Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000

by Microsoft

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 2.9 x 18.5 inches ; 3.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B002JCSCYS
• Item model number: CSD-00001
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (245 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #15 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Accessories > Keyboards, Mice & Input Devices > Keyboards
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 14, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000

Comfort Curve keyboard with soft-touch palm rest

Ultimate Comfort—made easy
Design and comfort merge, giving you a powerful desktop set that fits your space and life. Don't overlook the importance of a comfortable desktop—it is a significant part of making your time on the computer more comfortable and productive.

BlueTrack Technology™ mouse.

Designed for Comfort

Type more comfortably with low-profile Quiet Touch keys. The palm rest and removable feet create a slope for a more comfortable wrist posture.

Ergonomist-approved Comfort Curve design

Microsoft's Comfort Curve encourages natural wrist posture and is easy to use.

BlueTrack Technology™

World's most advanced tracking-go more places than optical and laser.

What is BlueTrack? Microsoft’s proprietary BlueTrack Technology™ works on more surfaces than both optical and laser mice. It uses high-angle imaging optics to generate an accurate picture of the surface.
		Now track more accurately on:
		Granite		Carpet		Wood

Reliable wireless with a snap-in transceiver

The 2.4 GHz wireless USB Mini-Transceiver connects wirelessly right out of the box with up to a 30-foot range.

Windows® 7 Taskbar Favorites

Easily access programs in the taskbar with convenient hot keys.

3-year limited hardware warranty

• Windows® 7, Windows Vista®, Windows XP (excluding Windows XP 64-bit)
• Mac OS X 10.4-10.7
• 100 MB
• 30 MB
• 4 AA alkaline batteries (included)
• You must accept License Terms for software download.
• Internet access may be required for certain features. Local and/or long distance telephone toll charges may apply.
• Software download required for full functionality of all features.

Product Description

Wireless Comfort Curve Keyboard and Mouse Set with Soft-touch Palm Rest

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

125 of 128 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect keyboard., October 4, 2009

By 

M. Alonso (FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 (Personal Computers)

I bought this keyboard because they've been pushing pair programming at work and they want everybody's workstation to have 2 keyboards (whole different topic). Regardless, I took this as an opportunity to shop for a new keyboard to use at work. First, I ordered a Logitech Wave, what a miserable pile that was. I could not get over 90wpm on that keyboard. Now yes, I know, 90wpm is pretty good, but the keyboard kept frustrating me and I could not get in rhythm with it. So I went to Best Buy and got this. And I must say...WOW! I had a comfort 3000 already and loved it, but I did not expect this keyboard to feel so good. On my first try at [...] I hit 136wpm! The keyboard's keys are provide incredible feedback and feel amazing going at high speeds, it really is hard to describe. The rubberized palm rest makes the keyboard a joy to use for long hours at a time, and the curve the comfort's are known for makes sure that the extended reach keys (b,n, etc.) are elongated enough to make them easier to reach and unlike the split keyboards, the spacebar feels like a normal spacebar with no extra effort required.

The downsides:
I'm a professional software developer so having good sized function keys is an absolute must. On this keyboard, they are small and slightly recessed. There is also very little separation between the groups as is normal on most keyboards (1-4,5-8,9-12) which makes it hard to find the one you want without looking. This might also be a pain for gamers. The function keys also seem to go down deeper than the regular keys putting a small amount of extra strain on my wrists. My other complaint is about the mouse, while it is small than the average Microsoft mouse, it is still quite comfortable in your hands, but the scroll wheel is annoying. I personally prefer a scroll wheel that clicks, and this one is smooth with no clicking. Again, this might be my preference as a programmer as I like more predictability when scrolling as most development environments scroll by line instead of pixel, but it was an annoyance to me.

So overall, for typing, the keyboard is my absolute favorite keyboard of all time. For other things such as hitting F-keys and scrolling, I guess I'll have to get used to them. The Windows 7 function keys are nice I guess, but even though I do use Win7 (legal MSDN version of course), I find no use for them. The other little feature I like is that the usb dongle is a very small flash drive sized stick and not those long mouse looking things of the past. In the end, every person needs to make up their own opinion when it comes to keyboard preferences because keyboards are like chairs and mattresses, it is highly dependent on what you like.

In the end, with all the bitching and moaning I do with the F keys and mouse, I'm contemplating buying another one to use at home.

52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for gamers., December 4, 2009

By 

Erich Maria Remarque (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 (Personal Computers)

(What's this?)

If you're a gamer, even a casual one, this keyboard and mouse set is NOT for you.

The are two major issues that affect gamers:

1- Function keys on the keyboard are arranged in one long line, instead of three separate groups of four. In addition to that, they are also quite small! This presents a major issue for games that use function keys for essential features. For example, most games associate the Quick Save and Quick Load functionality with the F5 and F6 (or F9) function keys. Mistaking one for the other can mean game over. And it is very easy to mistake them with this keyboard. In fact, unless you have your room lights on, and are looking directly at the keyboard, you WILL miss them. It boggles my mind as to why MS decided to arrange the keys in this counter-intuitive manner.

2- The scroll wheel on the mouse is not notched. That means it scrolls smoothly without "bumping". MAJOR gaming issues can result from that. Weapon switching, precise scope zooming, etc, are all out of the question. While the keyboard can be used if you can manage to reassign game controls, the mouse is completely worthless. Think about it: you cannot properly play any game that requires you to switch weapons! Forget Counter Strike, forget Team Fortress 2, forget Unreal Tournament. If you decide to play those games with this mouse, quick death is guaranteed while you are scrolling through the weapon menu trying to select a specific weapon.

For non-gamers, however, this is actually a pretty good product. The build quality of the keyboard is great (sturdy and heavy), while the mouse is large and very comfortable (about the same size as a Logitech G5). Keyboard keys are truly silent (but mouse clicking is quite noisy). The wrist pad is very comfortable, and doesn't irritate the skin. I like how the keyboard is curved: a natural shape for people who use all their fingers to type. There are plenty of shortcut keys as well. The included CD has IntelliType 7.0 and IntelliPoint 7.0 software for both PCs and Macs.

It is a very comfortable set, but unless you are planning to never use your PC for gaming, I can't fully recommend it.

The keyboard is a 4/5, while the mouse is a 2/5. So, the set as whole gets a 3/5.

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Keyboard, great ergonomic feel, September 14, 2009

By 

Pierre Huguet "pierre_h" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 (Personal Computers)

This keyboard has a great feel and the textured rubber wrist pad feels very nice. I love the curved key layout, I have been buying this shape of keboard for years.
The keys are quiet and give a great soft bounce feedback (not too soft).
The mouse also has a very nice textured rubber feel.
The optical tracking of the mouse works very well on any surfaces.
I bought this keyboard for the ergonomics and the windows 7 compatibility.
I like the taskbar keys buttons wich make accessing your pinned applications a snap. (Note: that in Windows 7 those keys will not only start the applications but once they are opened the keys will toggle between foreground, minimized state and application specific shortcut menu)
There is no led indicator of the keyboard state (num lock or caps lock) but the intellipoint software will display a tiny popup on the screen to show the state (Which I think is even better, since you don't have to look down from the screen). This "lack" of feature ultimately saves the battery life of the keyboard greatly.