[Ti] Re: PowerBook Sleep problems and Bluetooth mice

[Dennis Fazio]

--On July 20, 2005 1:52:37 PM -0400 Timothy Luoma <lists at tntluoma.com> wrote:

> Which forces me to ask THE most obvious question to anyone who has  ever
> used a Bluetooth Mouse and/or Keyboard:
>
> "Why isn't there an on/off switch?"
>
> The Apple BT keyboard (and I presume mouse) has one.

The Kensington PilotMouse has no switch, but it automatically shuts down 
after a few minutes of inactivity. You need to click a button to turn it on. 
It's not really a portable mouse because of its large ergonomic size, so I 
don't think tossing it in a carry bag was really contemplated as being that 
frequent. I've found batteries to last about 10 days to 2 weeks, which 
doesn't seem very long. A person who has an Apple mouse says he gets around 
two weeks on a pair of batteries. This seems a good application for 
rechargeable batteries.

The Apple keyboard does have a switch, but I just leave it on all the time on 
the two that I have. I think power is only used when keys are pressed and 
I've found that even in always-on mode, the batteries still last for many 
months. For anyone with a PowerBook who frequently moves it elsewhere, the 
Apple Bluetooth keyboard is a great device; one less wire across the desk and 
one less plug needed to get started.

-- 
Dennis Fazio
dfz at mac.com