GearLive got their hands on Microsoft’s brand new Natural Ergonomic keyboard, the Microsoft NEK 4000, and put up the first review of it we’ve seen on the ‘net. The keyboard is split, much like its predecessors, but also has a front tilt plate so that the keyboard slopes downward (the tilt plate can also be removed or repositioned for an upward slope), earning it points for comfort. They found that some of the re-shaping of the middle keys near the split to be a little cumbersome (elongated middle keys, rounded edge to the 6 and 7), didn’t quite like the quieter and laptop-esque feel of the keyboards, and thought the new zoom slider to be none too helpful. However, they did find the built of the keyboard to be nice and solid, and the multimedia keys actually proved useful. Together with its ergonomic feel, it earned an overall 8 out of 10. With a price of about $65, the NEK 4000 sounds like a pretty good deal for the Carpal Tunnel set.
