Apple Wireless Keyboard battery life is Excellent

symphonix

symphonix

Scratch & Sniff Committee
Yesterday, I had to change the batteries on my Apple Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard, for the first time since I purchased my iMac in September 2004. That makes 18 months running on a single set of batteries. I can't but think that this pretty impressive.

I use Energiser E2 Lithium batteries - they're a little pricier than most but I can see the value in them now. :) For the Australian market Apple include a set with the keyboard.
 
How is a wireless keyboard compared o a wired one? I mean, I can understand how a wireless mouse would be beneficial, but you never really move a keyboard..
Does it have a caps lock light, or did they remove it to save energy?

Congratulations on your long lasting keyboard! It just keeps going, and going, and going, eh?
 
It does have a caps lock light. Furthermore, there's obvious advantages to having the keyboard wireless:

1.) Less wires. Makes for a much nicer desktop experience.
2.) Remote control... When I connect my PB to the video beamer, I enjoy having only the wireless keyboard on my lap, controlling the cursor with the numeric keypad (I'd love the wireless keyboard to have a Trackpad of some sort, would be nice...).
3.) Less wires. Oh, already mentioned that... :p

I guess the battery life also depends on how much you actually use it, whether you turn the thing off over night etc. I often forget to turn it off, so I don't expect my batteries to last more than a year, I'm happy if they hold more than 4-6 months. I've only got it a week or so, so I can't really evaluate yet. Well: It still works, but that's to be expected. ;)
 
Ah, I see. I have a logitech wireless keyboard that has no lights, terrible reception, and terrible battery life. Obviously, the Apple one is much better.. it's Apple.
 
I use it as a remote from time to time. Its also good when I want to do design work since I can just pick up the keyboard and drop it on a desk off to the side of me to make space for my tablet, and I can do this without any tangled cables.

Yes, they kept the light for Caps-Lock, which is on the key itself - a point I've always preferred to the standard PC arrangement. The keyboard looks and feels identical to the wired one, but without the USB ports.

If you were thinking of ordering another Mac and were wondering if the wireless keyboard option is worthwhile, I'd say it is. Sadly, I can't say the same for the wireless mouse. Mine is still sitting on the shelf behind my computer, where it never gets used at all.
 
I use 4 NiMH 2500 mAh rechargeables in my Apple Wireless keyboard, and they last somewhere around 4 months after a full recharge.

My Apple Wireless mouse rechargeables, however, barely last 2 weeks.

I'm in front of my iMac about 4 or 5 hours a day, and mousing around a lot on the Web.

How long do your Wireless mouse batteries last ?
 
Oh! That's a good thought... Rechargeables for the wireless keyboard... Gotta test mine...
 
Do you all still have a wired keyboard for those bad days when you have to reboot holding down the C key?
 
eric2006 said:
Ah, I see. I have a logitech wireless keyboard that has no lights, terrible reception, and terrible battery life. Obviously, the Apple one is much better.. it's Apple.
Click to expand...

I had something similar to this from Logitech a few years ago, so I know where you're coming from. It was a plain white keyboard that also came with a wireless mouse. You couldn't have either device too far away from the transmitter otherwise it would lose the signal, which sucked since even leaning back on the chair with the keyboard on your lap would be iffy. The whole set cost about 15 bucks or so.

That being said, I have no complaints about the Apple wireless keyboard. I have yet to change the battery on the keyboard since I've bought the iMac G5 it came with (I upgraded from the regular keyboard and mouse that normally ships with it).

The Apple wireless mouse is another story. I've already replaced the batteries 3 times since I've bought the iMac G5 in September. Not bad considering, but when matched up against the wireless keyboard it's not so great anymore. :p
 
One Possible EXPLANATION For Apple Wireless Keyboards Or Mice GOING THROUGH BATTERIES In A Matter Of Weeks is as follows:

When you shut down or sleep your Mac, if there is a second Mac running at some distance away (up to 100 meters distance), and this distant Mac has bluetooth switched on, and was, for some reason, previously been paired with your wireless keyboard or mouse, then I believe the keyboard or mouse will try to link to the distant Mac after you have shut down the local Mac, using all its available transmission power to overcome the distance, and thereby wearing down the batteries.

This happened to me. I have two Macs in the house, and paired my new wireless keyboard with both computers, just so that I could use this keyboard with either Mac.

But when I shut down the Mac I was using, without me realizing, my wireless keyboard that I had in front of me would then link up to my other distant Mac (which was usually always running), located at the other side of my house, and in doing so, my wireless keyboard would wear out its batteries in weeks from the power drain due to long distance transmission and reception.

Whether this battery draining from long distance transmission and reception can also occur when the wireless keyboard or mouse has not been paired with the distant Mac, I am not sure. It's conceivable that in the bluetooth polling mode, where the distant computer is trying to link up to the wireless keyboard or mouse, there could also be substantial power draining from long distance transmission and reception (especially if bluetooth is set to discoverable).

Someone may want to test this: seeing if bluetooth polling over distance can drain power. Who knows, it may be that your neighbor has a Mac, and so when you switch off your computer, your wireless keyboard or mouse spends all night trying to link to your neighbor's Mac.
 
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