When you buy wireless peripherals , be it mice, keyboards, or headphones, they generally almost always bring their own USB dongle , even if they are Bluetooth . However, many modern motherboards, and especially laptops, incorporate Bluetooth connectivity , so why do they still include this USB dongle?
There are really many Bluetooth peripherals that include a USB dongle, but not all. Many others assume that you have a system with Bluetooth connectivity, and there are times when you find yourself surprised that after buying a Bluetooth peripheral you cannot use it because it does not have said dongle and your computer does not have this type of connectivity.
Bluetooth peripherals and your USB dongle
This that we have just told you is one of the main reasons why manufacturers continue to include a USB receiver along with their peripherals, and that is that it cannot be taken for granted that the user will have Bluetooth connectivity. In this way they make sure to avoid many returns, even if it is by careless users who have not read the requirements of the product before buying it.
It is not really the end of the world to find yourself in this position, since a compatible Bluetooth USB receiver can be found in almost any electronics store or online store, and is generally quite affordable, even for less than 5 euros you can find . However, these “generic” receivers do not guarantee full compatibility and both the functionality and the operating distance of your peripheral could be diminished.
In any case, by including their own USB dongle, manufacturers ensure several things: on the one hand, the best connectivity and functionality of their device, since it has also been verified that the Bluetooth receivers integrated in the motherboards that carry it have for some reason cause a higher latency than USB receivers from manufacturers (this is quite noticeable for example with the Xbox One controller connected by Bluetooth to a PC).
On the other hand, saturation is also avoided: the bandwidth of the Bluetooth interface is quite limited, and when there are many wireless devices on the same computer, interferences and connection problems can occur. With a proprietary USB dongle, the manufacturer ensures that only your device is going to use that connection and thus ensures better performance. This is among others the reason why, for example, you cannot use the Logitech Unifying USB receiver with a non-branded peripheral.
So now you know, that manufacturers continue to include USB receivers in their wireless peripherals with Bluetooth connection is almost for their own convenience, because in this way they ensure the correct operation of their devices to avoid potential problems for users (which, of course, they will claim the manufacturer in such a case generating more work for them).
Is any USB receiver valid for any product?
It is possible that for whatever reason (that you did not realize when you bought the peripheral that the serial dongle did not come, that the one you had is broken, that you have lost it, etc.) you wonder if any USB receiver for The kind of Bluetooth we’ve mentioned before will work with any product, and unfortunately the answer is no.
Most Bluetooth peripherals that do not come with a receiver from the factory do usually work with anyone, but products that have their own proprietary receiver such as Logitech products will not work if it is not with a brand receiver, since they have the link encoded in their firmware and the manufacturer has provided for it.
