Should You Use a Wireless or Wired Mouse For Gaming?

Let us be clear, for all intents and purposes wired mice are going to give you the best performance and the best price. Wired mice have historically not had the same sorts of connectivity and latency issues that wireless mice have had. Earlier iterations of wireless mice were largely not designed with gaming in mind, and the main source of connection between the mouse and computer was Bluetooth, which connects well, but has horrible latency issues, hampering the ability to make timely and precise maneuvers in the heat of battle. Lately, however, advancements in wireless technology have closed the gap between wired and wireless mice, creating situations where going wireless is the smartest choice for certain types of gamers. The best MMO mouse often uses wireless technology as this seems to be much more convenient in many situations.

Up until 2016, there was no question that wired mice were in another league when compared to wireless. That was until Logitech launched the G900 Chaos Spectrum, a wireless mouse that it claimed to be even faster than the competing wired mice on the market. Indeed, the G900 was fast, however, its reign at the top of all mice was short-lived. That does not mean that wired mice cannot give you the performance that you desire when gaming, in fact many of the specs between wired and wireless mice are incredibly comparable.

In a one-to-one comparison between Logitech’s G Pro wireless mouse and Razer’s Deathadder V2 wired mouse it is hard for the layman to see much of a difference in the two. The G Pro’s 16,000 dots per inch rating compared to the Deathadder 20,000 is only slightly smaller. For those who are not familiar, dots per inch is a measure of sensitivity, with a higher rating meaning a higher rate of sensitivity. Though 4,000 seems like it is a large difference, when it comes to the precision between the two, only a professional gamer will have the ability to tell any difference.

The G Pro is also about two grams lighter than the Deathadder. A two gram difference which could be the factor that allows you to pull your gun around just a split second faster than your opponent. On the other hand, having a tad more weight could give you a steadier hand. I tend to prefer a heavier mouse because it gives me a more solid base and makes me feel as if I have something substantial under my palm.

The first thing that I would recommend you ask yourself is what is your setup going to look like in the first place? How are you going to arrange your monitors, desk, and chair? Many professional gamers like to keep everything very close, meaning monitor(s) close to the keyboard and mouse. This mimics a typical competition setup, where two teams are packed onto a stage with minimal room. If you are more serious about competition, then I would recommend practicing with a setup that mimics competition play – and who hates pretending to be your idols? 

Other gamers will like creating their setup with comfort in mind. Perhaps you want to play from bed and make your television the monitor for your computer? Maybe your focus is on streaming and the place that you sit needs to be a little further away from the monitor so that you can fit in the frame of the camera. I personally prefer sitting a little further away from my monitor because it reduces my eye strain and allows me to focus for longer, even if I sacrifice being able to see smaller details on the screen. 

A setup that is further away from the monitor will typically need a wireless mouse because most wired mice do not have cords long enough to not inhibit functionality. The mice with cords that are long enough typically prove awkward to maneuver around and keep from getting cluttered. If you are looking to keep your space from being cluttered by wires, or have a chair that is distant from your computer, then you will want to choose a wireless mouse.

Unfortunately for wireless mice, convenience from wires and convenience for setups away from the computer are the only times when they will outperform wired mice. For nearly $100 less than top wireless mice, gamers can find wired mice that outperform their cordless counterparts in all specifications, which is why, for this list, I am recommending wired mice for almost every setup.