Features:
- Ergonomic design, 1-touch buttons take you directly to your favorite multimedia activities
- Enhanced function keys let you open, close, save, and print at the touch of a button
- Hot Keys for Messenger, Mail, Internet, and Calculator commands with supplied IntelliType Pro software
- Built-in palm rests, adjustable keyboard legs
- Works with most Microsoft MS-DOS and Windows platforms
Description:
The trend toward adding extra function keys to keyboards to control specific parts of Windows or applications continues with Microsoft's introduction of the Natural MultiMedia keyboard. This device takes the ergonomics of Microsoft's Natural keyboard, with its split keypads, shaped surface, and wrist rest, and adds a variety of useful function keys. Before plugging the Natural MultiMedia keyboard into the PS/2 socket on the back of your PC, it is necessary to install the included IntelliType Pro 2.2 software. It works with Windows 98 and later, though some hot keys require specific versions of applications, such as Internet Explorer. The keyboard is styled in dark blue, cream, and grey, so it fits in well with other Microsoft peripherals. As with earlier versions of the Natural keyboard, the keys accessed by the left hand are separated from those intended for the right by being angled away, with a triangular spacer in the middle, above the Spacebar. The bottom-row keys, like Ctrl, Start, and Alt, are enlarged to make them easier to press, and the Spacebar itself can still be used with either thumb. A new F Lock key, positioned to the right of F12, locks the row of function keys into alternate functions, such as Undo, Close, Send, and Print. This makes working with many applications, including e-mail clients, much quicker. There are a further 17 dedicated, special keys behind the function key row that handle things like music playback, opening the My Documents folder, starting the calculator, and switching the PC to sleep mode. While this keyboard will undoubtedly make most users' lives easier, some "pick-and-peck" typists may have difficulty with the separated keyboard layout. --Simon Williams, Amazon.co.uk
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