Device Downloads. Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop Review The arrival of the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop was sort of serendipitous when you consider that I've been speaking and writing about transitions a lot lately. As a writer, I spend a lot of time with my hands on a keyboard, and for my regular marathon sessions in front of a PC I prefer the comfort and durability of Microsoft's ergonomic keyboards and large mice. I figured both types of devices—crucial to my work—would be slowly phased out. But the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop suggests otherwise. As I noted in Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop First Impressions and Photos, the keyboard part of this desktop set very closely follows the design of that Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4. I love so much. In fact, they're basically the same. The Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard does away with the numeric keyboard, providing it as an optional piece. For software downloads for any Microsoft mouse, keyboard, webcam, headset or other Microsoft products, please visit Microsoft Accessories today. I'm using Windows vista 32bit on a Dell Studio 15 laptop. I have a Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500. I have plugged the nano receiver into my USB port and. Shop Staples® to find the right computer keyboard for you. Enjoy everyday low prices and get everything you need for a home office or business. Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 Black, Zoom slider lets you magnify screen images for easier viewing or editing, For Windows PCs and Macs at Office Depot. I removed it from my keyboard tray to save space—the previous keyboard barely fit next to the mouse pad—but then realized how often I used it. I was a bank teller for several years in the late 1. I can count money faster than anyone you know, and I can race around a numeric keypad. And since I've been using laptops and other portable computers for almost 2. I've certainly gotten used to using the top row of number keys on a normal keyboard. This is an adjustment I can make. On the 4. 00. 0, these keys sit in an island of sorts between the main keyboard and the numeric keypad. But on the Sculpt, they're now haphazardly lumped around the right edge of the keyboard, and on top of the arrow keys. I'm used to different layouts on my recent Ultrabooks, but the Sculpt is different from all of them. And I still have a hard time with HOME, END, PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN in particular. And it's been over two weeks. I'll get over the more- than- occasional instances in which I've inadvertently tapped the INSERT key and then cursed aloud as I overwrite previously- typed text. But this kind of thing is maddening. It really is a tough transition. I'm willing because this keyboard otherwise perfectly duplicates the sweep and layout of the 4. I've used and loved for so long. I like the typing position and I like the new, lower profile keys that remind me very much of a modern Think. Pad keyboard, but ergonomic. I really do like this thing quite a bit. You may recall that I've attributed my protection from tunnel carpal syndrome all these years not just to regular ergonomic keyboard use but also to using a very large mouse. For years, this has meant a Microsoft Explorer Mouse (Blue Track) that is now no longer available unless you can stomach paying upwards of $1. Bay. I've been buying black market Explorer mice for the past year, worried that the supply would run out, so the Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse was naturally of interest. I can't explain this, but I knocked this mouse off the keyboard tray and onto the floor several times a day for a while there and still do so every so often. When this happens, the mouse explodes into separate pieces, with the bottom plate—held on only by magnets—separating from the device and dislodging the batteries. This requires me to scramble around on the floor like an idiot, finding it all and putting it back together. Actually, it's a problem. Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center is software that provides drivers for most Microsoft mice and keyboards. It allows the user to set up and configure both mice and. The batteries sit in the expected tunnels in the underside of the mouse, but they're not tight enough so the batteries can actually become dislodged a bit within the mouse and then the mouse doesn't work. And it seems like the more I drop this thing, the looser it gets. Now, I can bump the mouse down on the mouse pad—often by almost but not quite knocking it off of there—and the batteries come loose inside, rendering the mouse dead. This forces me to open it up anyway to press down the batteries and hope for the best. In using the Sculpt mouse for just a week or so, I had come to prefer its taller, ball- like shape. It could have saved one more by using Bluetooth, which is in inexplicable omission in 2. I think. And it's worth noting that the keyboard, mouse, and numeric keyboard all require different kinds of batteries. But I will learn to deal with all this. Time marches on and so forth. But this keyboard actually includes a hardware switch—a hardware switch!—to let you choose between old- school function keys and the new Windows 8 stuff. Someone up there is listening. It's not a perfect replacement—I'm not a fan of all the batteries, the too- loose mouse battery compartment, the strange layout of secondary keys, or the USB dongle—but I'm willing to make these concessions in the name of moving forward. They will protect your wrists from damage, though to be clear I do use (and recommend) a gel- based wrist rest with the mouse. And that is why I will keep using this set and can recommend it to others. The Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop isn't perfect. But it is highly recommended.
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
October 2017
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