Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 2.0

by Microsoft

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000AOWVO
• Item model number: K51-00133
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 16, 2003

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Discover a complete desktop solution with a full range of features Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop offers amazing Tilt Wheel Technology Microsoft Optical Technology longer battery life and more You get wireless freedom and Microsoft reliability all in a single package.

Product Description

A wireless optical desktop with advanced features built in. Discover a complete desktop solution with a full range of features. Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop offers amazing Tilt Wheel Technology, Microsoft Optical Technology, longer battery life, and more. You get wireless freedom and Microsoft reliability, all in a single package.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good unit with some very annoying "features", November 8, 2004

By 

B. Christensen "Frequent traveler, business o... (Santa Barbara, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 2.0 (Personal Computers)

For those people complaining about range - I have tested my unit with fresh batteries and clear line of sight to about 30 feet. When the batteries go low, this range falls away, but the biggest difference is if there is an obstacle between the receiver and the peripherals, it will reduce the range dramatically - this is pretty common with these types of devices if you read up on other similar wireless units.

Pros:
1) RF rather than IR, so the range is omni-directional rather than just line of sight. This is great if you want to "hide" the transceiver on a shelf under your desk or something like that. (Older infrared units require line of sight).

2) Great ergonomics on the mouse, and good tracking precision

3) Great price/performance - you won't find a better deal on an RF-based wireless keyboard/mouse combo. These units sell for something like $60 at the Microsoft store (where employees shop!)

4) Easy hookup and operation with Windows XP (have not tried it on others)

5) PS/2 AND USB connector so you can use either the two PS/2 connectors or a single USB connector for hooking up the transceiver.

The Cons:
1) Everyone is absolutely right about the F key assignments - it is the dumbest design flaw you can imagine.

2) The delete key - Grrr! Why does Microsoft seem bent on "redesigning" the traditional keyboard layout? I'll bet they must have a patent on the design... As others have written, the delete key is over-sized and you are likely to accidently use it if you are not careful

3) Difficult to tell when the unit is running low on batteries. I use rechargeable NiMH batteries, and since their fully-charged voltage is slightly lower than regular alkaline batteries, the unit starts acting funky when they are not fully discharged. Checking the software battery indicator will tell me that they are 80% charged, but swapping them out will cure the problems. I believe the red mouse light (the optical tracking light) flashes when the batteries are low, but I can't confirm this in the documentation.

Summary
This is a great wireless combo for the "normal" home user that still looks at the keyboard while they type and does not make extensive use of the "F" keys. I bought one for my wife and my Mom, and both of them love the way it looks and the way it cleared up the clutter on their desks. When I have to do "real" work at either of their computers, I'll confess that this keyboard drives me crazy with its idiosyncracies. The mouse is very good, however, and in my opinion might even be worth the price of the combo.

If you are a "regular" home user that uses your PC for web browsing and emails, then this is a great combo that you will be happy with at a great price. If you are more of a "power user" then I'd recommend you look elsewhere - the Logitech MX Duo has received really good reviews, but is more expensive. For me, I'm waiting for the prices to drop on Bluetooth units, and will probably jump on the Logitech MX Duo Bluetooth when the price point drops down into teh $50 range....

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Desktop Combination, October 19, 2004

By 

Coding Genius "CG" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 2.0 (Personal Computers)

This is a pretty solid combination package. The keyboard has "Favorites" buttons, which I have programmed to my five most used applications (e.g. email, browser). There is a "media center" control at the top, which allows me to quickly mute the volume, should I need to speak to someone. There are also other buttons for messenger, web pages, My Documents, the calculator, and logging off, all of which are very convenient. There is also a wrist rest built in, ensuring that your palms are high enough when typing.

The mouse has two buttons as well as a vertical and side-to-side scrolling wheel, which allow me to quickly scroll through doucments without having to move my hand. There are also two really convenient buttons under my thumb, which allow me to navigate back and forward through web pages.

I have the wireless receiver about a foot from the mouse and the keyboard, and do not have signal trouble. There are other people who use the keyboards and mice in the same office, and we don't have any cross-signaling issues.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Would be a great keyboard/mouse set if they worked properly, September 1, 2005

By 

R. COOPER (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 2.0 (Personal Computers)

I really wanted to like this keyboard and mouse but I've just had so many problems with them that I'm taking them back.

First the good things:
- Lots of shortcut buttons to things like e-mail, browser, etc.
- Fairly solid design
- I like the way the keyboard was slightly curved but not too much like the Microsoft "Natural" keyboard

Now the bad...

It wasn't long after I bought the keyboard and mouse that the left mouse button stopped working intermittently. I read other reviews that said the same thing so I tried taking one of the batteries out but that didn't solve the problem. It's very frustrating to be trying to work and to have to click maybe ten times on a link or button in order for anything to happen. I have bought a replacement wired mouse and have that connected as well as this combo. After I've tried left-clicking ten times using the wireless mouse with no response, I use the second mouse as my "left-click" device. As soon as my replacement wired keyboard arrives, I'm taking this piece of junk back.

As well as the left mouse button not working more often than not, the mouse isn't very ergonomic. With my hand on the mouse, I use my thumb and little finger to pick up and move the mouse on the mouse pad. The mouse shape is such that this is not easy to do. It's difficult to describe but the mouse has a very fat bottom (at "desk-level") and then it gets skinny at an elevation of about 0.5" above desk-level. So trying to pick it up from the bottom with my thumb and little finger sometimes causes my thumb and little finger to slip "up" the mouse. Sounds a bit rude but I hope you get what I mean.

The last thing is that the keys can't keep up with my typing. I don't think I'm that fast a typer but maybe this is a general problem with wireless keyboards (hence my getting a wired keyboard replacement). When I type words that end in "rt", it misses the "t" almost every time. I work for a company that does reporting so I type the word "report" a lot and it's extremely annoying to have to go back and fill in the "t"s all the time.
Also, the shift key seems to stay down for longer than it should. I occasionally get two capitalised letters at the beginning of a word instead of one. Maybe it's the design of the keyboard that's causing my finger to linger longer than usual on the Shift key rather than a problem with the signal but whatever it is, it doesn't happen on other keyboards.
And the last thing is that the space bar doesn't register about 20% of the time. There have been other dropped letters too but these are the ones I noticed most.

So, there you have it. This review hasn't been as bad for the second half because my new keyboard arrived half way through me typing it (whoopee!) so everything's back to normal. It's another MS keyboard, by the way - a "Digital Media Pro" for $22.77 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002CPBUK/qid=1125618901/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-7709379-7980766?v=glance&s=pc&n=507846) and it's great so far! Not a single dropped character.