Ask HN: Why wireless laptop peripherals connect to dongle instead of Bluetooth?

2 points by dandare 7y ago ↗ HN

Let's use this "Bluetooth / wireless" Jabra headset as an example https://www.jabra.com/business/office-headsets/jabra-evolve/jabra-evolve-75

Despite the misleading product website, the headset will NOT connect to your laptop via Bluetooth - it will wirelessly connect to a USB (A!) dongle.

I did some research recently and I can not find an office headset that will connect to my laptop via Bluetooth without a dongle or a base. Also many wireless mouses and keyboards connect to a dongle, with the notable exception of Apple products. What is going on?

1 comment

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detaro 7y ago ↗

Doesn't it do Bluetooth, or doesn't it do Bluetooth with your laptop? I kind of suspect the latter, and that's one of the reasons: Bluetooth stacks traditionally are fiddly, not all devices support all modes, ...

For dense offices, custom protocols can also be better at dealing with many devices at the same time. For mouses/keyboards, a dongle can be available before the OS has started and initialized Bluetooth.