Customer Reviews

Microsoft Wireless Media Desktop 1000 (Black)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Prior to getting this, I have been using a Dell provided Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, made by Logitech I believe.

Which means I'm probably a little spoiled for wireless products. The only fault was that the battery life was a bit less than I would have preferred. Indeed, I was also intrigued by quiet typing and water resistance claims. So, I took the leap and got this Microsoft set.

First the bad. The mouse is worthless. Really is. I've gotten used to the side buttons and other features of my present mouse. This mouse has the two buttons and a scroll wheel. The two buttons work okay, but the wheel makes for entirely random scrolling. It does not keep a steady speed, has no relation to the mouse setting in windows, and the average speed of scrolling is immensely slow, only a couple of lines.

Add this to the fact that affects both mouse and keyboard. The wireless connection is rather disappointing.

This set comes with a receiver that plugs into a usb port. The receiver is needlessly designed to look like an interesting addon. It is about the size of two mouses put together, with green lights on top that light up when connected. I'm a bit bothered by all the little lights computers seem to insist on and this just makes for more bother. If you could hide it, that might be okay, but the signal isn't strong enough. I have it right under my monitor and still get popups saying it has lost connection. It was really bad with the mouse, but still occasionally lapses with the keyboard, that is a foot away.

Any obstruction causes more problems. A real hassle. And adds to the general imprecision.

The keyboard itself is nice. The key noise really is significantly quieter. I've not tested the water resistance, but am comforted that it is there. The layout is a bit wider than other keyboards I've used, making for an initial bit of transition as I have to reach a bit farther for the higher keys. Those with smaller hands might find it uncomfortably wide. The programmable and media buttons are certainly handy, making for really quick access to programs that might not be always within an easy click.

Yet, I'm not sure such ease overcomes the deficiencies. I've already gone back to my bluetooth mouse. Now I'm using two usb ports for mouse and keyboard, a situation that may not continue and may get me to retire the microsoft keyboard as well. Which is sad. I wanted it to work better, but am ultimately frustrated by the wirelessness of the wireless.

It's not too costly, but the frustration it brings might justify either a little more money to get a setup that can be used without frustration, or invested in a non-wireless combo that provides all the functions without any batteries or bother.

I've had two wireless keyboard/mouse combos in the past: one by Logitech and another by Microsoft. The Microsoft one I used to have was the Microsoft Office Wireless keyboard, which had phenomenal feel, fit, and finish. That one died before its time--all it took was a splash of coffee into it, and some of the keys shorted out perminantly. Thus, I was in the market for a replacement. The advertised spill-resistant keys and the simple, low-profile design, and the overall small(ish) size of the set attracted me to this product.

This keyboard wins points for me by having a small footprint, so it doesn't take too much room on my desk. I type all day, and my hands creep up, so I want a keyboard that doesn't require me to move my fingers up and down too much, and one that I can type accurately on. This model has a low action, and its keys are soft, springy, and pretty quiet. It feels a little mushy, especially compared to my MacBook's keyboard, but it is comfortable and accurate.

The keys gently slope down, so that the spacebar and lower arrow are tapered toward the bottom of the keyboard. This seems to be a trend in new keyboards. I don't like it that much, because it encourages your fingers to slip off the "chording keys" (ctrl, alt, super). My fingers don't slip off the control key as I thought they would, so I do not consider the key sloping a problem.

For a wireless keyboard, it is extremely important that the receiver pick up every keystroke I make. I've had older models that wouldn't pick up certain letters or key combinations. Happily, this keyboard suffers from none of those problems--at least at the 3 foot range from the receiver.

The mouse is very pedestrian. It has a hard, plastic shell, which feels pretty cheap. It is solid and fairly weighty (I'm used to smaller notebook sized Microsoft mice). It performs well, but is nothing special. It doesn't have the horizontal scroll wheel function that many Microsoft mice have now, but that functionality isn't terribly useful (even to an Excel jockey like me) so it isn't missed here. Still, it would be nice if the mouse had extra buttons, like Microsoft's typically excellent Intellimouse line.

I believe this keyboard/mouse combination would adequately replace a wired combo for any desktop use. The wireless adapter only takes up one USB port, which I thought was very nice. Unfortunately, the unit's range is very low. After I get 5-6 feet away from the receiver, the keyboard and mouse don't work. This is not a problem for me, but it would be if I wanted to use this set with a home theater.

Overall, I like this unit and I'm glad I have it. The keyboard is one of my favorites among all wireless keyboards I've used or tested, based mainly on its keys, action, and relatively compact size. The mouse and the wireless range are disappointing, however. I'm giving this unit 4 stars because it works well for basic computer use and comes at a reasonable price. 80-90% of computer users would be happy with this, I think.

KEYBOARD:

This is the cheapest wireless mouse/keyboard offered at my local Best Buy. I thought I was taking a risk, but the keyboard is great. If you want super fancy, spend $100 on the keyboard that controls your home media station perfectly. Otherwise, get this one.

PROS
The keys are shaped to finger pads (a MUST for a comfortable keyboard)
The keys depress easily.

CON
The function keys (F1, F2, etc) are printed in blue ink above symbols on the actual keys. I don't like it, but this is minor.

MOUSE:

I thought the mouse sucked, but you can make it a good mouse, despite being a bit bulky, with just three basic buttons: left/right/middle + scrolling.
Out of the box, the scroll wheel is just ridiculous. Choppy, clicky, bad. If you are willing to be a little creative and void the warranty, there is an easy fix:

1)take the batteries out.
2)undue the little screw that is revealed.
3)take the components apart. The circuit board, still attached to the base, should pretty much fall out. This is the piece that you want.
4)The wheel and its casing is clipped into the circuit board. Carefully un-clip it.
5)Now, carefully un-clip the wheel frame its little plastic casing.
6)You will see that the inside of the wheel contains little ridges, which rub against a small prong on the "wheel casing" in order to create the clicking of the mouse. Cut the prong off for 100% smooth scrolling. Better yet, carefully use a sharp knife to shave down the little plastic bump on the prong itself. I shaved it down about 90%.
7)Reassemble the mouse. It should now work smoothly. Smooth scrolling action on the wheel! The screen scrolling is still not 100% smooth, but it scrolls continuously as you move the wheel, instead of jerky half pages at a time!

Start to finish, less than 5 minutes. This is an easy modification for anyone comfortable using a knife in close quarters. This modification saved me from buying a new mouse for the wireless keyboard that I like.

BOTTOM LINE: Great for budget-conscious people looking for a wireless keyboard/mouse.

I will make this simple. Stay away from this product. The keyboard is well constructed and worked well--no problems with the keyboard. The mouse was very comfortable and the price was right for both of them. However, when I started using the mouse I noticed the scroll wheel on the mouse worked sometimes and sometimes it didnt work. When I would try to scroll while surfing the internet the wheel sometimes worked and sometimes it would not. It was very inconsistent and wasnt very responsive. I even had the mouse a few inches from the receiver and it still was very inconsistent. Like most of you reading this, you probably use the scroll wheel a lot when you are on the internet to scroll up and down when reading internet pages, etc. This was very frustrating.

The last mouse I had was a Logitech wireless mouse and it worked awesome and I never had problems with it. I wanted a wireless keyboard also so I got this Microsoft combo pack at one of the local office supply stores because it was about the cheapest you could get. I thought something was wrong with the mouse when I first used it but saw that others complained also about the same thing happening with their scroll wheel when I did a little research on this product. I returned this Microsoft keyboard and mouse combo pack and got the Logitech MK320 combo pack for about the same price and the mouse works great. The Logitech mouse isnt as comfortable as the Microsoft mouse but it works well and doesnt miss a beat. My friend who works as an IT person says Logitech makes the best keyboards and mouse and he gets very few complaints with their products. I say I have to agree. I have never had problems with their stuff and will be loyal to them from here on out. I hope this review helps and good luck!!

Would not work more than 2ft away from the receiver, even with no other wireless devices on.

This keyboard/mouse combo has been very good so far. The keys are quiet; the keyboard is comfortable to use and the programmable keys are great. The software provided lets you reassign all the Function keys and create macros for them. Most of the Hot Keys can have macros on them, too - except for the 5 "Favorites" keys. They can only be assigned to open programs or websites - although someone will probably find a way around that. The software also allows 3 different profiles for the button setup, too - great for setting up specific game controls.

The mouse is very good, too... the scroll wheel just seems a little hollow-sounding as you use it, but it works well and is comfortable to use. Seems quite accurate.

The main reason I've rated it 4 stars (really 4.5 stars) is that it has a large wireless receiver that has to be pretty close to the keyboard/mouse to work well. The receiver is about the size of a mouse - just not as tall. I had it on one side of my desk - away from the mouse - and I just couldn't double-click on anything. I thought the mouse was defective - until I moved the receiver closer to the mouse. All is fine now! Other than that, I'm very happy with my purchase.

There was a time when MS was deservedly lauded for their input devices. Either that time has passed completely, or it's just the entire Wireless Desktop series that is terrible. I have tried this one as well as the 3000 and 6000.

They all have one thing in common: The keys and typing action are fantastic, in my subjective opinion. It's not quite a shallow, silent laptop feel, but far away from the clickety-clank of your typical desktop keyboard. The extra function keys always work perfectly and little touches like the dedicated calculator key are a seriously nice touch (why every keyboard doesn't have a calculator key is beyond me).
Sadly, every other model in this series has one other thing in common, too:

They absolutely suck at maintaining a connection. It's a joke. the receiver can literally be two feet from the keyboard or mouse, and on a level line of sight, and the software will warn you that the connection is flaky. This is maddening particularly if you are any sort of writer who relies on long and uninterrupted trains of thought. I often find that my last two or three sentences never registered due to a wireless drop, and then I'm mentally derailed.

Did I get a dud with the 1000? I thought so. So I got I began upgrading through the series because the mouse included with the 1000 model is sort of a joke. Oh, it works, but only on the most basic level, and it feels very cheaply constructed. In addition to being ho-hum, it too suffers the connection issues of the keyboard. Anyway - when I got the 'nicer' Wireless Desktop models, they EACH suffered from the abysmal wireless performance.

I gave up. Seriously. Three different models, from two different sellers? I understand that when you mass produce stuff, duds get through. I am totally okay with that and don't get angry and rush off to Amazon to complain each time a device takes a crap on me. But I'm here now to warn you against THE ENTIRE LINE OF MICROSOFT WIRELESS DESKTOPS. If my wording wasn't strong enough for you, have a look at the other reviews, especially the page for the other version of the Wireless 1000, which has far more reviews than this newer revision does.

I hope that this helps someone avoid what is apparently an all too frequent problem with current MS wireless input devices.

I bought this keyboard/mouse combo for use with my TV. The PC is about 6 feet away and the signal was pathetically bad. Even when I got withing 2 or 3 feet the signal was still pretty bad. [...]

The keyboard works well - I have no complaints. However, this is a package deal and the mouse scroll function is itermittent. Get something else.

I have several systems at home and I have found no need for this product at home. However, I inherited a ThinkPad for work. Therefore, I was the last person in the office but was forced to give up my trusty old desktop. This is bad enough in itself but what was worse, was finding that they could not scrape up a replicator. I do not have time to wait for a replicator. I found a USB mouse and I was going to look for a USB keyboard I spotted this animal on the shelf. I was looking for was a keyboard. Yet this combination serves my purpose better. Now I can put my feet up on the desk, plug in my 21-inch monitor, mouse and right of me, keyboard in front, and coffee on left.

I was little dismayed at the beginning noticing this humongous transmitter. Then I remembered I am not using the ThinkPad is a portable. So who cares? I spotted a little green tag on it that said install software before connecting. Who am I to dispute the wisdom of little green tag? Therefore, I stuck the CD in, press the buttons, let it whirl and voila. Before I realized what happened had already pressed the calculator button and it was on the screen waiting to be used.

So far, everything is working hunky-dory. Just a little comment on the mouse. I came from a CAD world where the more buttons you had the better off you were. Now I am in office where to buttons do just fine and the scroll wheel is another advantage.