Rating: 
Summary: How wonderful the Spit Keyboard is to Use
Review: I love the split keyboard. It is so much more comfortable to type with but does take getting use too. Only a few days!
It is easy to use and makes typing so comfortable to use too.
I think everyone will enjoy it.
The only negative statement I have concerning this is it shows in a dark gray or black here and when it comes it is white.
I wanted to darker color to avoid showing smoke or dirt.
Rating: 
Summary: For UNIX?
Review: I really regret that I brought this junk. I was deceived by its stylish look, and when I started using it, immediately I found that the cursor keys and the page up/down, home/end keys are so awkwardly placed, making the keyboard virtually useless in OS where you absolutely need those keys -- like Windows. I doubt if Microsoft has made this keyboard for UNIX users, those who are used to vi or Emacs, where you type Ctrl+F to move the cursor to the right, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: Problematic Key Configuration
Review: I used an older Microsoft Natural keyboard for over five years, and it was excellent. By comparison, conventional keyboards are an occupational hazard. Unfortunately, I broke it while cleaning it, and I had to buy a new one. I picked up the Elite model without looking too closely ... but soon after I started using it, I was cursing under my breath ... because of the arrangement of the Home/Page Up/Page Dn/End/Delete/Insert and arrow keys. They've lost the inverted-T configuration used with the older Natural keyboard. Also, these keys are now half-sized, and therefore harder to hit. These may seem like minor quibbles to some of you -- but they preclude the possibility of hitting these keys without looking at them. This inability is detrimental to any serious touch-typist. I'm a full time IT professional, and as far as I'm concerned, this keyboard is unusable. (My suspicious mind guesses that Microsoft used this bogus configuration to push us to pay for the upscale Pro model, which has the correct key configuration.)
Rating: 
Summary: Great keyboard
Review: I used this keyboard for more than two years.
Of course, arrow keys and (home, end, delete, etc) keys are little inconvinience,
but if you don't play old style games, arrow keys doesn't matter anymore and I'm now more comfortable with (......) keys layout.
One thing I don't like is that it's too big for my desk.
Other than those, it's perfect keyboard.
very comfortable for long time use.
Rating:
Summary: Greatly eases typing stress, even for experienced typists
Review: I work in technology and programming, so I use my keyboard ALL of the time. So much that I was having "repetative stress" problems (basically, tendonitis in my hands and wrists). So I bought the MS Natural Keyboard. I type over 80 words a minute but didn't have much trouble getting used to the new key arrangement -- which is still a QWERTY design, just on an angle. Not only is the arrangement more comfortable, but the action on the keyboard is about the best I've used: full range of motion, appropriate key resistance. Overall, the keyboard is the fastest, most comfortable I've ever worked on.
In 6 years, I haven't had any tendonitis problems with this keyboard (but do have them when I'm forced to use a regular keyboard for too long). I'm at Amazon today to buy a third one -- I've had to give up the old ones with each outdated PC. Hope this helps!
Rating:
Summary: Touch typing's fine
Review: I'm a touch typist, have been for almost 40 years, and I have no problem at all with this keyboard. I've had one for over a year, and I love it. I recently bought another one to hook up to my laptop when I use it away from home. The only real problem I have with it is that I don't have one of these everywhere I use a computer, such as at work. My new MS bent keyboard is the fancy new kind, with function buttons, and I never had to run the installation software. I have XP on my machine, and it recognized the keyboard and I was able to use it, special functions and all, in about five seconds. I have been pleased with the quality and "feel" of both keyboards. My husband goes through keyboards at a rate of about two a year, but my MS keyboards go on and on.
Rating:
Summary: Keeps your wrists straight
Review: I've been using my Microsoft keyboard for about 4 years now. I'm a fairly wide guy, and when I put my hands together, the arms are pointed in from the shoulders. If I'm using a regular keyboard my wrists have to bend outward from my arms to make my hands line up with the keys. Using the Microsoft keyboard, my wrists are more straight so long use doesn't tire them out. It also is supposed to reduce carpal tunnel syndrome where the tendons would have to bend through a bent wrist to work the fingers. The keyboard has all the regular keys laid out fairly well. It only takes a few minutes getting used to the split board. The cursor moving arrows and special function keys are in groups between the letters and number pad, which works well. One thing that seems strange is that the upper row, the numbers, are split between 6 and 7, instead of between 5 and 6. That's because there are the dashes and such on the right of that row. Seems strange though sometimes. You get used to it pretty quick. The wrist pad extension seems good too.
Rating:
Summary: Keeps your wrists straight
Review: I've been using my Microsoft keyboard for about 4 years now. I'm a fairly wide guy, and when I put my hands together, the arms are pointed in from the shoulders. If I'm using a regular keyboard my wrists have to bend outward from my arms to make my hands line up with the keys. Using the Microsoft keyboard, my wrists are more straight so long use doesn't tire them out. It also is supposed to reduce carpal tunnel syndrome where the tendons would have to bend through a bent wrist to work the fingers. The keyboard has all the regular keys laid out fairly well. It only takes a few minutes getting used to the split board. The cursor moving arrows and special function keys are in groups between the letters and number pad, which works well. One thing that seems strange is that the upper row, the numbers, are split between 6 and 7, instead of between 5 and 6. That's because there are the dashes and such on the right of that row. Seems strange though sometimes. You get used to it pretty quick. The wrist pad extension seems good too.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic feel, but dies a horrible death if it gets wet
Review: I've been using this keyboard for years, at work and at home, and I was always wonderfully satisfied with them. Until yesterday, when I opened a pressurized bottle of soda and it sprayed some soda onto the keyboard. My keyboard soon developed funky behavior, and then while trying to figure out what was going on (I thought a key had got stuck), eventually rebooting my system to see if it was merely a software problem. Unfortunately, my computer could not successfully boot, and when I turned the power off and on again, my computer was dead. I took apart the MS Natural keyboard, and found that under the rubber key supports, there are two layers of conductor-coated plastic separated by a thin sheet of plastic. The conductor traces around the left control key looked as though they had burned. Looking at the keyboard design, it appears that the power leads for the LED's are very close to the leads for the keystrokes, and apparently power from the keyboard connector got fed back to the computer on the data lines, killing the computer as well as the keyboard. Don't get your MS Natural Elite keyboard wet, whatever you do.
Rating:
Summary: Once you go Natural you don't go Back
Review: I've tried several expensive ergonomic keyboards, but this is still my favorite keyboard. Each key press feels just right, with the right amount of tension. It's definitely easy-going on the hands. I would highly recommend this keyboard first before trying a crazy expensive ergonomic model.
|
