- Reviewed on: AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor running Windows Vista
Hardware designers have just about exhausted the possibilities for ergonomic keyboards, and are designing them these days as much for esthetics as for specialized use, such as design, gaming and especially multimedia. The ergonomic focus is moving toward mice, most of which make a claim for "comfort," which has become a code word for mice that are less likely to result in repetitive strain injury, or RSI.
Many new keyboards are being made for Windows Vista, and are also going wireless, designed for multimedia computers — among them are two wireless keyboard-and-mouse combinations from Logitech (the Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution and the diNovo Mini), and two from Microsoft (the Wireless Laser Desktop 3000 and Wireless Laser Desktop 7000). By "desktop," the industry means a keyboard-and-mouse combination.
But wireless desktops usually end up with more wires than you thought you were losing. Removing the cords to keyboards and mice means they have to get their power elsewhere, and that means a charger, which is powered from an AC wall socket; so you end up with more wires, just running elsewhere. So it's hard to see the wisdom of going wireless for people who don't combine computer-based multimedia shows with surfing the Internet.
Logitech's MX5500 Revolution and diNovo Mini use Bluetooth technology, and require a single USB key sticking into the computer; Microsoft, which uses 2.4 GHz wireless technology instead, uses a single USB key to connect the Wireless Laser Desktop 7000, but the 3000 model has a large mouse-sized transceiver that hooks into a USB port and sits on your desk. Both Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless will work at a distance of about nine or 10 metres.
Keyboard manufacturers have been concentrating on design lately, and these four keyboards show the lengths to which they have gone so far. The sexiest is the Microsoft 7000, which has taken its cue from Microsoft Vista and is called the Aero Edition; the always careful Microsoft designers embedded three keys in the smoked plastic frame, which don't move; all you need to do is to touch them. Microsoft made two earlier keyboards, the Wireless Entertainment and Desktop 7000 and 8000, with this kind of action-free function keys.
I hope Microsoft puts a stop to this annoying technology. I like to get some tactile and audio feedback from a keyboard; I'd feel the same way if I stopped hearing or feeling my feet on a floor. In the same way, I like keys that have a satisfying distance to go before they make contact; when I used the 7000 and 8000 models I found that accidentally brushing my fingers over the function keys would present annoying results.
(For real curmudgeons, there is software available that mimics the sound of manual typewriters when you strike a key; one such software package is a free utility called Typewriter. There is even a small trend in steampunk keyboards, which replace the keys on a standard computer keyboard with keys from old manual typewriters, the end result looking like a fussy Victorian contraption out of Jules Verne.) One oddity must be addressed here. The computer on which these wireless keyboards were tested connects to the keyboard and mouse through a keyboard-video-mouse (KVM) switch, which controls three other computers as well. Neither of the Microsoft keyboards would work properly through the switch, although both Logitech ones had no problem. The Microsoft keyboards were limited to basic functions, and the mice simply wouldn't work. I thought this was because Logitech used Bluetooth and Microsoft used 2.4GHz wireless technology; but then a mouse I had been using before this review, the Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000, used the same 2.4GHz wireless technology and had no problem with the switch. I asked Microsoft about the problem, and they appear to have been flummoxed.
I plugged the Microsoft keyboards directly into the computer, and suddenly they worked perfectly. Now I know very few people use KVM switches, but those who do should beware.
And I have to put in a word here for the Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000, which was released in January, 2007 — it is the most comfortable mouse I have ever used, and I have not suffered any RSI since I started using it.
The Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution is meant to be a multimedia keyboard as well as one designed to help navigate large documents on PCs or home servers, or Web pages. It presents its keys in straight lines, in the classical manner, but adds a few interesting twists. Embedded at the top is an LCD screen that shows, among other things, a digital clock, band and song titles, the (indoor) temperature, a keystroke counter and the number of unread e-mails.
There are keys dedicated to multimedia, controlling sound and video, a zoom function and the animated "flip" 3D function introduced to Windows in the Vista edition. Another grouping kicks in Vista's media centre, opens the photo gallery and a display of gadgets (which Microsoft calls Windows Sidebar).
There are disappointments. The keyboard, running on four AA batteries, just doesn't have the juice to make the top-of-the-keyboard LCD display easily readable. And the letters on the keys are small, and have been printed on top of some shiny background that produces a glare when the light hits the keyboard at certain angles. (The shiny substance does, however, wear off after a little use.)
Logitech takes great pride in the MX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse that comes with the keyboard. It features "hyper-fast scrolling" for speeding through large documents, including the ability "to move through up to 10,000 lines of a spreadsheet in seven seconds." In this trial, the hyper-fast scrolling resulted in an odd behaviour — the screen rolls back a little at the end of each spin of the scroll wheel, which is disconcerting. Turn the acceleration off, though, and things get back to normal. It's also designed for right-handers only.
There is a wheel near the thumb for controlling the Flip 3D feature and a small button just behind the scroll wheel which, when clicked on a highlighted word, will call up Google and immediately run a search for it — very nice.
The scroll wheel also offers both smooth scrolling as well as "click to click" scrolling using a light built-in ratchet. Interestingly, Logitech technology detects which application you're running and automatically kicks into the scrolling mode best suited to the software at hand. In documents, it goes into free-spin mode; in lists, it shifts to click mode.
The mouse runs on a lithium-ion battery you recharge in a cradle; a full charge lasts about two weeks.
The Logitech diNovo Mini is about the size of an 18-wheel trucker's wallet, which is best pecked at with your thumbs, like a BlackBerry but with bigger keys. It comes with a smoked plastic clamshell cover and a touchpad for navigation. It's clearly designed for controlling a multimedia computer from a distance, and perhaps helping a couch potato write short e-mails.
I'm no big fan of touch pads, but the main benefit of the diNovo's built-in track pad, about the size of a loonie, makes the entire keyboard and mouse small enough to keep on a side table; parking the full-sized wireless keyboards and their mice requires a lot of room.
The diNovo Mini runs on the same kind of rechargeable battery found in some cellphones, which requires plugging it in periodically.
The Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 3000 is geared specifically for audiophiles, with a bunch of keys dedicated to control audio playback as well as forward and back browser buttons, and three to start a browser session, open mail or search the Internet. In design, the 3000 desktop is one of those compromises between the almost unusable "natural" and straight keyboards, in which there is a gentle curve to the rows, resulting in slightly oversized H, B and N keys.
The mouse is very much like the classic Microsoft mouse, meant for both right- and left-handed users, and communicates to the computer through a transceiver that is almost as big as the mouse.
This is a nothing-special keyboard intended for general use, and as such it's a good deal.
The Wireless Laser Desktop 7000, however, is designed to be a multimedia keyboard because it has keys dedicated to sound and video playback; however, it's obvious that a lot of effort has gone into its visual appeal. In this case, it means Microsoft made it all black with a silver-and-smoked-plastic trim and layered clear plastic on top of the multimedia keys.
It's also a "comfort curve" layout, like the 3000; also like the 3000, it has no innovative functions other than the three touch-only keys that I mentioned earlier.
The mouse that comes with the Wireless Laser Desktop 7000 is also a kind of Darth-Vader device. It looks a little like someone had described Logitech's Revolution mouse to Microsoft designers, who then produced a simpler version. Like the Logitech mouse, it's only for right-handed people; aside from the scroll wheel, it has two buttons at the thumb, defaulting to forward and back functions. Like the Revolution it needs a charger, which in this case is a flat base with two connectors, and you simply place the mouse on the base.
Microsoft has tilted the palm-rest part of the mouse a little more than Logitech has with the Revolution, which is a little more restful for those stricken with RSI. The forward and back thumb buttons are a little hard to distinguish from each other with only the thumb, and require some practice to use. Otherwise it's quite a nice mouse, with excellent response controlled through Microsoft's always reliable IntelliPoint software.
Microsoft is selling the mouse separately as the Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 7000, for $79.95.
