I would think a wireless mouse makes more sense.

I have a wireless optical mouse, but I just put my old wired mouse back on last week because I got tired of replacing batteries. I know some come with rechargers, but not mine. Most wired mice do have a plug on the end of the cord, but you have to take it apart to get at it. It plugs directly onto the circuit board inside the mouse. Some mice are easy to take apart, but some aren't. Nobody sells the cords separately that I know of. The mice are so cheap these days, buying a replacement cord might be as expensive as buying a new mouse. But I agree that it is wasteful to throw away a whole mouse just because the cord is bad. Frankly, I've never broken a mouse cord, but I suppose it would be the most likely part to break.

Wireless mouses are a different ball game. If you have ever useda wireless mouse you will know the hassles. Changing the batteries frequently in a wireless mouse is a big pain. If you work in anoffice you will notice the high turnover of mice. The weakestlink is at the mouse end, the connector at the cpu end does notnormally fail. I agree the cord may be as expensive as a mouse.If manufactured on a large scale costs wsill come down and resultin lesser dumping of toxic electronic waste.

Yep. I don't think we should bother with this, since most peripherals will be wireless in a not-so-far future.

Duh. I didn't read the other comments about batteries. See wireless energy transfer.