can you redo this gallery without the fancy first year photo student lens? thanks :)

There! There's your non-apple post for the week. Enjoy it.
Now back to the apple news...
(and yea, really, a fish eye lens?)

Looks pretty cool, but I really can't tell with that fisheye shot. If it's good enough that a Microsoft product garnered a positive write-up on this site, then I have to assume it's pretty freaking awesome. If it had a jog wheel on it for my video work, I'd really be thrilled.

When you review the keyboard, I'd like to know how nicely it plays with non-Microsoft technology. For example, can the keyboard software use Firefox instead of IE? Can it use Yahoo messenger instead of Windows Live, etc?

It's not a fisheye lens. It's a curved keyboard.

It looks like Microsoft FINALLY moved the damn "Windows Start" key away from its neighbors Ctrl and Alt... and it only took them 12 years to do so. How very innovative!

Fisheye? ffs, are you people on drugs?
- The keyboard itself is curved.

I was going to ask if you could take a shot of the WHOLE keyboard and not weird fancy close up angles. I know it's curved but there is maybe one picture that shows 75% of it at most. I want to see it in it's entirely.

I love Microsoft keyboards. But where the hell is the keypad and the escape key? I'm also really not fond of the placement of the cursor keys and where the heck are the Insert/Home/Delete/etc. keys?

Hope they fix those few glaring mistakes.

"It's not a fisheye lens. It's a curved keyboard."

trippy....

So.

Damn.

Sexy.

I want this...

in my pants!

i can't even see the flippin keyboard, how bout a shot that actualy displays the whole thing? would be helpful..

That Windows logo is just so damn tacky though. Why did they do that?

MBSam: agreed. I'm loving the Logitech G15 still, and she works in Vista with a bit o' lovin'. evenly backlit, blue, programmable buttons and a windows key you can LOCK OUT. w00t.

I don't know about that windows key. I've actually started to use it when using Vista and now it looks like it would take two hands whenever you invoke it! Is this not a blow to using keyboard shortcuts in the first place? I'm all about notebook style scissor keys though.

Ack. I hate it when they squish all the keys together on a desktop keyboard. The space around the numpad and other key groups is there for a reason.

@SpudMills: What numpad? This keyboard is (sadly) without numpad.

I've yet to own a Microsoft keyboard or mouse that I didn't absolutely love, and this one is so slick looking that I'm torn. If it weren't for the fact that I use the numpad soooooo much, I'd be all over this.

Still, I manage to get by without a numpad on my laptop...

Nice...and we thought the Logitech wireless one was cool,

http://www.rainydaymagazine.com/RainyDayMagazineHome.htm#D...

but we love the curve!

I used to love my Microsoft keyboards. The split key "natural" keyboards are great for my big firefighter hands. My wrists don't hurt after writing code all day.

The new ones suck.

Started trying the new raised platform black one, and every time I go for the "N" key I get nothing. The shape is such that I NEVER hit it well.

I've got a logitech split key that works great so I tried their wireless one. It's good but the space bar is a 'hard tap' and is slow to come back. Can't use it.

Got a Belkin version. it's slow and mushy.

I have yet to find one worth replacing my old Microsoft Natural keyboards that are worn out. Damn them for sucking on the new ones.

awww i guess its time to throw my 6000 out :/

Nice looking.

One question, though: Why can't Microsoft pay some design attention to WIRED keyboards and mice as well?

My computer desk conceals the keyboard/mouse wires, so why waste batteries on a wireless model? You know, other than all the wired ones are firmly planted in the 1990-era aesthetic.

Love Saitek but as a compositor I use the NumPad as well for shortcuts.

"It looks like Microsoft FINALLY moved the damn "Windows Start" key away from its neighbors Ctrl and Alt... and it only took them 12 years to do so. How very innovative!"

Are you joking? Now there's even LESS reason for me to want to use that new fangled Flip 3-D in Vista when the key is that far out of the way. It's a dumb move, period.

The keyboard is too big to fit in one picture? Not on my desk. Seriously, back up and try again.

I dont know... doesn't seem like the windows keey is that far away. I'd like to hear in the review if the windows key is an issue during use or not.

I just got the MS wireless laser desktop 6000 (the long name means keyboard & mouse combo)

I like it...it has a gradual curve to it...which is taking a little getting used to, but oter then that...

I really like the quiet tough keys...a lot more then I thought I would.

I would have liked it to have backlit keys...but I would pay that much for a key/mouse combo...my combo costed 100...which sounded good to me. Its a best combo I've ever boughten...the one before this one was bluetooth...TO EVERYONE: Do not buy a bluetooth mouse or keyboard...they suck...you have to click a button after a few minutes to wake it up, and it sucks your batteries dry fast...My mouse batteries lasted me a week...I had that set for a year or two...glad to throw that in the trash.

One question, does this have an f-lock key? I havn't used a microsoft keyboard since that gem of a feature was introduced.

As a designer and relying heavily on my ctrl + alt combinations so much, its been standard practice to pop the bloody windows key off the keyboard completely. Its actually quite nice having space there so you can really just "mash" and get accurate response. It IS nice they finally moved it, but is that a fn key in its place? Does that queue up another window? hope not,

What's with you people.

If you want the stock photos, go to Microsoft's website. Jesus Christ.

This thing is a POS. I finally got my hands on one yesterday and it's taken all day to get it working correctly. First you need to install a "bluetooth stability upgrade" (Vista), it's a 300k update which takes just under an hour and 3 reboots to install. Then there is a nasty bug in the bluetooth installer which means it won't install.

When you do finally get it installed it will lose the connection (and the bluetooth dongle will vanish). I did a rollback to before the bluetooth update and that seems to have solved the problem.

Oh, and don't bother calling "support" about it either, these folks haven't ever heard of it and it isn't in their support systems.

Now it's finally installed it seems ok, it types really well, the lighting is nifty but the button layout will take some getting used to.

Microsoft does make some really tight hardware.

Art School can wait however, just give us shots of the product please.

If I were not a programmer, I'd get one of these. Unfortunately I can't live with those tiny F-keys, the ridiculous arrow-keys, and the missing numpad and pgup/pgdwn cluster.
Maybe if I put a HTPC in my living room...

Simple question that I'm probably just overlooking the answer to:

What's the difference to this and the similar MS keyboard you reviewed a few weeks ago?

Now that there's a decent keyboard with scissor style laptop keys on it, I may have to invest in a new one for my desktop. I'm so used to typing on my laptop, that my speed goes down by a good 15% when I have to use a fullsize, long throw keyboard. And just for the record.. What... A keyboard is just too good to put in your pants?

In your review, please indicate how stable it is in mid (10-20ft) to long range (25+ft) operation. I've not seen a keyboard that is really reliable even in mid ranges. They often lose responsiveness, function keys have time recognizing. ctrl- combos have problems, have to aim the keyboard at the sensor, etc.

@RainyDayInterns:

Love the site!

And the MS keyboard is pretty cool, too.

@RainyDayInterns:

Love the Rainy Day site!

And the MS keyboard is pretty cool, too.

>>I want to see it in it's entirely.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/

Uh, is compatible with Macs?

Not enough Microsoft logos on it.

Possibly great for long-term laptop users, but the lack of a numpad and other key clusters is a deal-breaker for a long-term desktop user like me.

I use my numpad a LOT (much faster for me to enter numbers with it than with the top-row number keys). It was hard enough getting used to a vertical PgUp/PgDn/Home/End/Del cluster (which this keyboard also doesn't have).

it's cool but where is the on-board trackball I have been waiting for, or is that too much to ask?