| I'm a developer, gamer, and I've built my own systems from scratch for the last 15 years-I've owned a wide variety of Logitech and MS input devices, most recently Logitech's MX Duo and this set. Neither is without their flaws, but ultimately I got rid of the MX Duo for this one. Easy part first: The keyboard is great. It's definitely MS's best to date, and possibly the best one currently available. They seem to have figured out quite a bit from their previous boards, and this one does away with a lot of the useless features that previous ones had, and which Logitech boards are full of (like buttons for "Webcam", who needs that?). Extra buttons for multimedia, F Lock, and other doodads have been distinctively reshaped and repositioned, and they're just better, period. The leather-like palm rest, also great. They've retained their non-standard Delete cluster layout, which takes a little getting used to but I actually prefer it now over the traditional setup. Keystroke feel, very good. Not clicky or heavy but just right in my opinion. Also fairly quiet. The board just LOOKS good too, especially if you have a black case or other black accessories. The keys are actually somewhat translucent, so you'll be able to see that coffee, OJ, and pet hair that inevitably makes it in there. The new Favorites buttons are very useful, which give you five programmable buttons to go right to a website or file, or launch an app/game (getting this last to happen is a little more work, like making a new shortcut, but for websites and files, you just hold the button down until it programs). There's a worthless additional scroll wheel and buttons on the left side; if they ditched that, and maybe had backlit keys like some of the new electroluminescent ones, you'd have yourself a perfect keyboard. The mouse is a little more of a mixed bag. To me the most important quality is shape and ergonomics, because I've had my fingers go numbish with using the wrong shape for hours on end. Logitech used to rule here, but they've gone in a different direction lately, and I find their MX designs to be very bad like that. My rightmost two fingers trail off and are uncomfortable; the MX overall has some unpleasant curves and edges to it. Looks good, feels not so good. The MS shape is supportive and much, much more comfortable, so it wins there, hands-down. The new tilt wheel feature for side-to-side scrolling...is worthless. Enough said. But it's just there to ignore, and doesn't get in your way. It's not a revolution like the addition of the up/down scrolling mouse wheel was. You definitely won't be doing it by accident. As a gamer, I like the mouse's response. I'm not a super-frag-twitcher who has to have 1500dpi or die, but it responds a lot more smoothly than my previous tailed Logitech optical, and seems about as smooth as the MX700. First-person shooters are a much better experience with it. I'd have to say that the MX700 has a smoother slickness in its slide on the pad, and the response seems maybe marginally better, but this one is just fine for me. BE AWARE, if you're a gamer, that the wheel does NOT have detents-if you don't know the term, that means the `clicks' or `stops' when you roll it. It just rolls smoothly. This is way better for nongame scrolling; for work and surfing it's much better than the detents. Not so good for weapon select in the heat of battle. It takes a lot of getting used to, and the driver software makes it much worse-even on the lowest sensitivity, an accidental touch of the wheel can spin you through three weapon choices. Detents are better for gaming. Logitech has them, Microsoft doesn't. This alone might cause you to steer clear of the mouse if your thing is gaming. Also the middle button has a very heavy throw to it and it's difficult to get quick action out of in games when you assign it to a critical function. This would be a perfect mouse if they made a gamer edition which has the detents, ditches the whole side-to-side scrolling nonsense, and made the middle click lighter. Wireless issues: MS wins. Logitech was finicky about where its receiver was placed, and until I got it right, stuff wouldn't respond correctly. The MS receiver doesn't seem to care that much, but it did have issues with using the PS/2 keyboard plug (I leave mine dangling, and go USB-only). On the other hand, the MX receiver is also a recharger for the mouse batteries, even when the computer isn't on (you do pay the price of another power cord running to the back of your computer at the USB plug). MS would do well to imitate that feature. I've only had mine for a couple of weeks so I can't speak to battery life, but even if they died this minute, I'd be keeping this set. The receiver also has lights on it for Num Lock, Caps, and F Lock-the board doesn't. I like that too. Logitech's receiver is similar there. Far and away the worst part of the whole thing is the software. MS's current generation of Intellipoint/Intellitype drivers, 5.0, absolutely blows (and was never great to begin with). They limit you to only a few choices for what the keyboard and mouse buttons can be programmed to do, and they won't let you just use the excess mouse buttons as "Mouse 4" and "Mouse 5" so that games can assign functions to them. The programmability should be infinite, and it isn't. Logitech definitely has the upper hand with driver capability (they also go overboard on the features, it's kind of a theme with them). Also sadly missing is the ability to have "F Lock" on by default, although the new F Lock button is much better placed and easier to hit. Maybe they'll fix this in a future release, maybe not. Overall, with those flaws noted, I'm very happy with this set. I'm even thinking about buying a second one so I can use it at work.
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I just picked this product up today, and it rocks!
The keyboard is solid, and comfortable. I can't get used to those ridiculous ergonomic keyboards... I feel like Stephen Hawking in a badminton competition with those things. The F Lock only works with a few Microsoft programs (if you're surprised, punch yourself in the scrotum). The hot keys are easy to program, and come in handy when I have an unexpected visitor walk in behind me. The padded wrist rest makes typing from my lap comfortable- being six feet tall, that's no small accomplishment. The leather feel of the rest is awesome, it feels like a good quality plastic piece from the interior of a car. It's spongy and leatherish- like the dashboard of the 2001 Nissan Altima my ex-girlfriend drives. These are the unexpected details that make this keyboard, alone, worth the price of admission.
Speaking of cars, it's like the Microsoft industrial design team has spent plenty of time driving their Mercedes around town. The mouse is simply solid, comfortable, and amazingly accurate. The heft says quality, not obesity. It's like Microsoft decided to plagiarize the tactile impressions of closing the door of a late-90's Mercedes S-Class. It just feels good. My only gripe with the mouse is that the scroll wheel doesn't scroll all that fast; but you can change that with the included software tailoring system. The tracking problems some customers have had with this are related to signal problems- which I'll get to later.
(...)
Back to the keyboard, the music controls in the middle top of it are simply awesome! I listen to my music library when I'm working, and it comes set up to manipulate the controls on iTunes with no drama. Fast forward, repeat, pause, stop, mute, and volume all in one place without switching windows and jacking something up. The best features other than the multimedia controls are the scroll wheel and navigator buttons on the left side. This rules, and makes doing things like writing this simple and efficient. There's also a calculator hot-key, which is something I didn't even think I'd want in a keyboard. It looks as if Bill Gates is thinking of more than just building a legion of gold robots to take over the world...
The only thing this keyboard won't do is a convincing Bill O'Reilly impersonation... however, there are some handy Ctrl shortcuts printed on the keys which make copying and pasting "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" and "NO SPIN ZONE!" very easy and quick for an infinite amount of times. I guess this keyboard can do a convincing Bill O'Reilly impersonation. Now if it only came with a blotchy surface, elusive registration information, and halitosis...
Signal problems aren't exactly a mystery to me. The problem is that some people don't know how to read the manual that comes included with the product. You heard it here first: illiterate apathy makes for bad product reviews... This is the problem with plug'n'play, the same people who complain about problems are the same people who create MTV's TRL play list: IDIOTS. I've played with ranges up to 15 feet without a problem, and my receiver is INSIDE MY DESK. The problems these people have experienced are due to interference, and Microsoft has thought of including a channel switching system so it will find a clear frequency... just like a good cordless phone from 1991 will.
This is a BAD ASS piece of computer equipment if you don't wear a pink crash helmet with fluorescent dinosaur stickers. I can't begin to explain how satisfied I am with this purchase- it rocks! And it's not like I'm some techno-giddy dork that speaks in binary code: I'm a personal trainer.
Yeah. I can be jockish.
Buy this.
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| I have only had this keyboard/mice combo for 2 days but absolutely LOVE it so far. I read some reviews of people complaining about a few things such as use in games, difficulty setting up, and the new key set up. As far as gaming, I am an avid first-person-shooter gamer and have used it with Medal of Honor and Unreal Tournament 2004 (demo) and it is working flawlessly. The set up was almost painless. I say almost because the keyboard would not work at first, but one press of the button on the receiver and, voila, everything is perfect. The new key set up (larger delete key, F-keys different, no insert key, etc.) really don't bother me. Actually, for what I do, I haven't noticed a difference. The keyboard has a very nice feel and layout. VERY nice selection of programmable keys and I really like the scroll wheel on the keyboard. Same goes for the mouse, nice layout, good size, nice feel. The new tilt-wheel is a nice addition and I am finding myself using it more and more. I am not usually sold very quickly on items like this but this one has grown on me fast. In fact, this is one of the few online reviews I have ever written. I looked at some other products similar to this and I believe this is the best on the market. And at the price Amazon.com is selling it for, there really is no other competition. Hope this review helped you.
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