For the longest time I have had a basic keyboard and mouse on my home machine. So this time, I decided to invest in a good keyboard and mouse. After doing some due diligence reading reviews on the web, I decided to get this Logitech Cordless MX 3200 Keyboard and Mouse combo product. It damaged me to the tune of $99, so I did pay the full retail price for it.

My first reactions towards this keyboard mouse combo are positive. Does it meet all my needs? No. Let me tell you more about what I like and what I wish was there.

What you get out of the box is a wireless keyboard, a wireless mouse, base unit for the keyboard and mouse which plugs into the USB port of your computer, six AA batteries, CD and a quick start guide. Installation was straight forward. Install the batteries and plug in the base unit to the USB port and it started working. No complaints there.

I am still running Windows XP, so I have not been able to exploit the Vista related features of this keyboard. A bit about my typing skills: I am a very keyboard centric person who likes to do as much as possible with the keyboard without having to move my hand away to the mouse. I love the trackpoint on IBM/Lenovo laptops. I can comfortable type text without looking at the keyboard. I do need to look down when entering numbers. Everytime I need to move my hand to the mouse, it seems burdensome and gives me the impression that flow is interrupted.

Starting with the keyboard, I love the silent keyboard. The keys have a nice touch to them. All the standard keys are there and it has quite a few extra ones. In keeping with the trend seen in the high end keyboards MX 3200 also has several extra keys for media related functions. One of the nice extras, is the touch sensitive slider at the left end of the keyboard which is great for zooming in and out of graphics programs such as Autocad, Photoshop and mapping programs such as Google Earth. I also like the extra keys dedicated to control music playback: volume, play/pause, jump to previous and next track, record, and mute. I love the extra key dedicated to the calculator. I can now delete the calculator icon from my quick launch toolbar.

Next, let me describe some of the extra features of this keyboard, which I personally characterize as frills. First among them is built-in two line LCD display towards the top, which displays the date and time. It also displays the name of the key when the music playback keys are pressed. Next, among the extra keys are those dedicated to automatically invoking the search engine for the highlighted text. Maybe over time I will start realizing the values of these keys, but in my initial exploits, they seem to be "extras". This keyboard also has one key dedicated for suspending the computer, plus three keys dedicated for making VoIP calls.

Now, let me tell you what I wish was different in the keyboard. First I would like the 'Escape' and function keys to be bigger. They should have been the same size as the normal a-z keys, rather than the half size they are now. Its also missing on keyboard indicators for Num-lock and Caps-lock status. The last tentative reservation I have is that this keyboard takes 4 AA batteries. It claims that keyboard batteries could last upto 15 months. If I get 12 months of usage, I'll be happy. However what nags me with all these wireless accessories is that my battery usage has gone up, and my guilt level has gone up. I do recycle the batteries, but wish I did not have to use them in the first place. The box also indicates that this keyboard provides 22 programmable keys. Its going to take me while to exploit them.

Ok, the poor mouse was feeling very neglected, so let me give it some attention next. This combo includes the MX 600 Laser cordless mouse. It takes two AA batteries and claims to last for 6 months. I am a right-handed person with small hands, and this mouse fits nicely in my palm, in the sense that I can comfortably let my fingers rest on the top and my thumb resting on the table at the left edge of the mouse. The mouse is somewhat heavy, but it feels very nice. The most important thing with a cordless mouse is the fidelity of the cursor movement. This mouse works flawlessly in this respect.

Its a two button mouse with a tilt wheel in the middle. The tilt wheel lets you scroll vertically and horizontally. Scrolling is in steps and works well for browsers and text documents. Horizontal scrolling in steps seemed too slow for me, and I could not get horizontal scrolling working in Photoshop. Please keep in mind that I am reporting out of box experience with no explicit mouse or keyboard setup. Infact till now, I have not read the manual, and am reflecting how far I was able to go without doing so. This mouse also has two buttons on the left side of it designed to be pressed by the thumb. These two side "thumb" buttons are designed for the browser as forward and back navigation. They do not seem to work in text or image documents.

There is only one thing that I wish was different in the mouse. It is the placement of the 'back' left-side mouse 'thumb' button which when pressed in the browser takes you back to the previous page. Its very awkward to maneuver your thumb backwards to press this button.

Among the other bullet points about this combo set is its 5 year hardware warranty, which is nice given the rather high initial cost. The material used in both the keyboard and mouse incorporates the AgION antimicrobial compound, which the box claims prevents the growth of broad range of bacteria, mold and mildew. Again, these benefits will only be realized over time.

One last wish list wrt a keyboard was to have at least one USB port on it. That way I would not have stick my USB pen drive on the side of the monitor. I realize this USB may have resulted in further reduction in battery life, but from a convenience point of view, it would be really cool to have. Having said this, any reduction in battery life would add to my guilt factor. I will let this one go, in favor of getting up from my chair and sticking the pen drive at the side of the monitor.

In summary, I am feeling quite happy with this buy. Would I recommend you spend the $100 on it. From a functional point of view, I will say no. This keyboard and mouse combo falls somewhat in the luxury realm and when we are in that space, its hard to justify the price. So if you do decide to take the plunge, just enjoy it.

Would love to hear your feedback.

Here's the link to this products home page.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2162,CONTENTID=12130


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 99