Which is more power saving, bluetooth or 2.4ghz mice?

That's my question. I am looking for a wireless mouse for my UL30VT. Which one consumes less power: built-in BT adapter + mouse; or 2.4gbz micro-receiver + mouse?

 

Well since bluetooth is very limited in range, I'd say 2.4g hertz by far.

 

Krane - what a strange conclusion - because bluetooth has a limited range 2,4g hertz consumes less power?

So because a Mercedes is faster than a Smart it uses less fuel?

And Bluetooth is 2,4GHz too - just by the way.
....

To the OP:

I believe a dedicated wireless mouse would use less electricity.
The range will be about similar - maybe slightly larger with the dedicated receiver.
The key difference to Bluetooth is that Bluetooth can transfer anything - music, video, photographs - i.e. data or "controls" (mouse etc.) hence it needs a larger bandwidth and has to be able to support a multitude of functions.
A dedicated receiver only has to cater to the low bandwidth requirements of the moues.

In the end I really suggest you use what is more comfortable to you.

 

Power difference is virtually negligible. If I turn my Bluetooth module completely off, I gain 4 to 5 minutes of battery life.

 

That's interesting - its half an hour for me.

But I think this will depend on the total energy consumption of the laptop.

 

Bluetooth consumes more energy but for a mouse only, it would be slightly more power saving over wireless usb, since the wireless usb is using slightly more power. If you used bluetooth for more than a mouse, then it would consume more power.

Power savings are in seconds, I wouldn't even go into the minutes on this one. Try it out, let us know the results.

 

Bluetooth will consume noticeable more power. Not because the BT module needs that much power, not because the protocol creates that much overhead, not because you've connected special devices, simply because the Stack is software handled and stresses the CPU, thus the CPU can't enter power saving mode when a BT device is connected, thus the CPU will consume a lot more power, run hotter, ....

Don't believe it, just test it and you'll see it. It doesn't care if you've connected a phone, mouse, headset, ... The power consumption is always the same, a lot:
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=20062

To test it, do the same I did, run RMClock or any other power consumption meter and check the discharge rate with BT fully deactivated and a wirless mouse connected and then with BT activated and a BT device connected. On my ULV C2D the difference was about 2 Watt, that's about 30% more power consumption than normal.

 

Both Logitech and MS state that their '2.4GHz' mice have a 30'/10m range.
Bluetooth has a range of between 10 and 100m (30-300') depending on the hardware.


As for power consumption, it sounds very much as though you need to test matters out for yourself if you want a reliable answer - differences in people's rigs could well account for the differing experiences.


edit: something else that may well be worth taking into account is the absolutely pitiful range of bluetooth mice currently on the market.
It seems that the bigger companies such as MS and Logitech have neglected the technology a great deal.

 

This is a busy week for me, but I will test it out and post my results later. I realized there is a lack of full size BT mouse. I've been searching for a while. I did find a solution. I was at BB one day and checked out their mice offering. I came across the RocketFish BT mouse and Kbd combo (do a search, for some reason BB link would not work). The mouse is a full-size mouse. Unfortunately it sells for $69.99. But the mouse is decent and full size (back, forward, and tilt button). I like the mouse, but my old Logitech M500 feels just a tad bit better.

So to make the story short, I went to eBay ( http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120519489701&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT) and bought an open box return unit for $40 just for the mouse and it's great! It came with mouse and kbd with BT dongle. I didn't use the dongle but instead use my built-in bt receiver. Microsoft's BT battery stack was actually able to display the battery left status! So it works out well! It uses AA battery and is has a good heft and not too heavy.

Edit: It goes into power saving mode very quickly, and a quick jerk brings it back to life. Some of you may find this annoying, but it's fine for me! That's the nature of wireless mouse though. BB had two version and the one I bought is a NEW version. It's RF-BTCMBO2. Note the 2 at the end of the model number. Go to your BB and check it out yourself.

Edit2: The ability to show how much power left appears to only work on my HDX18T. This feature is apparently not available with the UL30VT BT stack... Anyone know what BT chip is the UL30VT using? Maybe I can install a different stack on it?

 

I could resist to test out the power consumption. This is VERY unscientific. Using battery bar:
a) older logitech traveler mouse with a stick dongle - in active use, power consumption hovers around 7-8K mW

b) using bluetooth mouse (built-in) - in active use power consumption hovers around 9K mW. When the mouse is idle, then power consumption goes down to about 7K mW.