Mice: USB or PS/2?

[NYHoustonman]

This may seem like an obvious question to some of you, but which is better? I always assumed that USB was, as it is newer, but I am seeing various things written around that suggest otherwise, but not clearly.

 

[Agamar]

I think USB mice can send more samples per second...or that could be just optical mice...

 

[stevewm]

It doesn't really matter.

As for the issue of poll rate USB is FIXED at 125hz. (all USB input devices are polled 125 times per second, this cannot be changed)

PS/2 on the otherhand can have its sample rate set anywhere from 20 to 200hz. (In Win2k/XP look in Device Manager at the properties for your mouse to adjust this rate, Win9x requires a third party tool.)

CPU usage on on ethier interface is not measureable.

If anything PS/2 is more compatible. All OSes that support mice will work with PS/2 mice. Such is not the case with USB mice. Personally I always use PS/2, I mean whats the point of wasting a USB port when you already have a designated keyboard and mouse port? PS/2 ports are not likely to disappear from motherboards for quite some time. Abit already tried it with their MAX Legacy free board, by popular demand they released a newer version of the same board, the MAX2, but this time with the PS/2 ports put back on