Lack of USB-C unifying receiver from Logitech

[lttclm]

Hello.

What do you guys think is the reason for Logitech not offering USB-C receiver for their mice and keyboards?

 

I rock the MX Master 3 mouse that I bough recently.. which came with USB-A receiver. That is only option on the website also.

Doing some research for a new laptop, some of the contenders don't even have USB-A ports any more. For example Dell XPS 15/17. As time goes on, this will become standard.

 

If you spend over 2k on a premium computer, and another €100 for a mouse... it would need to have dangling dongle with it at all times for daily use? That's just dumb, like really dumb.

 

Thus, is there a technical reason for it, or something else? Anyone has an insight?

[minibois]

What I feel like their reasoning might be is "if you don't have a USB Type A port, you do likely have Bluetooth". Since most devices without USB Type A are laptops/phones, those are devices with Bluetooth; which the MX Master (and some of their other 'multi-device' mice/keyboards) supports as well.

That is not a good reason to not make a USB Type C receiver, but could be one of the reasons for it.

4 minutes ago, lttclm said:

it would need to have dangling dongle with it at all times for daily use? That's just dumb, like really dumb.

You could make the argument with a USB Type C receiver "I buy a 2K laptop and a 100 euro mouse, but still need to have a receiver sticking out a couple mm on the side", using Bluetooth does mean you save another port on your laptop.

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, minibois said:

What I feel like their reasoning might be is "if you don't have a USB Type A port, you do likely have Bluetooth". Since most devices without USB Type A are laptops/phones, those are devices with Bluetooth; which the MX Master (and some of their other 'multi-device' mice/keyboards) supports as well.

That is not a good reason to not make a USB Type C receiver, but could be one of the reasons for it.

You could make the argument with a USB Type C receiver "I buy a 2K laptop and a 100 euro mouse, but still need to have a receiver sticking out a couple mm on the side", using Bluetooth does mean you save another port on your laptop.

Pretty much nailed it on the head. The devices that only have usb c are normally mobile devices with wireless communication technologies such as bt so no need for the adapter. As for desktops all still have the regular usb a ports but not all have a usb c port even to this day.

 

Also being able to reuse the existing receiver instead of making a usb c version is just plain cheaper for them too probably :p.

[lttclm]

9 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Pretty much nailed it on the head. The devices that only have usb c are normally mobile devices with wireless communication technologies such as bt so no need for the adapter. As for desktops all still have the regular usb a ports but not all have a usb c port even to this day.

 

Also being able to reuse the existing receiver instead of making a usb c version is just plain cheaper for them too probably :p.

I guess those could be possible reasons.

At the same time my (and I guess many people's) experience with Bluetooth is not that great.

The receiver, as soon as you plug it in, it works, no fuzz about it compared to BT.

[jaslion]

Just now, lttclm said:

I guess those could be possible reasons.

At the same time my (and I guess many people's) experience with Bluetooth is not that great.

The receiver, as soon as you plug it in, it works, no fuzz about it compared to BT.

I mean for what the mouse is inteded for bt is plenty good. Of course bad bt adapters on your devices is not their problem but a problem from your device itself and the manufacturer using poor quality bt cards.

[Kilrah]

Beyond the mentioned BT reason that means you don't need one in the first place, the main reason is likely size. With USB-A most of the electronics can be hidden inside the shell itself and end up inside the computer, which isn't possible with USB-C.

 

So this

 

 

becomes this

 

 

And now you've got a big thing sticking out of a more fragile port that you risk to snag on. 

 

[Goodwu]

On 11/25/2021 at 1:23 AM, James Evens said:

You can build one. There is firmware for a NRF52 available (opensource community project without any support from Logitech).

I searched for hours but didn't find any open source unifying receiver project. Could you please tell me where to get the source code?

Thank you!

[Goodwu]

Thanks a lot! Gnuradio is difficult for me, lol.

[nicglol]

Has anyone ever considered hard wiring a unifying receiver internally in their laptop? I am going to do that and will post results

 

it's a f$%king stupid idea but idgaf. 

[HumdrumPenguin]

On 11/24/2021 at 4:08 AM, lttclm said:

Hello.

What do you guys think is the reason for Logitech not offering USB-C receiver for their mice and keyboards?

 

I rock the MX Master 3 mouse that I bough recently.. which came with USB-A receiver. That is only option on the website also.

Doing some research for a new laptop, some of the contenders don't even have USB-A ports any more. For example Dell XPS 15/17. As time goes on, this will become standard.

 

If you spend over 2k on a premium computer, and another €100 for a mouse... it would need to have dangling dongle with it at all times for daily use? That's just dumb, like really dumb.

 

Thus, is there a technical reason for it, or something else? Anyone has an insight?

I have both the MX Keys Mini and MX 3 Master for Business that I use connected to a Macbook Pro 16" for work. I can't see much difference when using the keyboard via Bluetooth, but I can definitely tell the difference when using the mouse. I use the the bolt USB connector on my monitor, that connects to the Mac via a USB dongle, and wouldn't try it any other way. Logitech does need to create a freaking USB C receiver at some point...

[zylstra]

On 5/1/2022 at 12:10 PM, Goodwu said:

I searched for hours but didn't find any open source unifying receiver project. Could you please tell me where to get the source code?

Thank you!

You don't need to go so deep, just convert USB A to USB C, like this, 

 .