I wouldn’t normally make two posts about the same subject, especially when the beneficiary of the topic is Microsoft (they should be paying us to create an opportunity here!). But there were so many comments on the keyboard post I made yesterday, and emails to me, I felt I had to.
As I suspected, the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 took a lot of getting used to. I found myself throughout the day alternating between using the ‘raise’ at the front that tilts the keyboard back, and not. It’s very odd at first and it feels almost like you are forcing your wrists into the wrist rest with the thing attached. But, my speed at typing on keyboard did gradually increase to near normal speeds by the end of the day, and I did notice when I left the office that I didn’t have my usual pain. In fact, I was so happy with no having any wrist pain when I left (it came back when I got in the car though) that I stopped at a store on the way home and bought a second one for my home office.
All in all I’ve got to say I’m very happy with the device. Yeah it takes a lot of getting used to, even more so than just switching to a split keyboard. The backward 7 degree slope just looks and feels very strange indeed. But the net effect is that the keyboard does do what it’s supposed to do, and that’s help alleviate the symptons of repetitive strain injuries, well for me it does anyway.
I still miss my DiNovo though.
Oh, one more thing worth pointing out. At home I have a nice desk with a keyboard drawer. I’m not the biggest fan of keyboard drawers, but hey. Anyway, with the 7 degree slope attached, the keyboard only just fits in the drawer and I need to almost pull it out to balance on the edge of the drawer to use it. Be aware of that if you have a similar desk and are thinking of buying this keyboard.
