Microsoft Wireless Desktop 3000
by Microsoft
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Our Price: $44.90
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Category: CE
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Customers in the UK,
buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: MicrosoftFormat: CD-ROM
Platform: Mac OS X
Model: MFC-00001
Product features:
- Media Center Control media playback from your keyboard
- Hot Keys One-touch access to Windows Media Player, e-mail, Home, calculator, My Documents, Zoom, instant messaging, and photos
- Spill-Resistant, Quiet Touch Keys - Integrated water channels drain the liquid away
- Mouse Works on Virtually Any Surface - Works more places than ever before, including on granite countertops, living room carpet, and rough wood tables
- Reliable 2.4 GHz Wireless Up to a 30-foot range and less clutter on your desktop
- Roller Typing [Old Version]
- Mavis Beacon Typing 17 [OLD VERSION]
- Norton Antivirus 2010 1-User [OLD VERSION]
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard [OLD VERSION]
- Microsoft Word Home and Student 2007 [Old Version]
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Microsoft Wireless Desktop 3000
Customer Review: I can't believe that microsoft could exceed Logitech
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Ethical note: I once worked for the video division (eyeball cam) of Logitech, however my experience was not with the input device division which made keyboards and mice. I am disclosing this purely because I know alot of Logitech's manufacturing techniques and I may reference my collection of their products in comparison to the Microsoft product. I no longer work for Logitech and do not own stock in the company nor am I holding any board position or any position of power within the company.
Update: This was the first wireless keyboard mouse systems I had a chance to review - since then I've gotten 2 more - 1 was another amazon vine (and I needed it because I had 2 pcs I wanted to use remote keyboards on) - and the other came with my dad's HP pc - it's obviously oem'ed by someone for HP and contrary to the verbatim and microsoft does not use a "fob" design for the receiver but has a 6 foot cord and a hocky-puck shaped receiver with a blue light on top that blinks anytime a RF command comes in from either the keyboard or mouse.
Now having seen, used, and compared side by side 3 different wireless desktops I can honestly say I would give the microsoft it's 5 star rating - for low battery consumption, for long range, and for features integrated into the operating system. 2nd place would go to the verbatim - its not quite the microsoft setup, but it does work well, the mouse battery lasts a long time, but does not have the blue led found on microsoft's which gives it better resolution on almost any surface, even a white piece of plastic like a blank compact disc!. Then in 3rd place comes the HP kit. The 6 foot usb cord and receiver doesn't need to be designed that way and the range is really poor - sometimes only able to get across the table 1-2 feet to the receiver. It was so disappointing I told my dad to send it back to hp (came with an OEM system) and go buy the microsoft design. This is hands down the best radio keyboard/mouse out there - there are no sync buttons which simplies setup, you just plug it in and it works, and the mouse with the blue led works exceptionally well.
All this happened over a year so I wanted to update this review - whenever I am using a different system than my microsoft kit I miss it, even though others have some neat features, this one performs the best.
(original review when I unpacked the system follows below)
First off, Logitech DID NOT MAKE THIS KEYBOARD OR MOUSE, which is rare these days. Logitech outsources to almost every major company for OEM keyboards and mice and produces a mouse every few seconds, so it is understandable why so many keyboards and mice today are Logitech inside.
Now I'll add that the Microsoft wireless keyboard was innovative, functional, and on a head to head comparison with a line powered (USB PLUG) laser mouse from logitech (the best mouse in my inventory) the battery powered blue-tech system from microsoft was far superior which was a shock!
The blue LED on the microsoft mouse is fantastic. The shorter wavelength of the blue light allows it to resolve finer detail that the red lasers can not. Like the blue laser in bluray HD players, it can pick up fine detail that red lasers or IR lasers don't even see. This means that when two mice are placed on a shiny booklet (like the instructions we all throw out printed on glossy paper) the red mouse can't track very well - you may move it 6 inches before it moves a pixel. The blue mouse from microsoft tracks just fine on every surface I put under it - pant legs, various tiles, wood, paper, etc. The laser mouse from Logitech could not keep up. I was very impressed as I thought the laser mouse was the best thing out there and when a battery powered radio linked mouse could outperform it I was very surprised.
Keyboard:
Enough about the mouse. The keyboard is ergonomic to a fault. It has flip up tilt adjusters plus a generous palm rest built into it which gives it the feel of a good laptop keyboard. The mouse is a 5 button design - left+right 2nd function keys, left+right normal keys, + wheel depressed is a key. Whell rolling is smooth - no detents or clicks while rotating the wheel. Some people may miss the clicks, but I find you can move faster without them.
Onto the keyboard now - LOTS of keys. Big gripe - no way to tell status of LOCK keys like caps scroll and number lock. I'm accustomed to 3 leds in a row for these but that is not possible on a 2xAA battery powered device. There is one led on the keybaord - ironidcally "LOW BATTERY". I've keyed in multiple wrong passwords by not knowing caps lock was on.
Comfort is great because of a built in palm rest. I think I would have preferred if they stuffed a bunch of li-ion batteries in the palmrest and had xxx-lock leds that stayed on then just gets charged once a month from th usb port. At the price they could afford the batteries and really be innovative.
Speaking of lights, the BLUE led stays on constantly, but it does conserve power. If not used after a while it blinks once in a few seconds to see if things have changed. Secondly, if you are going to store your keyboard and mouse there is a clip on the underside of the mouse that holds the receiver usb snapin. Once inserted into the mouse it disconnects the batteries in the mouse and shuts off the led and strobe sytem to preserve battery life.
This product is clearly windows 7 compliant and has some special feature buttons here and there. Overall I think the price is a tad high for what you get. They do include 4 AA batteries from a major manufacturer (no funky colored overseas batteries that are already dead but I can't say the sname per the rules or it gets bleeped) Inside windows 7 it is recognized instantly as a "device" (new win7 term in the computer section)
I've used this now on notebooks, subnotebooks, and servers. I like the fact that it eliminates 1 usb port and 2 cords (cord clutter is bad enough as it is) Battery life is exceptional considering it have had it going since I got it with just the smallest drain. I would guesss that 6 months between battery changes is not unreasonable - maybe eben more. They keyboard only transmits when keys are pressed so it would likely go a year or more.
My only pet peeves - I am accustomed to the esc key being normal size compared to the rest, and for soem reason Microsoft made this one downsized, tiny in fact. I use esc alot so it takes some getting used to. Just know its small and out of where it belongs by about 1/4 inch.
You'll get more than enough function keys on this board and be able to do multiple complex functions easily.
Big hit: Blue led mouse tracks on any surface
Big Miss: No lock keys (not even lock down mechanically) and no indicators, plus esc key is mis-shapen.
Overall It's almost 5 stars because it beats out all the other wireless boards on the market, but even a click-on click-off lock button would have been nice since you could feel it. Otherwise I'd go for a LCD window that draws no real power to tell me what buttons are active. At this pricepoint (high end) some form of battery powered lock signal should be shown. I've even seen press / underpress switches with red dots that show through a window to tell you the status and use zero power to do it since the red is just plastic hidden in one state, so I know the problem could have been solved without using any power. I'll let the keyboard slide because the mouse makes up for it outperforming my mouse collection both wireless, wired, and rechargable.
Even though the mouse is great, I'm taking one star away from the keyboard design. It could have been better. The mouse is pretty neat and I even use it with wired keyboards simply because it's such a great mouse.
That combo is a 5 star product. - perhaps someday microsoft will make a wireless mouse & high quality keyboard - tritium backlit LCD panel for the lock status would draw next to zero power and would be visable under low light like leds are or day. That's not so hard for a big buck keyboard set. Too bad there is not a 4.5 star rating since it deserves that.
Description of Microsoft Wireless Desktop 3000
Low-Profile Wireless Keyboard and BlueTrack Mouse Desktop Set - USBDigital Cameras and Photo Categories
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