Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard (K50-00008)

by Microsoft

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0002TXHIQ
• Item model number: k50-00008
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 4, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The trend toward adding extra function keys to keyboards to control specific parts of Windows or applications continues with Microsoft's introduction of the Natural MultiMedia keyboard. This device takes the ergonomics of Microsoft's Natural keyboard, with its split keypads, shaped surface, and wrist rest, and adds a variety of useful function keys.

Before plugging the Natural MultiMedia keyboard into the PS/2 socket on the back of your PC, it is necessary to install the included IntelliType Pro 2.2 software. It works with Windows 98 and later, though some hot keys require specific versions of applications, such as Internet Explorer.

The keyboard is styled in dark blue, cream, and grey, so it fits in well with other Microsoft peripherals. As with earlier versions of the Natural keyboard, the keys accessed by the left hand are separated from those intended for the right by being angled away, with a triangular spacer in the middle, above the Spacebar. The bottom-row keys, like Ctrl, Start, and Alt, are enlarged to make them easier to press, and the Spacebar itself can still be used with either thumb.

A new F Lock key, positioned to the right of F12, locks the row of function keys into alternate functions, such as Undo, Close, Send, and Print. This makes working with many applications, including e-mail clients, much quicker. There are a further 17 dedicated, special keys behind the function key row that handle things like music playback, opening the My Documents folder, starting the calculator, and switching the PC to sleep mode.

While this keyboard will undoubtedly make most users' lives easier, some "pick-and-peck" typists may have difficulty with the separated keyboard layout. --Simon Williams, Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com Product Description

Take command of your keyboard experience in comfort and style with the comfortable keyboard that fits your digital lifestyle! The Microsoft Natural MultiMedia keyboard features one-touch buttons that take you directly to your favorite multimedia activities--navigate music and video clips, surf the Web, open many of the programs you use most, and more.

With the press of a button, hot keys give you instant access to Messenger, Mail, Internet, and Calculator commands. Hot keys for My Documents, My Pictures, and My Music put the files you use most within easy reach. Enhanced F keys let you perform common tasks faster. Just press a key to open, close, save, and print documents, send and forward e-mails, and more.

Put your computer into sleep mode (such as suspend, standby, or hibernation) right from your computer desktop, protecting your data and saving energy. (Sleep hot key functionality is available if your system supports power management and it is enabled, and if all peripherals are compatible with power management.)

This keyboard features a three-year warranty.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good... but for PS/2...ONLY ! ! !, August 26, 2004

By 

Wiley "Livin' Large in OryGun!" (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard (K50-00008) (Personal Computers)

First, the warning...

Don't buy this keyboard if your computer does not have PS/2 ports. If you try to use a USB adapter, you will quickly discover that all of the programmable keys will not work. This is a major limitation that has caused a lot of folks to return the otherwise good keyboard. Microsoft and it's vendors really should do a better job of making this issue crystal clear.

If you have a PS/2 PC, you will find that the programmable keys and the flexible f-key assignment feature is very handy. Note: If you want to change the default f-key behavior, there is a registry fix available. Do some searching in the newgroups. Otherwise, this is a handy multimedia keyboard with all the appropriate controls.

The keyboard is somewhat light, however the click of the keys is solid and on the quiet side. The cable is reasonably long and the palm rest is firmly attached to the keyboard. Once the keyboard is in place, it tends to stay put.

Also note: This keyboard...as are most extended feature keyboards, does not register correctly with most KVMs. Though generic functionality is available, some issues, such as no variable key repeat rate, will dissapoint. There are a couple of other related problems, but not of Microsoft's making.

I give this keyboard 4 stars on the basis that though Microsoft has produced a good keyboard for the price, it does not thoroughly warn customers that they will lose some functionality if they try to adapt this keyboard to a USB-only computer.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good buy, but keyboard layout problems, August 26, 2004

By 

Banzai! (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard (K50-00008) (Personal Computers)

I purchased the K50-00001. The issues are the same, except #3 & 4 may have been fixed in the k50-00008 model. You may want to see the reviews for the k50-00001 also.

The keyboard is nice with very quiet buttons. It would have been an excellent keyboard except for a few design issues:

1. The "6" key is in the wrong place

2. The Delete, Insert, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down set of keys are in an non-standard layout. I end up accidentally pressing the wrong keys often.

3. The Function keys are not on by default.

4. You have to turn off the Function Keys to make the "Print Screen" key active. So when I want to do a screen-shot of a window, I have to first turn off the Function Keys and then do the Alt-PrintScreen key.

These design flaws are probably the reason the keyboard is on clearance for so cheap. Despite these issues, I think it was worth the money spent.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works on Fedora, September 16, 2004

By 

Tang LiSha (Shreveport, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard (K50-00008) (Personal Computers)

I ordered this keyboard because I wanted an ergonomic style with a split keyboard. I had been looking for a while, and found that this one (...) so I ordered one for home and had work order me another. I'm running Fedora Core 2 at home, so I had expected to have problems with a Microsoft keyboard. I plugged it in, and the keyboard worked great! The task buttons at the top don't work, but I wasn't interested in those, anyway. All of the keys that you normally see on a keyboard work as expected. The one at work works fine too, but I have that on a Win 2000 machine, so that is to be expected.

I, too must voice a complaint about the F Lock key. You have to toggle it to use the function keys or the task keys, and also to use the insert or print screen button. Since the task keys don't work (until I get my hands on a good key map program), the F Lock key has to be pressed in order to use the function keys. The F Lock defaults to off, so it has to be turned on each time the computer boots up in order to use the function keys. I plan on mapping the task keys to their respective function. (Yes, I have multiple boot ups, I'm using a laptop!) It's really no more inconvenient than using the number lock button, but that can be set in the BIOS.

I'm also slightly irritated by the 6 being on the left. It's really not that big of a deal, but I don't understand why they couldn't have made it big enough to go across so that it could be accessed by either hand.

The block of keys that holds the home, end, delete, insert, and page up and down buttons has been re-designed on this keyboard. After using it for a week, I have found that I actually prefer this new design. (That's right, I like something Microsoft did.) The insert key is well out of the way so you don't accidentally press it when going for the delete key, which has been made huge. The home and end buttons are on a horizontal plane, which makes sense since that's how they work in most text/word processing programs; the page up is above the page down, which also makes sense.

All in all, not a bad keyboard. A few slight irritations, (...) I feel like I got a great deal.