by Brian Dong

Created on: November 12, 2009

USB or Serial? When it comes to typing performance, there is no significant difference. However the usb keyboard offers a few features that the serial keyboard just can't compete with.

The most important reason the USB keyboard is better than a serial keyboard is becuase serial ports are becoming extinct. Most, if not all newer computers have USB connections on them. This is not true for the serial port. Serial ports tend to be left out on computers. This is especially true for laptop comuters and even more so for ultra portable laptops. If you can't plug your keyboard into the computer, the keyboard is useless. Serial ports are becoming outdated and will soon be history.

USB keyboards are able to handle more buttons and complex features. The USB port is continually developing. It started as USB 1.0, 2.0 and now 3.0. If you compare the data transfer capacities, it becomes obvious that USB keyboards will rule over serial keyboards. The highest speed I've seen for serial ports was 56,000 bytes/sec. The USB 1.0 is 12,000,000 bytes/sec, 2.0 is 480,000,000 bytes/sec and 3.0 is 10x faster than USB 2.0! This is why USB keyboards can have features such as Liquid Color Display (LCD) keypads, a host of other features and of course there is more yet to come.

USB is more convenient to hook up. Have you ever seen a wireless keyboard use a reciever dongle that attaches to a serial port? I sure haven't. However I have seen keyboard/mice setups that have both the usb and serial plugs that go from the central reciever to the computer. But, if you use the USB connection on this setup, you don't need to plug in the serial connection. This tells me that the serial port is only there for people who have older systems which do no have USB ports, therefore making the setup "backwards" compatible. When you hook up a mouse and keyboard using serial connections, you have to put the keyboards serial port into the keyboards input and the mouse serial port into the mouse input. If you mix these up, both the mouse and keyboard will not function. This of course, is not true for the USB keyboard and mouse. You usually have numerous options on where you can plug in your USB keyboard. So long as the USB ports are available, you can plug your keyboard in the front back side or anywhere.

The only real advantage I see for serial keyboards against the USB keyboard is when you have an older system. When the older systems boots up, they tend to check if a mouse any keyboard is connected. If it cannot find a mouse or keyboard connection, it will display an error message. In this case the serial keyboard has the advantage because the system usually recognizes a keyboard connection when it is a serial connection, but not always for the USB connection. I have used both types on my old system, and on several occasion I had to restart the computer when I was reformatting using a USB keyboard.

In conclusion, the USB keyboard is the way of the future and serial keyboards are becoming history. If you ever plan on using your keyboard for a new computer or laptop, your most likely going to want a USB keyboard. This is because you probably won't find a input connection for your serial keyboard. Also, you'll find that USB keyboards are loaded with more features and easier to attach. The only good reason I would have a serial keyboard is to use as backup when reformatting an older system.

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