Cordless keyboards & mice in office environ

[JayE]

Hi,

Our IT supplier has offered our company Microsoft cordless mice and keyboards for about £30 extra on the cost of a new PC.

I like the idea of cordless as keyboard/mice leads seem very short in our workstation setup (can you get extensions?). But my concern initially was about the fact that they run on batteries (I guess all of them?) and to keep them from running out all the time users would have to remember to turn them on at the beginning of the day and off at the end of the day.

However, now I wonder about whether they are reliable and stable, ESPECIALLY in an office environment where 3 or 4 PCs are all situated very close together. I've read quite a few messages here about interference, devices which stop working and - even more worrying - commands on one PC coming through on another !!!!

Your input would be most welcome.

Regards,
Jay/UK

 

[petermeachem]

There was something on the Register about two blokes in Sweden who could type on each others screen from 150m away! Batteries would be a pain. Extension leads are easy to get

http://www.rotronic.co.uk

for a start. Peter Meachem
peter @ accuflight.com

 

[Snickle]

They will interfere but I find a more serious problem. The unattached part will grow feet and run away [loss/employee theft?]. Replacement cost should be high on a consideration list as an ongoing issue. I'd stay away from cordless and get extension cords, usually the same PS/2 cord will work with either PS/2 mice or PS/2 keyboards.

 

[thatrenowned]

We only tend to use cordless for conference rooms. I've often thought about getting them for all users, but at the moment, I'd say the disadvantages outweigh the advantages (as already stated, batteries, theft and cost).