I’m the kind of person that likes to chop and change my keyboard and mouse set every few months. And usually, I pay quite a lot of these desktop sets, but I think I have found one which may stay longer than the others do. In the past few years, I have had no short of 7 different keyboards: Logitech, Labtec, Microsoft, Advent among others. They have been everything from plastic to aluminium - this one is slightly different.

Yesterday I felt was a day for a new desktop set. So I paraded down to the local Staples and picked up a Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 5000. It was at the end of the line, so it was reduced from £50 ($100) to £40 ($80) - what a saving. I don’t so much like buying out of a continued range of products - for instance I would not now by Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 as I usually don’t see a hell of a lot of difference.

Although the design of the keyboard is slightly chunky, it has a lovely and large cushioned wrist pad which is beautiful to lay your wrists upon while typing. I believe it can be removed, but I have not yet tried this. It is designed in the curve layout, so that there is a more natural feel and it is easier to use when typing. I do have to say when I started using it, it only took me about 20 minutes to finally ajust to the new layout (although the left shift, cap locks,  tab and control are a lot smaller - sometimes making it difficult to become accustomed to.

The keyboard includes an F lock, and on keys such as U, F, C, V, Z and there is a little reminder that these are the keyboard shortcuts on the curve at the bottom of the key - great for learners. It is also packed with gadgets including 5 programmable keys, media and music keys to pause/play, fast forward and rewind, as well as volume control embedded to mute or adjust. On the left of the keyboard there is the handy little keys to allow you to access some gadgets on the WIndows Live website, as well as zoom in and out a document.

The other left hand keys allow you to go to your homepage, open up the pictures file, my documents, your webmail, your music player or Windows Live Messanger. All these keys can be reprogrammed if you wish. There is also a shortcut to the calculator and to log off above the left hand keypad, as is a battery indicator - which doesn’t seem to be working. The full benefits can be obtained from installing the Microsoft Keyboard software, which is simple and easy to use.

All in all, it is a lovely keyboard to use, the wrist rest does give a lot of added comfort and you do quickly pick up the layout. However, there always are some bad points. As I have said previously the design is very chunky,  and most people will need to carry it with 2 hands. It’s best to have the reciever resting in a more central location if you wish to move around, and sometimes the curve can become difficult to get used to. The reciever is a bit chubby too.

I can type all the way down in the living room, but the range stops at around the back of the back garden - probably to do with the strength of the signal through walls. The mouse is great to, it is well shaped and easy to lay the hands around. It is quite when clicking and the scroll is easy to use. It has four way scrolling, a built in zoom option and two additional buttons. It obviously is an invisible laser, and the mouse has a great range too.

To finish, I’d say that this is a great keyboard, easy to use and the mouse is well acustomed to the hand (even left handers). There is a 6 month battery life and, although the price is quite high, the expectations and work of the keyboard is OK in comparison to it, however you’d expect a docking station for the mouse in which case. I’d reward it with a 4*, but with the recomendation of a docking station.