Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 review

Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 Review

Reviewed by: Michelle Thatcher

Reviewed on: 10 July 2008

Performance
All these features add up to a rather comfortable typing experience. We used the Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 with our primary computer for several weeks and we're mostly pleased with the level of comfort it offers. After just a few days with the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard we came to prefer it to traditional keyboards for all our typing. However, we were frustrated by the stiffness of the keys, especially the space bar.

Even after prolonged use we felt we had to press just too hard to type -- not exactly ideal for a keyboard that's supposed to reduce repetitive stress injuries and certainly a deal breaker for anyone whose hand and wrist pain starts in their fingers.

In fact, though wrist pain forced us to start mousing with our left hand years ago, we found ourselves eschewing our own Logitech MX610 left-handed mouse in favour of the right-handed Microsoft Natural Ergonomic mouse. We'd still prefer to have a left-handed version, which Microsoft sadly lacks.

As with the keyboard, our primary complaint relates to resistance. In this case, the rubberised scroll wheel offers more drag than we'd prefer. Also, though the mouse does incorporate thumb buttons, their poor placement between the thumb and forefinger meant that we hardly used them -- they were just too difficult to reach without moving our entire hand.

Conclusion
Our only gripes come from resistance: the keys feel slightly too stiff and the mouse scroll button requires slightly too much force. These weren't enough to outweigh the other comfort benefits of the set's design for our moderately achy wrists, but they could very well be deal-breakers for those with more serious injuries.

Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday