Microsoft Wireless Media Desktop 1000

As a trained touch typist I have used lots of keyboards in the past. This keyboard is very comfortable and yet tactile. It is silent. I would advise anyone to stay clear of these enormous keyboards with loads of extras that you will probably never use. They are so unwieldy and difficult to work with. This keyboard has multimedia hotkeys and they are more than enough.
It is compact yet big enough to work with and just lets you do your work unhindered. I'm so pleased I went with this impulse buy. I actually returned the logitech wave pro (in development for 5 years !!!); and quite honestly it was awful to use. It was so big I couldn't position it into a comfortable position or get a good contact with the keys. Sometimes the simple things are the best.

Heavy use means I get through keyboards at a rate of roughly 1 every 9 months even though I usually buy high end products. After several bad experiences with expensive keyboard / mouse combos, I opted for the other end of the price range and bought Microsoft's Wireless Media Desktop 1000 range.

* Set Up
A pain free exercise completed within 5 minutes including unpacking. The keyboard and mouse each take two AA size batteries. Cheap Energizer batteries are supplied but so far have lasted a month of heavy use with no sign of wearing out. The send / receive unit plugs into any USB socket. Vista 64 picked up and installed both the mouse and keyboard within seconds and without me having to press a single Connect button. Nice.

The send / receive unit is oval and big taking up almost as much desk space as the mouse. It has NumLock and CapsLock lights. Unfortunately these are feeble green things located to the back of the unit and only viewable clearly square on. After a couple weeks of use I had an onscreen warning about signal strength to the keyboard even though the send receive unit was only 6 inches away. Repositioning the unit to the other side of the metal monitor stand cured the problem.

Having suffered with Logitech's truly awful software, I reluctantly installed Microsoft's IntelliType and IntelliPoint programs for keyboard and mouse respectively. Apart from dumping shortcuts on my Desktop without asking me, the software installed and ran fine. The keyboard and mouse have separate programs making configuration is simple and easy. If you get lost in the many mouse settings, the IntelliPoint software has a Restore Defaults button. Both programs have a wireless tab showing battery and signal strength.

The software's a joy to use. It even has an update feature which checks for the latest version.

* The Keyboard
It's physically smaller than most current products due mainly to its clean lines: it's rectangular and not 'curvy' so takes up little room on the desktop and tucks neatly under the monitor when not in use.

Typing caused me a few problems. The keys feel close together plus they require a heavier touch than I'm used to. At first I kept missing letters from words. Thankfully tactile feedback from the keys is good and after a couple of weeks my typo rate is back down to normal.

The standard keyboard layout has some neat features especially for keyboard junkies who use the mouse only when necessary. There's a right click key for quick menu viewing and selection and two Ctrl keys, one on each side of keyboard, to make shortcuts accessible with one hand. The edge of some keys shows the shortcuts for things like Ctrl+C for copy or Windows+E to open Explorer. Very handy for beginners or those who need reminding.

Most Microsoft keyboards sport an F-Lock key which by default used to change the action of all F keys to non-standard operations. At last Microsoft have realised how frustrating this is for those of us who use software requiring F keys for fast operation: F-Lock now defaults to standard F key operation. A small point but an important one for those into keyboard shortcuts, speaking of which....

At the top of the keyboard is row of buttons grouped and spaced logically. Far left is the group for one touch opening of default email, browser, IM and media software. Far right are the volume and mute controls which when pressed briefly display a small but unobtrusive graphic above the clock in the system tray. Again, nice touch.

The group of 6 middle keys are labelled 1 to 5 with a star key. Press the star and up pops a simple dialog box for allocating programs to each of the 5 keys. It took just a few minutes for me to set shortcuts to my most used programs and folders. More complex customisation of *all* the top row keys is possible via the IntelliType software.

One minor niggle is the lack of a second Windows key on the right. Instead there's a key for scrolling through programs in Vista. OK if you like Vista's useless eye candy features, less so if like me you've turned them off to improve system performance.

Of more concern is the lack of a wrist rest which is a 'must have' to avoid aches and pains when typing. Given Microsoft's track record in promoting ergonomics and the inclusion of a healthy use guide with the IntelliType software, the lack of a wrist rest is puzzling.

* The Mouse
Although it feels cheap the mouse has taken everything I have thrown at it. It's a small size which suits me fine and proved ideal for some younger visitors we entertained recently. I've had no 'finger cramp' either, even after a few heavy sessions of clicking and positioning objects when desktop publishing.

However, the mouse is the weak half of the partnership. The scroll wheel clicks positively but the page didn't always scroll smoothly. It took a few visits to the IntelliPoint software before I found the right settings.

The real let down is the lack of accuracy in precision work. Pixel editing in PhotoShop and precise placement of objects for desktop publishing layouts are difficult due to the jerky way the pointer moves. I've tried every surface and mouse mat I can find and have not solved this yet. This isn't a big problem for me personally as I use a Wacom tablet for the fiddly stuff but I now do not have the option to use the mouse for such work.

Bizarrely the tracking, smoothness and accuracy are better on my grey desk top than they are on a Nova optical mouse mat.

* Conclusion
Initially I thought this would be a stop gap purchase but I've been pleasantly surprised at how good this hardware is. Though the mouse might get replaced in the not too distant future but the keyboard will definitely be kept. At least until I wear it out.

No wrist rest and an average mouse lose it one star.

A great set for general use. Those needing mouse precision should look elsewhere.

A question.

Suppose you move your PC and unplug your USB devices including, for the sake of argument, the wireless desktop receiver for this device. You reconnect everything and turn your PC on again. Do you expect:
(a) everything to work without a hitch: these are, after all, Microsoft-branded items; or
(b) neither the mouse nor the keyboard works, so you have to plug in a spare Kensington trackball and an Apple - yes, an APPLE - keyboard in order to be able to regain access to your PC so that you can try to reinstall the software?

Really not impressed.

I bought this having worn out my Logitech mouse (it was randomly double-clicking or not clicking) and keyboard (Oxo incident). Installing the software is straightforward (you then have to press buttons on the devices to get them talking to each other, which is fine).

The mouse is a little worse than average. The movement is imprecise, the scroll-wheel is okay and the buttons feel fine.

The keyboard is nice with a slightly cushioned key action. It's not particularly big but everything you need is there. You can assign functions to keys if you want.

I think it was probably reasonable value for money.