Wireless
Optical Desktop Elite
A Review by John Calhoun
The
Wireless Optical Desktop Elite set includes a wireless mouse and a wireless
keyboard. The set I am reviewing
here is Black/Gray/Silver with dark smoke-colored keys, integrated cushioned
palm rest, ergonomic design, and Mac compatible. The box states that this set works with
Windows 2000 and Windows XP only and also Mac OS 10.1 – 10.2.X (but not
10.0.) I can find no documentation
stating that it has been successfully used with any other Windows
versions.
The
Mouse
The
mouse is a large, 5-button scroll mouse, with Tilt-Wheel Technology, which
allows you to scroll left & right, as well as up & down. There are left- and right-click buttons;
the scroll wheel is also a button; and there are two small buttons on the left
side of the mouse. All 5 buttons
are programmable to do whatever you desire. The mouse works fairly well, most of the
time. But it has to be pointed
towards, and within 4 feet of the receiver in order for it to work
properly. In my case, even though
the receiver is only about 3 feet away, sometimes it looses contact with the
base receiver. When this happens, a
message pops up on the screen informing you of this and asking if you want to
hook up another mouse. This seems
kind of silly to me, since you cannot hook up a PS/2 mouse while the computer is
running: you need to turn the computer off first. The smallest object between the mouse
and the base causes this to happen all the time. (I have my computer and monitor on a
small roll-around computer cabinet in front of my couch in the living
room.)
The
Keyboard
The
keyboard is full-sized, and has many extra buttons, as well as the standard 104
keys:
12
double-function F-Keys
5
Favorites keys
1
Show Favorites key
1
Tilt-Wheel Scroll Wheel
Back
and Forward buttons
9
buttons labeled:
My Documents
My Pictures
My Music
Mail
Web/Home
Messenger (Windows Messenger)
Calculator
Log Off
Sleep
1
F-Lock button
The
F-Lock button toggles the F-Keys between their standard functions and the
following:
Help; Undo; Redo; New; Open; Close; Reply; Forward; Send; Spel Check;
Save; Print.
The keys are all labeled with both the F-numbers and their alternate
functions.
All
of them can be programmed to do aother
functions, including running a program.
There
are also 8 media buttons. These
buttons are labeled only with graphics, except the Mute and Media buttons, which
are labeled with both graphics and English:
Play/Pause
Stop
Mute
Media
Next
Previous
Volumn Up
Volume Down
This
set presumably has a longer battery life, and when the batteries get low on
power, smart receiver technology gives you an on-screen alert informing
you. It also alerts you when the
signal between the device and the receiver is not optimal. I can attest to the longer battery life,
since I have been using it for about 6 months, and haven’t had to replace them
yet. The mouse requires 2 AA
bateries and the keyboard requires 3 AA bateries.
The
keyboard is worse than the mouse, because it has to be pointed at the receiver
in order to work. It does
absolutely nothing if it is pointed in the wrong direction. The keyboard is also very noisey. I’m not talking about the sound of the
keys, but the entire keyboard: it rattles when you type! It really gets annoying, especially if
you type fast. If you place the
keyboard on your lap to type, the rattling is somewhat muffled, but still very
noisey. On a desktop, or other hard surface, it is much louder, very
noticeable and very anoying, as I said before. Sometimes when there is a problem with
the receiver getting the signals, even pointing the devices directly at the
receiver takes a while to re-establish contact and resume working
properly.
I
would not recommend this keyboard and mouse set.
Wireless
Optical Desktop Elite
Microsoft
Corp.
$104.95
USB and PS/2
Connectors (for receiver)
5 Energizer
AA bateries (included)
Driver
CD