I looked at the keyboard at the store and was very impressed. I decided to purchase it. This is the entertainment center keyboard built for people who have HTPC's. The keyboard is designed for couch use so my review will be based on couch use.

After arriving home with the device I decided to test it out. I also noticed some quirks and got used to most of them. There was one quirk that I noticed that makes this device unacceptable.

Quirks:
1. The Escape key and function keys are touch sensitive. This means that if your finger brushes them, it will activate the keypress. I can get used to and avoid this quirk. For those of you who like to feel around for keys, you might want to avoid the keyboard.

2. The mousepad on the keyboard is slightly laggy. I can notice a lag on the mousepad that is on the keyboard. The further the keyboard is away from the USB receiver, the worse it gets. At 6' away it is only slightly laggy. At 10' away it is not only slow, but has a lot of packet loss. Most people using this keyboard will probably be about 10' away from their HTPC. The wireless mouse that comes with this, works perfectly at this distance. I can deal with the mousepad quirk since I can just use the mouse.

3. My third and biggest quirk is the lag on the keyboard. I noticed that the lag increases the further the keyboard is from the receiver. Being that this is a device designed for HTPC users, it should be solid at 10 feet away which is where I did my testing. I also had similar results at 6 feet away but they were less frequent.

Here is what happens with lag and loss.
a. Some keypresses do not go through.
b. Some keypresses take a few seconds to process.
c. Some keypresses repeat about 12 times.

When playing videogames, it sometimes feels like I am running on ice. This is because some of the keypresses do not process for a few seconds. Also some of the keypresses end up repeating so a word could look like "wordddddddddddd". Delayed keypresses and extra characters give you the feeling that you are slipping on ice.

Doing research, I have found that this is a very common problem and not an isolated experience. If you are using this for regular desktop computing then you probably will never experience these problems. If you are using this for the MCE experience, then they could affect you.

Even though the keyboard is laggy at these distances, the mouse is incredible and precicely accurate.

The Keyboard
The keyboard is thin, but solid and lightweight. They keys are wonderful to type on. I love the keyboard layout.

The keyboard is very easy to hold and fits well into the HTPC experience.

The keyboard has a switch on it that allows you to turn an arrow pad into a mouse touchpad. I thought this was a fun idea. It did take some time to get used to but it has it's quirks as mentioned above.

I don't know why they did this, but they made the top row of buttons touch sensitive. It does not bother me, but I am sure it will affect a lot of people.

The Mouse
The mouse is excellent. It is very accurate and comfortable. It is a wireless laser mouse and is rechargable through a base.

There is one side button on the left and one side button on the right. These buttons are hard to press when holding the mouse ergonomic properly. I do wish the buttons were further forward. Other than that, the mouse is perfect.

Setup
The setup was easy and straightforward. I followed the instructions and everything set up as expected.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 140