Customer Reviews

Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 3000 (Dark Gray)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I can no longer type on a regular keybaord. Since the first ergonomic keyboard from Microsoft about 10 years ago. I also have the Microsfot natural ergonomic keyboard 4000. This is outstanding for for when you have to type a lot.

The 3000 is thin with the right amount of extra funtion keys for gettting you email and launchine your web browser and working your volume mute feature for the media players.

I can sit back in my chair and put the 3000 on my lap and type away. The wireless mouse has the new tilt wheel which lets you scroll left and right on large web pages and other windows like a large word document that cannot be displayed in the window because of large text.

It's been about 3 months since I purchased the 3000 and I still have the batteries (that came with the KB and mouse). Microsoft has come a long way in regaurds to battery life in their mice and keyboard. 6 months or longer is not uncommon. The SOFT feel of the half hight keys if very comforting.

I am quite happy with both the keyboard and mouse. I've had it for three months now. The keys are nicely spaced and sized. I find that I hit far fewer incorrect keys with this keyboard than the one on my other computer (a different MS keyboard). The mouse fits my hand comfortably and glides well.

Only gripes: I wish the web browser page forward/back buttons were on the mouse itself instead of the keyboard, like my other five-year old mouse has. It makes surfing much faster. On the keyboard, you can turn volume up and down and pause your music, but I wish it had track forward/back buttons, too. Then again, it's not advertised as a multimedia keyboard, so I can't really say anything. I like this combo so much that I am buying another one to replace the one on my other computer, even though it has a relatively new keyboard.

I've used this keyboard/mouse set for a while. The keyboard feels sturdy (i.e. not cheap), and the mouse tracks well and has a nice scroll wheel. The driver software works well on Windows, and acceptably on the Mac (it is definitely not as polished as the Windows version). Be warned, though, that since the keyboard and mouse use the same receiver the set is not going to work with a KVM switch (or at least with the IOGEAR one I tried).

Currently my MS wireless mouse is sitting less than 1 foot away from the wireless receiver with a direct line of sight, and I'm getting "Low" wireless signal quality (2 bars in the IntelliPoint utility). I've tried changing the wireless channel to no avail. I live in an apartment in the city so there are other 802.11b/g signals are emanating from other residents as well as my own, so this may be contributing to the low signal quality. If I move further than several yards away the signal intermittently drops out, which makes it unusable for a home media computer setup.

As far as the feel of the keyboard and mouse, I have no qualms.

Update 2008-05-28: Now certain keyboard keys stopped working. That's too bad, I stopped using the wireless mouse a while ago but I had thought the keyboard was adequate. I would reduce my review to 1 star now I if I could edit it.

I've used keyboard & mouse for 1 week, & really like the feel/ergonomics & basic functionality of both. However, the wireless signal is so inconsistent & problematic (essentially "freezes" computer for 30 sec. to 2 minutes) that it renders keybd & mouse unusable. I have no other wireless devices that could interfere, & MS tech suppt. is unsure what problem could be (I live in a house w/ fairly large lot, so neighboring wireless signal interference is not likely). It will work w/ little or no problem one day, then the next day I'm unable to go more than a couple of minutes without significant problems. So, not usable for me. I'm returning for a wired keybd & mouse so that I can be productive (that's the idea, right? (-: )

I purchased the Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 3000 keyboard and mouse for my home pc and fell in love with it immediately! I knew I wanted the same keyboard and mouse for work but we have Apple computers there. I assumed that the Microsoft keyboard and mouse wouldn't work very well with the Apple computer, but the box said that some of the media keys would work and it would work with iTunes. My supervisor told me to try it out. EVERYTHING works with the Apple computer! It's wonderful! My supervisor liked it so much she ordered one for herself. The comfort curve is a wonderful ergonomic feature. It's much more comfortable for me than the traditional ergonomic keyboards. I couldn't be more thrilled with a keyboard and mouse.

Works properly etc. etc.
I'm unhappy because it's just too big for my hands used to regular keyboards, laptops or even a netbook, so say when I reach out to the Backspace I never get it, or same with many keys.

Another thing is the poor design in that many keys have VERY diferent SIZE. I've measured them, the N is literally TWICE as big as the M sitting right next to it. I promise, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO TYPE WITHOUT MISTAKES for serveral weeks at least which is what I've used it, probably never if as me you still use 2 or 3 other normal keyboards during the day. I'm typing in it at half my usual speed and looking at the keys.

I received this product as a gift and aside from the fact that it was free, I don't care for it at all. The wireless reception is very bad - if the receiver is more than a foot away from the keyboard, it will drop keystrokes and lose connection. The receiver needing to be less than 12 inches from the keyboard sort of defeats the entire purpose of it being wireless in the first place.

Others might feel differently but I don't care for the ergonomics of the keyboard at all and find it awkward to type on. The mouse has a cheap feel to it and seems sluggish, the mouse wheel has, for want of a better word, a gummy feel to it, and hasn't loosened up substantially since I received the set a few weeks ago.

So far the only positive is that the mouse seems to conserve battery power fairly well - but this set is on a system that doesn't see a great deal of use so that may be part of the reason.

The keyboard is perfect, mainly considering the layout of the keys Insert, Delete, Home, End, Pg Up and Pg Down. This is one of the few keyboards which Microsoft did not do the stupidity of changing the layout of such keys, keeping the classic design of a keyboard. Moreover, it is slim, comfortable, beautiful and economic in terms of battery. On the other hand, the mouse is quite heavy and uncomfortable. What I am doing is to use it with my notebook mouse, an Optical 1000, which can be synchronized with the same RF base. The base itself could be just a dongle, instead of something unreasonably large and wired, which more looks like a space ship. If you do not care about this no sense base and a heavy mouse, the keyboard is perfect.

I'm not sure what a lot of these other users are talking about. I have put about 10 of these units in place at various clients, including five in the same office space. Never any signal trouble. In my experience, as long as the receiver isn't too far from the keyboard and mouse, it works fine.