Wireless Optical Desktop Elite
A
Review by John Calhoun
The Wireless Optical Desktop Elite set
includes a wireless mouse and a wireless keyboard. The set I am reviewing here is
Black/Gray/Silver with dark smoke-colored keys, integrated cushioned palm rest,
ergonomic design, and Mac compatible.
The box states that this set works with Windows 2000 and Windows XP only
and also Mac OS 10.1 – 10.2.X (but not 10.0.)
I can find no documentation stating that it has been successfully used
with any other Windows versions.
The Mouse
The mouse is a large, 5-button scroll
mouse, with Tilt-Wheel Technology, which allows you to scroll left & right,
as well as up & down. There are
left- and right-click buttons; the scroll wheel is also a button; and there are
two small buttons on the left side of the mouse. All 5 buttons are programmable to do whatever
you desire. The mouse works fairly well,
most of the time. But it has to be
pointed towards, and within 4 feet of the receiver in order for it to work
properly. In my case, even though the
receiver is only about 3 feet away, sometimes it looses contact with the base
receiver. When this happens, a message
pops up on the screen informing you of this and asking if you want to hook up
another mouse. This seems kind of silly
to me, since you cannot hook up a PS/2 mouse while the computer is running: you
need to turn the computer off first. The
smallest object between the mouse and the base causes this to happen all the
time. (I have my computer and monitor on
a small roll-around computer cabinet in front of my couch in the living room.)
The
Keyboard
The keyboard is full-sized, and has
many extra buttons, as well as the standard 104 keys:
12 double-function F-Keys
5 Favorites keys
1 Show Favorites key
1 Tilt-Wheel Scroll Wheel
Back and Forward buttons
9 buttons labeled:
My
Documents
My
Pictures
My
Music
Mail
Web/Home
Messenger
(Windows Messenger)
Calculator
Log
Off
Sleep
1 F-Lock button
The F-Lock button toggles the F-Keys
between their standard functions and the following:
Help;
Undo; Redo; New; Open; Close; Reply; Forward; Send; Spel Check; Save; Print.
The
keys are all labeled with both the F-numbers and their alternate
functions. All
of them can be programmed to do aother functions, including
running a program.
There are also 8 media buttons. These buttons are labeled only with graphics,
except the Mute and Media buttons, which are labeled with both graphics and
English:
Play/Pause
Stop
Mute
Media
Next
Previous
Volumn
Up
Volume
Down
This set presumably has a longer
battery life, and when the batteries get low on power, smart receiver
technology gives you an on-screen alert informing you. It also alerts you when the signal between
the device and the receiver is not optimal.
I can attest to the longer battery life, since I have been using it for
about 6 months, and haven’t had to replace them yet. The mouse requires 2 AA bateries and the
keyboard requires 3 AA bateries.
The keyboard is worse than the mouse,
because it has to be pointed at the receiver in order to work. It does absolutely nothing if it is pointed
in the wrong direction. Sometimes when there is a
problem with the receiver getting the signals, even pointing the devices
directly at the receiver takes a while to re-establish contact and resume working properly.
I cannot and would not recommend this keyboard/mouse set
to anyone.
Wireless Optical Desktop Elite
Microsoft Corp.
$104.95
USB and PS/2 Connectors (for receiver)
5 Energizer AA bateries (included)
Driver CD