Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Elite (10/11/2003)

Can't turn it off No support No documentationby leigoss - April 18, 2010

Pros: Just bought it, nice ergonometrics, reasonable price. Bought with a wireless mouse, run off the same usb. I am a touch typist and liked the feel. Liked the graphic key identification and the shortcut descriptions on the front of the keys.

Cons: This is a battery powered device, and not only is it not rechargeable, but there appears to be no way to TURN IT OFF!! Buried in the Hardward properties is the option to allow the computer to turn it off. DOESN"T WORK, greyed out.

Looks good, works good, at least at first. C+ or B-by electriceyeinthesky - August 18, 2009

Pros: I like wireless feature as well as the fake leather wrist rest. I also enjoy this product's programmable shortcut keys and the overall design and good feel when typing. The keys operate smoothly with minimal noise.

Cons: I dislike how the mouse completely stopped working after only two years of normal use. The next track/previous track keys on the keyboard only work sometimes. One of the hinged feet on the bottom of the keyboard simply broke off, with normal use.

Communication issues prompt lower ratingby markomni - November 19, 2007

Pros: Includes USB Bluetooth dongle, decent battery life, scroll wheel on keyboard

Cons: No rechargeable battery, Bluetooth may require multiple pairings, occaisionally keys are repeatedly pressed

Overall-Poorby mknowles16 - August 7, 2007

Pros: Can't Recall

Cons: Intermittent Performance, Battery Eater, Prematurely Failed

Not good for laptop users; flimsy constructionby swintgs - June 1, 2007

Pros: Good mouse

Cons: Poor construction; f-lock must be set every time you plug in; bad home/end-del-pgup/dn layout

Don't buy this product!!by RoBear7nt - February 5, 2007

Pros: Looks great, feels great

Cons: Connectivity problems

keyboard great, mouse ok until it breaksby egresh - September 4, 2006

Pros: plenty of programmable shortcut buttons, long battery life

Cons: pretty weak range, mouse not sturdy

Looks great and useful functions that doesn't really work wellby Somphon - July 22, 2006

Pros: Nice key board layout and features.

Cons: Letters on key faded too easily, Buttons must be press at certain angle, Ctlr+ command rarely work.

All I can say is, ehh.by AkiraHed - June 2, 2006

Pros: It's a blast, when it works.

Cons: The keyboard, often does not work.

Control Cap-lock and shift keys have delay and signal strenth range is poorby mclark4448 - January 22, 2006

Pros: Nice style, no wires to deal with.

Cons: slow response when suing shift lock and cap lock keys

Great for a keyboard mouse combo in this price range...by wheelzup - December 12, 2005

Pros: Keyboard has a solid feel not flimsy like some, the mouse is very comfortable and accurate

Cons: The keyboard will skip from time to time which is a problem especially if you do a lot of typing, for gaming the mouse will suck a battery dry in a hurry especially with action FPS

Using on a Macby hatandglasses13 - November 12, 2005

Pros: Buttons control iTunes and other shortcuts, tiltwheel, wireless

Cons: RF instead of native Mac OS X bluetooth support, runs on regular AA's

Review: I use this keyboard and mouse at home with my PowerBook and the set is great. I originally bought it for my PC but now use it on my Mac. The keyboard is very comfortable, as is the mouse. The tilt-wheel is a must for scrolling through long timelines in Final Cut and graphics and music editing applications. The buttons control iTunes (something the PowerBook itself is lacking big time- dedicated iTunes buttons), which makes controlling your music much easier.

The drivers were a snap to install from Microsoft's web page. The keyboard and mouse already worked plug n' play, but the extra buttons didn't work without the driver. Also the drivers have an option to assign the command key to the "normal" position on the keyboard. Well worth the money for a peripheral used on a day-to-day basis. It is pretty weak for CNET to put "scroll wheel feels spongy" as one of the major downsides. In fact, this would be preference of the user, and as far as I'm concerned I have experienced no problem with this.

The only problem I have is that it is RF. I understand there is a bluetooth model out there but I'm guessing it wouldn't have native Mac OS X support anyway. Understandable, since this is a Microsoft product, but occasionally a fan, cordless phone, wireless network, etc. will cause interference. Also wish it had a rechargeable battery system (like lithium-ion) instead of running off of AA's. Only have to replace them every few months but still an added expense.

At least we know Microsoft's good for something

The keyboard is the only saving graceby davidjameshewlett - September 27, 2005

Pros: One reciver instead of one for the mouse and one for the keyboard. Lots of features on the keyboard.

Cons: Mouse keeps on saying it is running low on bateries but is not. Cannot turn off the warning feature. Having problems getting the F1 F2 ect. keys working.

Excellent Choiceby rave4123 - July 26, 2005

Pros: Wrist Pad, Tilt Wheel, Hot Keys, Quality and ergonomics

Cons: Inititial setup, mouse seems like it could be more accurate

check out logitechby - February 8, 2005

Pros: great design and feel

Cons: cant be futher than 3 feet away from the reciever, some functions dont work well after one foot. While logitech you can use the keyboards from 15 feet away, a new reciever or something needs to be designed...

Nice Features, but buggyby - January 27, 2005

Pros: I used this 8 hours a day at work. Comfortable & makes your desk look cutting edge. Love all the short cut buttons

Cons: Keys keep sticking, even with key repeat turned all the way down, happens many times a day everyday. I hit the backspace key once and it ran through and deleted my entire document, made for a very long day. Mouse hesitates when left sitting for a few seco

Not for Gamer!!!!by - January 18, 2005

Pros: Looks cool. Good for typing!

Cons: Not for a Gamer. When playing 3D first person shooters, the keyboard forgets that certain key is pressed and you just get stuck or you have a feeling like you hit the invisible wall. You have to release a key and press it again and it's very annoing!!!

NOT! for gaming!by - January 12, 2005

Pros: Works well for everything but......

Cons: Key repeat issue means you CANNOT play games with it :(

this is terribleby - January 10, 2005

Pros: none!!

Cons: this product sucks!! the receiver has to be right next to the damn keyboard for it to work!! it sucks. it is terrible

But this NOW!!by - January 9, 2005

Pros: Ease of use was the most impressive thing about it...hannds down. Functionality is teeming w/the perfect shortcuts...built in. Keyboard feel and mouse are excellent. NO LAG RESPONSE. Exactly like having a wirer keyboard and mouse....but not as noisy. I

Cons: NONE....best toy on the market. (especially if you like to recline and surf with your feet up)

Keyboard simply does not work properlyby - January 8, 2005

Pros: Mouse is great. Keyboard has lots of fun buttons.

Cons: If you play any games, do not buy this keyboard. The fact that you have to re-press keys instead of just holding them down is both annoying and frustrating. I have not found a solution to this problem on any technical forums.

Good Keyboard but NEEDS LIGHTSby - December 28, 2004

Pros: No more cords cluttering the desk. Seems to work great around 6' away from transmitter. Nice mouse and keyboard layout. Keyboard is great for my TV connection and other multimedia devices.

Cons: Keyboard needs Numlock/Caps Lock light on keyboard. hard to go from standard keyboard to this enhanced keyboard. In time I should get used to it.

great construction but serious issuesby - December 23, 2004

Pros: The feel of the keys is the best of all the modern keyboards I've tried. Looks great, too.

Cons: F-keys are grouped in a nonstandard way. Function keys are absolutely useless and annoying/dangerous if you forget to press F-Lock EVERY time you boot up. CAPS/NUM lock indicators are on-screen and not on the keyboard. Other extra buttons largely useless.

sucks for gamesby - November 29, 2004

Pros: great shortcut buttons, nice layout, comfy, easy to setup

Cons: not good for playing games. eg. when holding down a key (eg. to accelerate or run) after a whlie you would decelerate or u would stop walking. i wonder if there will be a solution for this.....

This item is grrrreatby - October 22, 2004

Pros: Microsoft read my mind!! They put all of the features that I needed on a keyboard. Email, Internet Favorites, a scroll button, etc. I navigate much quicker through websites with this keyboard. And, best of all, I'm not even at my desk!!! The wireless

Cons: Favorites does not allow for multi-tasking between websites.

Great when it works, drivers need fixingby - September 21, 2004

Pros: Cheap, i got mine for AU$150 Comes with energizer batteries, supposedly lasts up to 6 months Works to about 1.5m for me with new batteries Covered palm rest is better than hard plastic Scroll wheel on keyboard Most keys customizable Sleep key is very rece

Cons: F1-F12 keys not enabled by default, everytime you turn on your PC you need to press a key to enable the F keys Microsoft removed ability to customize mouse keys depending on program used Not ALL keys customizable Palm rest can get warm and sticky and is n

Good deal for fifty bucks at overstock.comby - September 3, 2004

Pros: No problem whatsoever, but thought that I had a defective unit until I went to Microsoft site and downloaded IntelliType Pro 5.2 software for the keyboard. [supplied ver 5.0 would not work with my Win2000 Pro] P4 2.4GHz, homebuilt with RAID, lots RAM and

Cons: Nothing glaring, but perhaps I am biased towards Microsoft. I've owned quite a few machines over the past 15 years but this is a really nice KB.

Fantastic Keyboardby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Long lasting batteries. Smooth typing. Well designed. A real beauty in your hands.

Cons: Not any so far.

Innacurate mouse, extremely heavy and not skiming any surfaceby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Good keyboard.

Cons: The worsest mouse I've ever used - heavy, not skiming any surface very innacurate. For that price it's the worst choice you can make.

Comfortable mouse, great keyboardby - July 25, 2004

Pros: I bought this for my terminal at work to alleviate my carple tunnel syndrome. I mouse with both left and right hands and the cheap government issue mouse hurt to use and the cord was too short to move to the left side of the keyboard. This worked on our

Cons: Other people do use my terminal and do not know about the F- lock key. It should default so the function keys work on start up.

An all-inclusive product to free you from wires without limiting your capabilitiesby - July 21, 2004

Pros: battery life, 10-key pad, assignable buttons, side scrolling mouse, F-lock keys, accessory scroll wheel on left of key-board

Cons: price, wireless range and distance

Great combo for the moneyby - July 14, 2004

Pros: Well built, looks good, long battery life, good signal, mouse feels good in hand, buttons are easy to use and access, my favoirites keys are a great feature, it's not a cheap sorry made logitech.

Cons: None

Awesome Keyboard!by - June 20, 2004

Pros: Everything on it is awesome. Best battery life ever, replaced my mouse batteries after 9 months of using every day for hours. Still haven't replaced keyboard batteries, and it's been 10 months. Accurate typing, even better than my corded keyboard.

Cons: Would be nice if it had a longer range, and maybe bluetooth. I don't like the microsoft bluetoth keyboard, I've heard bad things about it, and wish that this elite could have bluetooth right on it. Keys make a little nice when typing.

What the hell were they thinking?by - June 11, 2004

Pros: The keyboard feels excellent, nice response, the scroll wheel on the keys actually is a nice feature, the scroll wheels have a much nicer feel-- smoother and softer, I like being able to program in the "My Favorites" bottons

Cons: BIGGEST GRIPE: What in the hell was Microsoft thinking when they authorized the 5.0 version of the Intelipoint software WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO MAP PROGRAM SPECIFIC COMMANDS TO THE MOUSE BUTTONS?!?!?!?! That was the best feature I have ever seen in an MS p

Everything good except F Lock on off status unknownby - June 8, 2004

Pros: The feel of both keyboard and mouse is fantastic, especialy like the leather palm rest on the keyboard. Key typing feel is quiet and smooth.

Cons: F lock key on/off status unknown, no LED or on screen display to tell you whether it's on or off. This main over-look function render it useless 'cos I'd rather turn it off so that I don't get confused to use F keys that works with my other applications.

keys fail quicklyby - June 4, 2004

Pros: none.

Cons: After a month or two of use, the left control and shift key failed to make correct electronic contact. Keys also have a plastic spongy feel and are noisy.

range = 3 foot UNIMPEDED viewby - April 30, 2004

Pros: tremendous mouse - tilt wheel KILLS. keyboard very comfortable.

Cons: horrible range, 6 month battery life = wussie range. MS says it is 3' but the transmission MUST NOT BE BLOCKED at all! even a sheet of paper blocks the transmission & the mouse must be pointed almost directly at receiver to work. I would rather re-cha

Mouse Ok, Keyboard Junkby - April 20, 2004

Pros: Mouse works pretty well. Overall large feature set.

Cons: Build quality. I have two of these sets, and have problems with the lower left keys (Ctrl, Shift) on both. "F Lock" is amazingly annoying, especially since it won't stay off between reboots. Sidescroll is pretty useless, even in latest MS Office produc

super spiferific duder!by - February 11, 2004

Pros: the feel and comfort is great! works up to 6 feet for me with no problem. the totaly programable shortcut buttons are the best ever! will the real microsoft please stand up?!

Cons: my only beef is the f-lock button. kinda annoying. wish it had a shut down button too.

Best on the market.by - January 27, 2004

Pros: great feel,style its the perfect keyboard for those who are looking for more than just a clunky old keyboard. lots of 1 button features and i love the media control. the mouse feels absolutely great, it fits perfectly in your hand and is very stylish... a

Cons: if your looking for bluetooth technology... sorry you wont find it here :(

The Last "Nice" Microsoft Keyboard I'll Buy...by - January 25, 2004

Pros: Terrific looking. Second only to the Logitech DiNuvo. The leather-like palm rest is really nice. I like the left onboard mouse wheel, but don't use it much.

Cons: This is my third "Nice" Microsoft Keyboard. But I keep giving up on them for the same reasons. I play Star Wars Galaxies and use the ALT key all the time. The ALT keys on all of these keyboards feel like a loose tooth. I press it and it often never

Excellent performer with one nonstandard annoyanceby - January 23, 2004

Pros: Easy to set up, excellent feel. The smooth scroll wheel is a joy to use, the psuedo-leather feels nice under your hand. The mouse is a little heavier than my old corded Logitech optical, but I'm getting used to it. The inclusion of a second scroll whee

Cons: The layout of the Home, End, PgUp, PgDwn, & Deleted keys above the arrow keys is in a non-standard configuration. I'm so used to the old layout its taking me a while to get used to the new setup. Maybe laptop users won't have as much trouble. Also,

Great Product, Worth Every pennyby - January 18, 2004

Pros: Nice feel. The mouse and keyboard are very responsive. The keyboard hot keys are great, they are useful and the favorites hot keys are a nice feature. The synthetic leather pad feels nice and the keyboard does work well with games if you make a few adj

Cons: Had to install the included software cd, and make some timing adjustments for the keyboard and mouse in order to avoid repeating letters and to slow down the scroll wheel.

Great! keyboardby - January 9, 2004

Pros: As everyone says... long battery life, amazing design

Cons: must find the right spot to put the transmitter, after that everything will be perfect.

WORKS GREAT FOR ALLby - December 26, 2003

Pros: great design. Good functionality. Many buttons to open programs and such. Very good for hooking up to tv and chillin in bed(not gaming in bed) I DON'T have any clue why people say it's bad for gaming. I play many games(ex: Unreal Tournament, WC3, Medal

Cons: Haven't found any yet. I do have to admit that all the companies could devise a better wireless range. Also, it would be great if they had the *option* to integrate with 802.11 networking

Great Keyboard - Unless you want to playby - December 23, 2003

Pros: Solid performance for general use.

Cons: No to gaming. Serious issues with key repeats that cannot be overcome. I like the keyboard but if I want to game I need to change kyboard and software.

doesnt work on windows ME?by - December 20, 2003

Pros: comfortable to type. mouse is also confortable.

Cons: doesnt completly work on windows ME, so if any one knows where to get the software to make all the other functions on the keyboard work plz let me know

What's the RANGE?by - December 15, 2003

Pros: Seems like a nice product

Cons: NO ONE will specify the range of the device. If it's "up to six feet" like all of the worthless wireless keyboards out there, then who wants it?

Great Set!!by - December 8, 2003

Pros: Awesome feel, better looks than any other, reliable, excellent battery life, well designed and thought out.

Cons: horizontal scroll is kinda useless, thumb forward button is hard to reach(like most).

Works great on PCs AND Macs!by - November 21, 2003

Pros: I'm using an Iogear GSC102U KVM/USB switch to use this keyboard /mouse combo on both my PC and Mac. It works perfectly, and the Intellitype/Intellipoint software makes the keyboard and mouse completely custiomizable on both platforms. Key feel is great, a

Cons: None

good idea, needs further testingby - November 10, 2003

Pros: good design, good wireless abilites, long battery life

Cons: not fully debugged, vertical sc roll on keyboard doesnt work, mouse reports low battery occasionally, sidescrolling not very useful, f-lock not that useful, mouse not easy to use side buttons, etc