wi-fi mouse did add some latency in comparison with wired (which it virtually doesn’t), I’d nonetheless select wi-fi each time. And don’t simply take my phrase for it—a big portion of esports execs use wi-fi mice throughout totally different video games and genres, together with ZywOo, s1mple, NiKo, and Faker.

The Logitech Pro X Superlight 2 (and its variants) and the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro are among the many hottest decisions amongst execs, although fashions from Lamzu, Pulsar, Zowie, and Finalmouse are additionally extensively used.

Wi-fi Keyboards Have Their Makes use of, Too

Credit score: Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek

To be fully trustworthy, each of my wi-fi keyboards spend the overwhelming majority of their time plugged in. It is because the keyboard is already at my desk, similar to my pink coiled USB-C cable that graces it, so there’s little motive to make use of it wirelessly.

That mentioned, I can completely see the aesthetic attraction of a totally wi-fi keyboard and mouse with no cables cluttering your mousepad. If that’s your factor, I’m completely happy to report that it’s 100% a viable choice that will not sacrifice efficiency.

Credit score: Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek

Most wi-fi gaming keyboards have batteries that simply last as long as two weeks, even with RGB backlighting enabled. In the event you flip the backlighting off, the battery can final even longer—presumably as much as a month if you happen to don’t use it greater than a few hours a day. That is sufficient that you just gained’t have to fret about operating out of energy mid-game, and it’s not inconvenient sufficient to make plugging it in a trouble.

One other profit I’ve not too long ago found is that you would be able to use a wireless keyboard in your lap. Nevertheless, until you’re enjoying a sport that depends solely on the keyboard, that is extra helpful for typing than for gaming.

The true benefit of a wi-fi gaming keyboard is sofa gaming. In the event you’re bored with sitting at your desk and need to sport in your TV, and the sport isn’t as satisfying on a controller, a wi-fi mouse and keyboard allow you to play comfortably out of your sofa.

Credit score: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

I not too long ago performed Oblivion Remastered on my OLED TV, just because the picture high quality is breathtaking. After fighting a controller for a number of hours, I ultimately gave up and switched to my wi-fi mouse and keyboard. Though I had to make use of my bedsheet as a mousepad, it was nonetheless much more satisfying than the controller expertise.

In fact, if you happen to’re critical about sofa gaming, a proper lap desk is well worth the funding. It makes utilizing a wi-fi keyboard and mouse infinitely extra handy than attempting to handle wired peripherals.

The one factor to look at for when searching for a wi-fi gaming keyboard is a minimal polling fee of 1,000 Hz. Larger charges look good on paper, however the sensible advantages are minimal. In different phrases, keep away from wi-fi keyboards that rely solely on Bluetooth and don’t embody their very own 2.4 GHz dongle.

Kind issue

75%

Swap choices

Ajazz Present Swap, Ajazz Flying Fish Swap

The Ajazz AK820 Professional is a gasket-mounted wi-fi mechanical keyboard with a polling fee of 1,000Hz, pre-lubed switches, and PBT keycaps. It helps 2.4GHz, Bluetooth, and wired modes, and it has a built-in TFT display that may show GIFs.

If optimum gaming efficiency is your prime precedence, there’s nonetheless little motive not to decide on a wi-fi gaming mouse and keyboard. Due to proprietary 2.4GHz protocols, their efficiency is on par with wired units, and the advantages of ditching the cable—particularly on the mouse—are unmatched.