Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000

The Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 is a mainstream solution. It's likely not going to solve the unique problems of clinically injured computer users, but it does seem like a decent entry point for the average user who wants a slightly more body-friendly desktop setup than a standard keyboard and mouse. It's priced accordingly at £60 -- pricey for a desktop set, but really at the entry level for ergonomic solutions.

Design
The design of the keyboard in the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 is essentially the same as the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, though the former connects to your computer wirelessly via a USB receiver. The split design rises in the middle to keep your wrists and arms in a naturally rotated position. An optional riser snaps under the front of the keyboard to create a backward slant that prevents you from flexing your wrists.

You can further adjust the keyboard's height and angle via snap-up feet on the rear corners. The keyboard's wrist rest is padded with a faux-leather cover that's preferable to bare plastic but nevertheless not as comfortable as the gel wrist rests you can get elsewhere.

The elevated mouse looks more like a piece of fruit than a computer accessory and its buttons, wheel and palm rest all veer towards the right side. The idea behind the design is that it turns your wrist upward -- almost, though not quite, like a handshake -- and lets you rest your hand on the right side instead of putting pressure on the carpal tunnel area. The thumb rest and sides of the mouse are made of a rubberised material that lets users avoid the mouse death grip that so often accompanies extended computer work.

Features
The keyboard also incorporates a number of features designed to cut down on mousing. A row of silver buttons at the top of the board comes preprogrammed to do things such as launch your default Web browser or email client, control media playback and open the desktop calculator. Five additional numbered buttons can be programmed via the included IntelliType Pro software to launch any software or open a file of your choice.

In case you forget what you've assigned to each button, the My Favourites button in the middle of the board calls up a window that shows you. In the area between the split keys resides a two-way toggle that lets you zoom in and out of the active page. Below the spacebar and between the wrist pads are two buttons -- back and forward -- that allow you to move between Web pages without having to reach for your mouse.

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