Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 7000

In the market for a new wireless keyboard and mouse, looking to upgrade from my Microsoft Digital Pro Keyboard, I took a look at Microsoft’s Wireless Laser Desktop 7000. Keyboard and mouse response peripherals are important to all communication between the user and their computer, hoping that Microsoft got it right after mixed reviews on previous keyboard / mouse combos.

The Keyboard:
The keyboard has the Comfort Curve design keyboard that has a slight bend in the keys to make the feel of typing more comfortable to the user. The keyboard has a small 6 degree bend in the design to help improve typing from the average angle of a users shoulder to keyboard. The keyboard comes with a 2.4GHz frequency wireless technology for quick response time, with a maximum of 30 feet distance from the transceiver.

SideWinder™ X3 Mouse

 

Before the end of our SideWinder X8 review, we lamented the fact that Microsoft released yet another SideWinder Mouse that looked just like two of its predecessors, offering just a few more bells and whistles yet with the same design. Give us something different, we mused.

Enter the SideWinder X3. While it does carry the SideWinder gaming brand, it does offer users a different look and feel over the three previous SideWinder mice. For starters, it’s a bit smaller, boasts an ambidextrous design, and carries a side button on the left and right of the mouse. A price tag of $39.99 is also more like it too.

IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0

Anyhow, these days ball mouses may still be very common, but they’re not the preferred pointer-pusher. Pretty much everyone would rather have the new(ish) all-surface optical mouses, which use a tiny camera peering out of the bottom of the mouse to see which way the ground seems to be moving and convert that information into cursor movement.

These optical mouses don’t get dirty, they work on uneven surfaces, they’re lighter, and they’re not painfully expensive, either.

The cheapest opto-mechanical mouses you can get that aren’t complete rubbish cost around $AU20; the cheapest opticals are under $AU60. 40 Australian bucks extra isn’t much to pay for the advantages of optical.

Microsoft Sidewinder X8 gaming mouse

Update: the skipping issue is a mousepad problem, I have confirmed on two mice. Too bad the best mousepads are cloth! Wheel still sucks.

It was late last year when Microsoft started really putting more juice into their Sidewinder lineup. With the X6 keyboard and X5 mouse, they showed a new aesthetic and commitment to hardcore gamers. But driver files showed an upcoming X8 mouse — which I’ve now had a chance to check out. The verdict? It’s a mixed bag, but in the end there’s only one thing I can say. Most of the findings are in the nice long video review below, but I’ll summarize for those of you at work.