The new MS 4000 keyboard and a ThinkPad go great together
I just got the new keyboard from Microsoft - the
ergo 4000, and it's pretty cool. The coolest feature for me, forgetting the shortcut keys and all that, is the fact that the keyboard is high enough in the air to actually fit on top of my ThinkPad T41's keyboard covering it completely, effectively allow me to save space while replacing my laptop's keyboard. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but
that's the killer app for me.
Update:
- The included software also allows you to disable the damn caps-lock key. About time.
- Nice zoom button, though it seems to be mainly used for scrolling..
- It even comes with special keys for "=", "(" and ")" (dare I say "programmer keys"?). Unfortunately, they are positioned right above the Numpad keys, so it's not that comfortable to use them while programming :(
- The ergonomic positioning is great. Really comfortable!
- You can't install the keyboard software inside a VPC image (VPC is officially not supported on install), but the main functionality seems to work just fine anyway, including the scrolling in VS.NET.
- The F-Lock key stays on by default when you reboot your machine! Thank you!(at least on my ThinkPad)
- If there's one thing missing from this keyboard it's a set of two buttons for the left and right mouse clicks and a mouse moving little red pad(just like in a notebook). Do that and I can free my hands from the mouse for about 90% of the time. (yes I know that enter and application keys play the same role and left and right, but still.)