What is the benefit of a Bluetooth mouse over a regular wireless mouse? They both appear to need a little USB transmitter/receiver or some type to plug into the computer.
If a laptop has built-in Bluetooth, then the little USB thing would not be needed, right? If my laptop has integrated Bluetooth, then I can just turn on the mouse and my computer will know there’s a mouse out there and everything will work. Right?
I’m thinking about getting a Bluetooth mouse instead of my regular wireless one, but if I still have to plug something into my USB port, what’s the point?
Also, once somebody plugs in that Bluetooth USB receiver thing, can his computer now communicate with other Bluetooth things like Headphones and all that stuff?
What if my computer and my cellphone were both sending out Bluetooth signals to some headphones. What would the headphones pick up? Both? Does it need to be set somehow?
What prevents two people with handsfree Bluetooth devices for their cell phones from walking by each other and picking up the other’s conversation? Do they all work on different frequencies? If that’s the case, how is it a universal device?
I have not used Bluetooth on a computer but I can answer the cellphone part.
When you buy a Bluetooth headset, you first have to “pair” it with your phone. They all work on the same frequency, but each device sends a unique identification code so other devices can recognize it. When you first turn on your new headset, you set it into “pairing” mode, where it broadcasts a mating call of sorts. You set the phone into a similar mode. The phone says it can find the headset, and you tell the phone to pair with it, they do a little mating dance, and you’re set. So your phone will not work with any headset it has not been mated with and your headset will not work with any phone it has not been mated with.
I do not know what happens if you mate the same headset with two different phones, for example, or whether it’s even possible.
(As an aside, I do not know the level of encryption used in such connections and do not know whether the transmission could be picked up and cracked.)
Oh I wish I’d searched for this thread before buying my new MS Optical Desktop Elite for Bluetooth. These are exactly the questions I would have asked. Not that these questions were answered :(, but I can give some answers now.
I’ve installed the keyboard and mouse. They both work fine… with the USB transceiver. As soon as I remove it, they don’t work. But my laptop is supposed to have integrated Bluetooth! I keep pressing the Bluetooth button on it, it keeps saying ‘No Device’. Even though I am typing and pointing with the new gadgets already! :mad:
Bear_Nenno, did you buy the Bluetooth mouse in the end? Did you get it to work? Without the transceiver?
Anyone else have any bright ideas? The manual says nothing except the ominous words ‘(manufacturing option)’ after the word ‘Bluetooth’.
I’m pleased enough with the keyboard and mouse themselves, but I specifically wanted Bluetooth, to have nothing hanging off the USB ports, now it looks like I might as well have just got an RF wireless combo for about half the money.
You may have to go into the bios and enable it, then let windows find it and load the drivers.
It took the second BT mouse before I got one that worked all the time. If it is the lowest price, and a well known brand, then you are considering the one that kept disconnecting. The one that works well for me is Anycom.
And to echo what has been said “pairing” means just that. My BT headset will work with my computer OR my phone, but not both at the same time. (It works well with DeLorm GPS/map software, which can take voice commands)
Yoy said mfg option, so are you sure the board has it? My MB has the mfg option, but it’s an extra to be purchased and connect to the socket on the MB. I all so lose the second onboard USB connector when Blue Tooth is enabled.
Still never tried the bluetooth. I actually went back and looked at my specs and couldn’t find mention of internal Bluetooth. So I figure I just imagined it. I went with a normal wireless and it works just fine. I’d rather not have to plug in that lil stub, but oh well. It’s not in the way much.
It’s an Acer Travelmate 2300. Got it in summer 2005 - from a ‘factory surplus outlet’ for under £500. It seems to have been long superseded. But I’m 98% sure it’s meant to have built-in Bluetooth reception.
I’ll send Acer UK tech support an email, see if they have any bright ideas.