GoKawiilIn our wireless world, with Bluetooth available on nearly every device, it's easy to wonder why USB wired keyboards still exist. Not only can you find plenty of wired keyboards today, but you'll even find high-end options with no wireless protocol available. Performance-focused gaming keyboards are the least likely to have a wireless option, a fact that underscores the main issue wired devices avoid: performance problems.
Bluetooth is well-known for its latency. If you've ever hooked up a Bluetooth speaker or pair of earbuds to watch a video and noticed that the audio was out of sync, you've experienced that latency. But it isn't just audio. Mouse clicks and keypresses sent over Bluetooth can take a few extra milliseconds to reach your computer. In day-to-day tasks like writing or editing spreadsheets, you'll almost never notice the delay. But in tasks like gaming, where reaction time is key, Bluetooth latency can quickly lead to a lost match or a character death. Musicians using keyboards for input with a digital audio workstation (DAW) may also require lower latency for precise timing.
But Bluetooth isn't the only wireless game in town. Many keyboards also include a 2.4GHz connection, which usually requires plugging a small dongle into your computer's USB port. 2.4GHz is much faster than Bluetooth and often acceptable for gaming and other low-latency tasks.
If you don't game, you can safely ignore this entire topic and use whichever keyboard connection type you prefer. But if you do play games and want to optimize your setup, it's worth unpacking how the two most common wireless connection types found on keyboards can perform compared to a wired keyboard.