Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000

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Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000

Aalaap Ghag, Dec 12, 2005 1010 hrs IST

When Microsoft gave us the Comfort Curve in their keyboards last year, we all believed it was the end of the split natural keyboards.

Most comfortable keyboard ever; soft palm rest, strict angles for maximum natural posture; almost all keys are in a standard layout; multimedia function keys; zoom slider; extra calculator keys

IntelliType required for zoom slider and extra calculator keys to work; zoom slider not reconfigurable; oversize N key and unified Function key blocks can cause some confusion; price is a wee bit high

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Expert Review

When Microsoft gave us the Comfort Curve in their keyboards last year, we all believed it was the end of the split natural keyboards. Lots of people couldn't get used to the big gap between the two halves of the keyboard, so the Comfort Curve was created to provide similar ergonomic benefits, without making them break the habit of having the all the keys in a contiguous block. I had liked the Comfort Curve design back then, but I secretly craved for the split Natural design.

I can say that my prayers have been answered - the new series of Microsoft keyboards and mice include the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, a spruced up version of the Comfort Edition keyboard that has the Natural split, in addition to some purportedly "breakthrough" ergonomic keyboard designs and revolutionary "advanced ergonomic" concepts.

This is one of the few keyboards that are "ergonomist approved" by Hugh McLoone, a Certified Professional Ergonomist at Microsoft. Interestingly, the keyboard is not wireless. But ergonomics rules state very strict postures while using the keyboard, which don't include lying down on the couch with the keyboard on your thighs! The main portion of the keyboard is an enhanced 104 key layout with the Natural split in the center. The split portion of the keyboard is also elevated at a 14-degree angle so its center is higher than the rest of the keys. This ensures your wrists maintain a natural and smooth angle at any point in time. The split also separates the two halves at specific 12-degrees from each other, ensuring more natural wrist positions. When used by itself, it offers a slightly sloped keyboarding angle, but for better results, there's also another reverse slope attachment that fits directly under the pleather palm rest and adds another 7 degrees to the slope. This looks very funny and queer at the first time, but all you have to do is give it some time. This makes your palms point down towards the front, which is more natural and subsequently more comfortable to use in the longer run.

I've been using this keyboard for a few days now and I've gotten so used to it in such a short amount of time, I think my wrists will hurt after I go back to the BenQ Slim keyboard I was using earlier. Almost everything about this keyboard is perfect and just makes me want to type more and more. The key natural split layout is next to perfect - I managed to reach level 14 in Typer Shark. But not with great accuracy. I frequently fumbled with the N key instead of the M key because the N key is more than twice as long. Even the T key is about 1.5 times the size of one key, and so are the G and H keys, but these didn't pose as much of a problem as the N key. I had the same complaints (amongst others) with the Comfort Edition keyboard.

One of the things I really take pleasure in writing about this keyboard is the very normal and standard arrow keys placement and the page navigation six-pack. The Insert key is right above the Del key, the Home key is above the End key, and Page Up is right above Page Down. And there's one blank row before the arrow keys start. The arrow key block is also right under the six-pack instead of being shoved into the main keyboard layout dislodging the right Ctrl key.