正如我之前提到的（我打赌我也让你睡着了）🙂我喜欢微软自然(Microsoft Natural)人体工程学键盘。作为一个既快速又频繁地打字的人，多年来，拥有符合人体工程学的键盘对我产生了重大影响。他们确实需要一些时间来适应，在你习惯之后，在直键盘上打字会感觉有些奇怪，但我一直坚信学习曲线(learning curve)是值得的。因此，我很高兴有机会查看Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000，它将无线版本的Microsoft Natural键盘与符合人体工程学设计的Microsoft 无线(Microsoft wireless)老鼠。这个新版本是对我一直使用的键盘和输入设备的改进吗？让我告诉你我发现了什么。
Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 - 包装盒内
这个套装的盒子很大。它制作精良，坚固且设计新颖，但展开它以取出键盘和鼠标(keyboard and mouse)并不像我想象的那么容易。
这是一个很好的拆箱视频(unboxing video)，不幸的是，鼠标已经从包装中取出。它是德语的，但您无需了解德语即可了解它的全部内容。制作视频的人指出了许多可编程键、键盘中央的缩放滑块以及鼠标上的多个可编程按钮。(Zoom)
这里是该套件的微软(Microsoft)官方信息页面： (information page)Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000。我立即注意到这款键盘与我一直在使用的Microsoft Natural 4000有线键盘之间存在显着差异。我目前的键盘在掌托(palm rest)内有一组指示灯，指示何时按下Num Lock、Caps Lock、Scroll Lock 和 F Lock 键(Scroll Lock and F Lock keys)。
较新的键盘(newer keyboard)取消了那些有用的灯，取而代之的是只有一个电池指示灯(battery indicator light)。我不认为这是一个更好的改变。这是我当前（使用良好）键盘的照片，显示Num Lock 和 F Lock 键(Num Lock and F Lock keys)已启用。这是微软(Microsoft)的官方产品照片(product photo)，仅显示电池指示灯(battery indicator light)。
如您所见，这些产品在其他方面是相同的。
使用键盘
Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000随附一个USB 无线(USB wireless)加密狗，可同时连接鼠标和键盘。可用于提升键盘前部的附件在包装盒中是单独的。（我稍后会谈到这一点。）它还附带电池、非常简短的用户指南以及包含Microsoft Intellitype和Intellipoint 软件(software and instructions)的磁盘以及在连接硬件之前首先运行该软件的说明。您应该忽略磁盘和说明，因为该软件已被Mouse and Keyboard Center取代。
我将随附的 AA 电池装入键盘和鼠标中，然后就可以使用了。
我断开了我当前的Microsoft Natural键盘，插入了加密狗，首先看到一条“正在安装驱动程序软件”("installing driver software")消息，然后一条消息要求我单击以调出鼠标和键盘中心(Mouse and Keyboard Center)出现在我的屏幕上。由于我已经配置了我的原始键盘，我不必更改任何基本设置，但我将向您展示一些您可以使用键盘执行的操作。这是基本屏幕。
如果单击右上角的小圆圈，它将突出显示您可以编程的所有键。
我用的不多，但我确实喜欢只需轻轻一按就可以对键进行编程以访问最喜欢的网站。在这里，我正在配置密钥 #1 以访问一个很棒的网站。现在我要做的就是按下按钮 #1 到达那里。
您也可以通过按F 键行正下方的My Favorites键来调出此(My Favorites)配置屏幕。(configuration screen)
正如我所提到的，键盘没有指示灯来显示您是否按下了常用键。举个例子，Microsoft Natural键盘带有一排键，可用作标准功能键（F 键）或独立命令键（帮助、撤消、重做、新建、打开、关闭、回复、转发、发送、拼写、保存和打印）。F Lock 键控制(F Lock key)Windows如何看到这些键。当它被使用时，你有标准的功能键。按下此按钮，您将在屏幕右下方看到一条简短消息，说明F Lock已打开（或关闭，视情况而定）。
中间有一个缩放键，(Zoom)键盘的两半分开(keyboard split)。这适用于任何Windows 屏幕(Windows screen)以放大或缩小它，在查看小型屏幕或您希望稍大一点的图像(type or images)时非常有用。朝 F 键按(Press)可放大，朝掌托(palm rest)按可缩小。我总是将键盘升降器(keyboard lifter)安装在前面。如果您不习惯符合人体工程学的键盘，那么一开始这看起来和感觉都很奇怪。值得坚持学习曲线(learning curve)，但是，因为将键盘的前部抬高会使您的手处于更放松的位置。切换到符合人体工程学的键盘可能意味着你一开始打字速度会更慢，准确度也会降低，但根据我的经验，你会很快掌握它的窍门。键盘的触感(light touch)非常好，尤其是与我的另一个键盘相比，它已经使用了相当长的一段时间并且已经过了更好的日子。我怀疑一次彻底的清洁(thorough cleaning)会给原来的键盘带来很多好处。🙂 因为我已经是Microsoft Natural键盘的粉丝，所以我不需要任何说服力来喜欢这个键盘。我确实认为缺少灯光是一个缺点。也许包括它们会缩短电池寿命(battery life)。
徘徊...或不
我对Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000(Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000)附带的鼠标寄予厚望。它旨在让您以更放松的姿势握住您的手，这对缓解手部和手腕问题(hand and wrist problems)大有帮助。它附带说明，向您展示如何将手缠绕在鼠标上。它有四个可编程按钮和一个四向滚轮(scroll wheel)（向上、向下和横向），应该会吸引大多数人。
但是：(BUT:) “大多数人”必须拥有合适大小的手并用右手使用鼠标。不幸的是，鼠标的设计似乎只适合平均大小的男性手。我有一只中等大小的女性手，如果不将手放在这个鼠标旨在避免的非人体工程学位置，我就无法够到按钮。因此(Thus)，我无法真正舒适地测试它。这是我手中的样子。在每张照片中，人们都被告知按照说明将手放在鼠标周围。如您所见，我的拇指将无法触及侧面的按钮，并且我的食指(index finger)未处于左侧按钮的正确位置。
这是一只大男人的手，完全超过了所有的按钮。
在这里，它是在普通男性手中，这就是它的设计目的。
当我看到鼠标太大、太小而且恰到好处时，我觉得自己像金发姑娘。(Goldilocks)我可以说鼠标很容易在Windows 7和Windows 8中安装和配置（没有适用于Mac的驱动程序，所以我没有在那里测试它）并且在我尝试过的每个表面（桌面、Wacom竹片(Wacom Bamboo tablet)、杂志封面(magazine cover)和粗糙的木制雪茄盒(wooden cigar box)）。我只是无法舒适地够到按钮或多功能滚轮(multifunction scroll wheel)，无法了解它们的实用性。平均大小的男性手的所有者(male hand)说鼠标很舒服，但他没时间做任何测试。
结论
Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000从包装到名牌(name brand)电池（金霸王(Duracells)）都非常注重细节。无线连接(wireless connection)是万无一失的，我发现有线和无线之间的速度没有差异。当我第一次开始使用它时，每隔一段时间就会出现某种小问题，就像无线连接一样(wireless connection)已经停了一两秒钟，所以我会错过或重复字符。我不知道是什么导致了这种情况，最终它消失了。不是一个真正的问题，但我提到它是为了完整的报告。键盘可以通过多种方式进行编程，几乎可以立即访问网站和文件，并为几乎任何人提供足够的选择。正如我所提到的，我认为它应该有灯，但这只是个人喜好，对其他人可能无关紧要。它与Windows 7和Windows 8完美配合，但并非所有功能都在Mac上可用，因为没有官方的Windows 驱动程序(Windows driver)为了它。我真的很想喜欢鼠标，因为我一直在寻找一种在我的双键盘桌面上节省一些空间的方法，而人体工程学设计、四向滚轮(scroll wheel)和多个可编程按钮很吸引人。然而，由于缺乏必要的手部大小(hand size)，我很不走运，即使是手大小合适但更喜欢用左手使用鼠标的人也是如此。
判决
人体工学键盘是个人喜好问题，当您第一次开始使用键盘时，会有一个学习曲线。我碰巧觉得努力学习如何做到这一点是值得的，而且我总体上是Microsoft Natural(Microsoft Natural)键盘的忠实粉丝。Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000中包含的一款触感轻巧（对于像我这样经常打字的人来说是必不可少的），提供了很多个性化的机会，并且易于安装和设置。我认为这是一个守门员。鼠标对我来说更麻烦。如果你的手大小合适(size hand)毫无疑问，这将是您办公桌的一个很好的补充。但是它的非通用尺寸以及它仅适用于右手的事实使得它对很多人来说很困难或完全不切实际。因为它绝对不适合我的手，所以我无法提供任何关于所有花里胡哨的效果如何的真正见解。我绝对建议您在购买此套件之前试用鼠标。您可能会发现它不适用于您的双手或效果很好。如果您使用过Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000并对它在多大程度上满足您的需求有任何想法或见解，请在下方发表评论。我会对有关此套件中包含的鼠标的任何评论非常感兴趣。
Reviewing the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000
As I've mentioned before (bet I've put you to sleep with it, too) 🙂 I love Microsoft Natural ergonomic keyboards. As someone who types both fast and frequently, having an ergonomic keyboard has made a major difference for me over the years. They do take some getting used to, and after you get used to it, typing on a straight keyboard can feel somewhat strange, but I've long been convinced that the learning curve is worth it. Thus, I was very pleased to get the opportunity to review the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000, which pairs a wireless version of the Microsoft Natural keyboard with an ergonomically designed Microsoft wireless mouse. Is this newer version an improvement on the keyboards and input devices I've been using? Let me tell you what I found.
Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 - Inside the box
The box this set comes in is huge. It's well made, solid, and creatively designed, but unfolding it to get the keyboard and mouse out wasn't as easy as I thought.
Here is a good unboxing video that unfortunately starts with the mouse already taken out of the packaging. It's in German, but you don't need to understand German to see what it's all about. The person doing the video points out the many programmable keys, the Zoom slider in the center of the keyboard, and the multiple programmable buttons on the mouse.
And here is Microsoft's official information page for this kit: Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000. I immediately noticed one significant difference between this keyboard and the Microsoft Natural 4000 wired keyboard that I have been using. My current keyboard has a set of lights inside the palm rest that indicate when the Num Lock, Caps Lock, Scroll Lock and F Lock keys have been pressed.
The newer keyboard has done away with those useful lights and replaced them with only a battery indicator light. I didn't consider this a change for the better. Here's a photo of my current (well used) keyboard showing the Num Lock and F Lock keys engaged. Here is Microsoft's official product photo, showing only the battery indicator light.
As you can see, the products are otherwise identical.
Putting the keyboard to use
The Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 comes with a USB wireless dongle that connects both the mouse and the keyboard. The attachment that you can use to elevate the front of the keyboard is separate in the box. (I'll talk about that in a bit.) It also comes with batteries, a very brief user guide, and a disk containing the Microsoft Intellitype and Intellipoint software and instructions to run that first, before connecting the hardware. You should ignore the disk and the instructions, since that software has been superseded by the Mouse and Keyboard Center.
I loaded the included AA batteries into the keyboard and the mouse and was set to go.
I disconnected my current Microsoft Natural keyboard, plugged in the dongle, and saw first an "installing driver software" message and then a message asking me to click to bring up the Mouse and Keyboard Center appear on my screen. Since I had already configured my original keyboard, I didn't have to change any of the basic settings, but I'll show you some of what you can do with the keyboard. Here is the basic screen.
If you click the little circle on the upper right, it will highlight all the keys that you can program.
I don't use those much, but I do like having the ability to program the keys to go to favorite web sites with just one touch. Here I am configuring key #1 to go to a great web site. Now all I do is press button #1 to get there.
You can also bring up this configuration screen by pressing the My Favorites key right below the F key row.
As I mentioned, the keyboard doesn't have lights to show you whether commonly used keys have been pressed. To give you an example, the Microsoft Natural keyboards come with a row of keys that can be used either as the standard function keys (F keys) or as standalone command keys (help, undo, redo, new, open, close, reply, forward, send, spell, save, and print). The F Lock key is what controls how these keys are seen by Windows. When it's engaged you have standard function keys. Press this and you'll see a brief message on the lower right-hand side of your screen that F Lock is on (or off, as the case may be).
There is a Zoom key right in the center where the two halves of the keyboard split. This works on any Windows screen to enlarge or shrink it, very useful when looking at screens of small type or images you wish were just a little larger. Press toward the F keys to enlarge, press toward the palm rest to reduce. I always install the keyboard lifter in the front. If you are not accustomed to ergonomic keyboards, this will look and feel very strange at first. It is worth sticking out the learning curve, though, because having the front of the keyboard elevated puts your hands in a more relaxed position. Switching to an ergonomic keyboard might mean that you type more slowly and less accurately at first, but it's been my experience that you'll quickly get the hang of it. The keyboard had a very nice light touch, especially compared to my other one, which has been in use for quite some time and has seen better days. I suspect a good thorough cleaning would do the original keyboard a world of good. 🙂 Since I was already a fan of Microsoft Natural keyboards, I didn't need any more convincing to like this one. I do think the lack of lights is a shortcoming. Perhaps including them would have shortened the battery life.
Mousing around... or not
I had high hopes for the mouse that came with the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000. It was designed to let you hold your hand in a much more relaxed position, which should go a long way toward easing hand and wrist problems. It comes with instructions showing you how to wrap your hand around the mouse. It has four programmable buttons and a four-way scroll wheel (up, down, and sideways) which should appeal to most people.
BUT: "Most people" have to have the right size hands and use a mouse with their right hand. Unfortunately the mouse appears to be designed to fit only an average sized male hand. I have an average sized female hand and I could not reach the buttons without putting my hand in the non-ergonomic position that this mouse was created to avoid. Thus I could not really test it comfortably. Here's what it looked like in my hand. In each of these photos, the person was told to wrap their hand around the mouse according to the instructions. As you can see, my thumb will not reach the buttons on the side, and my index finger is not in the correct position for the left button.
Here it is in a large male hand, which completely overshoots all the buttons.
And here it is in an average male hand, which is what it was designed for.
I felt like Goldilocks as I saw that the mouse was too big, too small, and just right. I can say that the mouse was easy to install and to configure in Windows 7 and Windows 8 (no driver was available for the Mac so I did not test it there) and moved smoothly on every surface I tried it out on (desktop, Wacom Bamboo tablet, a magazine cover and a rough wooden cigar box). I just could not reach the buttons or that multifunction scroll wheel comfortably enough to get any idea of how practical they are to use. The owner of the average sized male hand said the mouse was very comfortable, but he didn't have time to do any testing.
Conclusions
The Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 shows good attention to detail from the packaging right down to the name brand batteries (Duracells). The wireless connection was foolproof and I saw no difference in speed between wired and wireless. When I first started using it, every once in a while there was a small hiccup of some kind, as if the wireless connection had stopped for a second or two, so I would get missed or duplicate characters. I don't know what made that happen, and it eventually went away. Not a real problem, but I'm mentioning it in the interest of complete reporting. The keyboard can be programmed in many ways to make access to websites and files almost instantaneous, and offers enough options for just about anyone. As I mentioned, I think it should have lights, but that is just a personal preference that might not matter to someone else. It worked perfectly with Windows 7 and Windows 8, but not all the features were available on the Mac because there is no official Windows driver for it. I really did want to like the mouse, since I have been looking for a way to save some space on my two-keyboard desktop, and the ergonomic design, four-way scroll wheel, and multiple programmable buttons were appealing. However, lacking the requisite hand size, I was out of luck, as would be anyone with even the proper sized hand who prefers to use a mouse left-handed.
Verdict
Ergonomic keyboards are a matter of personal preference and there is a learning curve when you first start using one. I happen to feel that it is worth the effort to learn how to do it and I'm a big fan of Microsoft Natural keyboards in general. The one included in the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 has a light touch (essential for people like me who type a lot), offers a lot of opportunities for personalization and is easy to install and set up. I think it's a keeper. The mouse was more of a problem for me. If you have the right size hand it would no doubt be a great addition to your desk. But the non-universal size of it and the fact that it is shaped only for the right hand, makes it difficult or downright impractical for a lot of people. Since it definitely did not fit my hand I can't offer any real insights into how well all the bells and whistles would work. I definitely recommend you to try out the mouse before purchasing this kit. You may find out that it doesn't work well with your hands or that it works great. If you've used the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 and have any thoughts or insights about how well it fit your needs, please leave a comment below. I would be very interested in any comments about the mouse included in this kit.
