Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard

[VSG]

The Microsoft Natural Ergonomic keyboard is a legend to this day for offering a well-designed, ergonomic typing experience without breaking the bank. Today, we examine the latest generation of the same. Simply called the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard, it gets some modern tweaks, but retains the excellent layout of the original.

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[TheLostSwede]

That looks insanely cheaply made for some reason, so does the mouse, like they were carved out of a single piece of cheap plastic.
Obviously some people swear by these kind of keyboards, but I never got along with them.

 

[VSG]

That looks insanely cheaply made for some reason, so does the mouse, like they were carved out of a single piece of cheap plastic.
Obviously some people swear by these kind of keyboards, but I never go along with them.

It's thin, but the absence of a metal plate between the case and the lower density (low mass + large form factor) is what makes it feel worse. I don't think it will be an issue for typing, and it's enjoying the niche of being basically the only such established layout today.

 

[Tardian]

Expensive is cheap in the long run.

Source: Mina Sinclair Calderwood

My mother was able to type well over 120 words per minute on a Telex. With a decent keyboard, 200 words per minute with 99.9% accuracy would be possible. In the late 1950's she set the world record on a Remington Rand accounting machine by such a margin they flew a technician from the USA to Australia to check. The published standards for the machine were changed to reflect my mother's output. Some pre-computer marketing spin? My mother could and should have gone on to become an early force in computing. The apple didn't fall far from the tree and I also didn't pursue computing as a career though I did study it at university and used those studies professionally.

 

[GreiverBlade]

i remember the legend '94 ... now give me a TKL with swappable switches version and i am set ... (and with a bit more METAL!!! .\../ in it... )


but damn, that's some nostalgia kicking in ... early 2k, my local cybercafe (Cyberzone) had a few rig with "Microsoft Natural Keyboard"... highly sought places for some peoples ...

 

[Chrispy_]

Every iteration of the MS Natural Keyboard is less appealing to me than the previous iteration but I'm glad they're still making these.

I don't really understand how Microsoft think membrane keyboards still cut it in this era of mechanical switches, but at $60 it's not really going to be anything else.

 

[VSG]

Every iteration of the MS Natural Keyboard is less appealing to me than the previous iteration but I'm glad they're still making these.

I don't really understand how Microsoft think membrane keyboards still cut it in this era of mechanical switches, but at $60 it's not really going to be anything else.

$50-60 can get small brand mechanical keyboard or larger brand membrane keyboard (Corsair etc as well), both sets of which can have RGB lighting. I can't really think of any $60 keyboard with the ergonomic layout this has, let alone also the numpad. There is the more expensive Microsoft Surface Ergonomic keyboard, but it's expensive more for the design and materials used than anything else.

 

[mashie]

I bought one of these keyboards just after Christmas. It did take a while to get used to but now I'm not going back, I like it a lot.

 

[Fjordmonkey]

Good to know that I have options for when my Natural Ergonomic 4000-keyboards that I use both at work and at home dies. After using such keyboard for so many years, writing on straight-planks isn't pleasant.

 

[Chrispy_]

Good to know that I have options for when my Natural Ergonomic 4000-keyboards that I use both at work and at home dies. After using such keyboard for so many years, writing on straight-planks isn't pleasant.

I have been using the MSNEKs since 1995 and the NEK4000 keyboard I have at work is on its last legs.

I might have to find one of these new ones in a store to see if the key action is as mushy and horrible as recent other Microsoft keyboards. @VSG's sound clip makes it sound pretty horrible. If it is, I'll have to decide which of the MS Sculpt or Logi K860 is the least bad.

 

[aktpu]

I have used this keyboard at work for couple of months and really like it

 

[Chrispy_]

$50-60 can get small brand mechanical keyboard or larger brand membrane keyboard (Corsair etc as well), both sets of which can have RGB lighting. I can't really think of any $60 keyboard with the ergonomic layout this has, let alone also the numpad. There is the more expensive Microsoft Surface Ergonomic keyboard, but it's expensive more for the design and materials used than anything else.

How is the key action? I may have missed it in your review but I don't recall you mentioning it.
There's tactile membrane and then there's ewwwww membrane, and my experience with more recent Microsoft keyboards has been the latter.

 

[VSG]

How is the key action? I may have missed it in your review but I don't recall you mentioning it.
There's tactile membrane and then there's ewwwww membrane, and my experience with more recent Microsoft keyboards has been the latter.

Closer to ewwwww but also lol how am I supposed to quantify that?

 

[Chrispy_]

Closer to ewwwww but also lol how am I supposed to quantify that?

Good point. Perhaps we need a new unit for ewwwwwwwww; I will call it the Sodaspill (ss) and it's a keyboard sluggishness scale where 0ss is a brand new Cherry MX Red and 1.0ss is a membrane keyboard that has had a soda spilled into it and left to dry.

My MX browns at home are about 0.15ss and my 7-year-old MS NEK4000 is about a 0.75ss.

 

[VSG]

Good point. Perhaps we need a new unit for ewwwwwwwww; I will call it the Sodaspill (ss) and it's a keyboard sluggishness scale where 0ss is a brand new Cherry MX Red and 1.0ss is a membrane keyboard that has had a soda spilled into it and left to dry.

My MX browns at home are about 0.15ss and my 7-year-old MS NEK4000 is about a 0.75ss.

Oh boy if the MX Brown is a 0.15ss then these can't be worse than 0.25-0.3ss

 

[neatfeatguy]

I still have 2 of these and i love them.

However, the one at work is starting to go. Keys sticking and not always responding. The one at home still works like a charm, but a couple of keys are worn and you can't see what letter is on it anymore.

I tried this MS model and it was atrocious.

The layout and key changes were not as good as the original. The cheap padded wrist rest became damaged too easily and started breaking off in small pieces after a couple of months. Also, the space bar was so stiff that you had to resort to almost slapping it with your thumbs to get it to go down. I hated it so much that I threw the damn thing away and tracked down a second natural ergonomic keyboard that I've been using at work the past 7 years.

@VSG have you used the black (pic above) MS ergonomic 4000 model? If you have, where would you say the keyboard you reviewed here falls in place in terms of performace of the crappy 4000 model and the original from years ago?

 

[VSG]

I still have 2 of these and i love them.
View attachment 215951

However, the one at work is starting to go. Keys sticking and not always responding. The one at home still works like a charm, but a couple of keys are worn and you can't see what letter is on it anymore.

I tried this MS model and it was atrocious.
View attachment 215952

The layout and key changes were not as good as the original. The cheap padded wrist rest became damaged too easily and started breaking off in small pieces after a couple of months. Also, the space bar was so stiff that you had to resort to almost slapping it with your thumbs to get it to go down. I hated it so much that I threw the damn thing away and tracked down a second natural ergonomic keyboard that I've been using at work the past 7 years.

@VSG have you used the black (pic above) MS ergonomic 4000 model? If you have, where would you say the keyboard you reviewed here falls in place in terms of performace of the crappy 4000 model and the original from years ago?

Unfortunately no real testing done of that model, just brief hands on years ago.

 

[Chrispy_]

However, the one at work is starting to go. Keys sticking and not always responding.

Do what I did for years - they're easy to unscrew and all the keys are held together in neat, easy-to-reassemble blocks.

The circuit board is tiny and easy to remove and all the keys are held together in three neat, easy-to-reassemble blocks - so just put all the beige parts in the dishwasher.

Whilst the washer is running, get some alcohol wipes and clean 7 years of dust and grime off the two plastic printed sheets with traces.

Reassembly is a two minute job and you're good to go again for at least another 2-3 years.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Sadly, during my move when I opened the box that had my MS Natural Keyboard Elite and a few other computer related items, I found that the wife had tossed in a container of mostly empty Clorox Wipes:

I guess she just tossed it in the box as it was one of the last boxes to get closed up and we had cleaning supplies out for last minute cleaning as we were moving out.

Putting the container in the box normally wouldn't have been an issue, but anyone that's used these knows that a bunch of the cleaning solution collects at the bottom of the container....

Well, I had opened the box and found the container of Clorox Wipes upside down and void of any cleaning solution as it had apparently emptied out all over my keyboard. The keyboard was dry, but when I plugged it in I got nothing. No LED lights in the center that shows if NumLock/CapLock/ScrLk is active. None of the keys got anything to type up on the computer. I tried taking the keyboard to work just to make sure it wasn't my PS/2 port that went bad, but no luck.

Spoiler

Should add on the container
"Kills 100% of keyboards that the cleaning solution is spilled on"

I had to make use of a basic keyboard for a few days and it sucked. I picked up one of the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard that was reviewed here and so far it has been okay to use, some of the keys are not in the same position as the 20+ year old keyboard I was using, which is too be expected as things change.

Things I don't like about this Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard:
1) I don't like the fact that there are no legs to raise up the back side of the keyboard. There's a raiser for the wrist rest, but I don't enjoy the feeling of using it.
2) I don't like how long the wrist rest is, it's got to be almost 2 inches longer than the Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite. I feel like the keys are too far away and that I have to reach further to find the keys.
3) The wrist rest isn't all that comfortable because it's not just my wrist that's resting on it, but the start of my forearm is too and it rests right on the lip (where the rest starts) and it slowly starts to become irritating (like resting your arm on the corner or a table/desk) and uncomfortable for long periods of typing.
4) Key layout changes for the numeric pad with the moving of other keys

Number 4 could simply be due to muscle memory from using the MS Natural Keyboard Elite for almost 20 years now.

I think I'll need to get on ebay and see if I can track down a couple of functional Natural Keyboard Elite models. I can at least keep the non-functional one and keep it for spare keys and such as needed. My keyboard at work has a couple of keys that need to be replaced due to wear....so I at least have that going for me.

 

[Chrispy_]

Sadly, during my move when I opened the box that had my MS Natural Keyboard Elite and a few other computer related items, I found that the wife had tossed in a container of mostly empty Clorox Wipes:
View attachment 224939
I guess she just tossed it in the box as it was one of the last boxes to get closed up and we had cleaning supplies out for last minute cleaning as we were moving out.

Putting the container in the box normally wouldn't have been an issue, but anyone that's used these knows that a bunch of the cleaning solution collects at the bottom of the container....

Well, I had opened the box and found the container of Clorox Wipes upside down and void of any cleaning solution as it had apparently emptied out all over my keyboard. The keyboard was dry, but when I plugged it in I got nothing. No LED lights in the center that shows if NumLock/CapLock/ScrLk is active. None of the keys got anything to type up on the computer. I tried taking the keyboard to work just to make sure it wasn't my PS/2 port that went bad, but no luck.

Spoiler

Should add on the container
"Kills 100% of keyboards that the cleaning solution is spilled on"

I had to make use of a basic keyboard for a few days and it sucked. I picked up one of the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard that was reviewed here and so far it has been okay to use, some of the keys are not in the same position as the 20+ year old keyboard I was using, which is too be expected as things change.

Things I don't like about this Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard:
1) I don't like the fact that there are no legs to raise up the back side of the keyboard. There's a raiser for the wrist rest, but I don't enjoy the feeling of using it.
2) I don't like how long the wrist rest is, it's got to be almost 2 inches longer than the Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite. I feel like the keys are too far away and that I have to reach further to find the keys.
3) The wrist rest isn't all that comfortable because it's not just my wrist that's resting on it, but the start of my forearm is too and it rests right on the lip (where the rest starts) and it slowly starts to become irritating (like resting your arm on the corner or a table/desk) and uncomfortable for long periods of typing.
4) Key layout changes for the numeric pad with the moving of other keys

Number 4 could simply be due to muscle memory from using the MS Natural Keyboard Elite for almost 20 years now.

I think I'll need to get on ebay and see if I can track down a couple of functional Natural Keyboard Elite models. I can at least keep the non-functional one and keep it for spare keys and such as needed. My keyboard at work has a couple of keys that need to be replaced due to wear....so I at least have that going for me.

Pressing F to pay respects.

MS NEK is/was the best keyboard ever. For a membrane keyboard the key action was first-class and the one and only grievance (that arrow-key cluster) was easily forgivable because people stopped using arrow keys for serious gaming decades ago. The fact that so many laptops ship with compromised arrow-key clusters confirms that they're not important keys.

It's never going to happen but if a black, ISO or JIS layout MS NEK was made again I'd pay $300 for it. If they made it with n-key rollover and upgraded to Cherry MX I'd pay $1000, no joke. The only reason I switched from it years ago is because after at least a decade of use the beige had finally become so discoloured that it was an eyesore. In hindsight, the 5 years of using multiple MS NEK 4000 were terrible and I should have just put up with the sun-bleached, sweat-stained original. For the last 5 years I've been using a straight keyboard because all of the ergo keyboards on the market sucked at something important, like layout or build-quality.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Pressing F to pay respects.

MS NEK is/was the best keyboard ever. For a membrane keyboard the key action was first-class and the one and only grievance (that arrow-key cluster) was easily forgivable because people stopped using arrow keys for serious gaming decades ago. The fact that so many laptops ship with compromised arrow-key clusters confirms that they're not important keys.

View attachment 224951
It's never going to happen but if a black, ISO or JIS layout MS NEK was made again I'd pay $300 for it. If they made it with n-key rollover and upgraded to Cherry MX I'd pay $1000, no joke. The only reason I switched from it years ago is because after at least a decade of use the beige had finally become so discoloured that it was an eyesore. In hindsight, the 5 years of using multiple MS NEK 4000 were terrible and I should have just put up with the sun-bleached, sweat-stained original. For the last 5 years I've been using a straight keyboard because all of the ergo keyboards on the market sucked at something important, like layout or build-quality.

Using a straight keyboard for too long starts to hurt my elbows and shoulders from having to hold my arms in and eventually my wrists start to get sore, too.

This new MS ergonomic keyboard is okay, but I'm still probably going to chase down a few of the MS natural elite models off ebay. Hopefully find a couple that aren't priced too high and are still in decent condition.

I got used to having the arrow keys in that goofy cross layout. I don't have to look at any key on my keyboard at work. I know where everything is. I can instinctively move my hand to the numeric keypad to type in numbers faster than using the number row at the top and then back to typing without missing a beat. The numeric keypad is shaped a little different and the extra keys for it to be more like a calculator layout, I don't care for.

One last gripe is the "right click" key on the left side of the space bar (sits between the ctrl and windows key). I'm not used to it. It sits in the spot the windows key occupied on my old keyboard and I keep hitting it and it pulls up the right click mouse button menu on whatever window I have focus on. Oh well, it's okay for an ergonomic keyboard for now.

 

[AsRock]

It's thin, but the absence of a metal plate between the case and the lower density (low mass + large form factor) is what makes it feel worse. I don't think it will be an issue for typing, and it's enjoying the niche of being basically the only such established layout today.

Wow you say all that and it still come TPU recommended, OMG.

Sounds more like a TPU Hell no than any thing.

$90OMW.

 

[VSG]

Wow you say all that and it still come TPU recommended, OMG.

Sounds more like a TPU Hell no than any thing.

$90OMW.

Eh? I said it's not an issue for actual typing and the others in the comments section seem to be agreeing based on their experiences with the family of these keyboards. How did that become a hell no?

 

[AsRock]

Eh? I said it's not an issue for actual typing and the others in the comments section seem to be agreeing based on their experiences with the family of these keyboards. How did that become a hell no?

Keycaps will show signs of wear and tear over time
Software support for remapping 12 specific keys ( o my a whole 12 keys )


Frigging $90 ( on sale right now for $72).

I will say it set out better than the older ones but still just a bunch of plastic.

 

[neatfeatguy]

I figure I'd update this topic with a quick review/thoughts about this keyboard since I've been using it for a good extended period of time now.

I've been using the keyboard in this review for the past 10 months at work (used it at home for a few weeks until I got my hands on a black model of the Natural Elite keyboard) and it's held up well, better than I thought it would based on my last experience with Microsoft's Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. I'm not typing all day on this keyboard, but I'd say 60% of the day I use it.

• I've gotten used to the wrist rest on it, it still holding up (hasn't flaked apart or had clumps of foam on it come off like the horrific like on the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 that is just an awful keyboard.
• I still haven't gotten used to the fact that this keyboard is slightly wider than the MS Natural Elite keyboard that I still use at home, so transitioning from typing to using the numeric keypad I don't always land my hand on the numbers correctly and I start typing out incorrect numbers.
• fadded letters on keys - the keys have faded way too fast.
  • S, I and L - completely wore off
  • D, O, C, K - mostly wore off
  • M, V and Numeric key 1 - starting to wear off.
• Extra keys that I don't like and still get in my way after all these months:
  • right-click (functions as if you were clicking the right mouse button) key - sits between the left Ctrl and Windows key, I constantly bump it instead of the Windows key. I hate this key.
  • MS Office key (this one sucks and I hate it too) sites to the right of the right Alt key (it is where the Windows key is on my MS Natural Elite keyboard that I use at home)
  • Emoji button - sits to the right of the MS Office key (this is another worthless key and shouldn't exist or at the very least be moved to the very top row of the keyboard with the other odd-functioning buttons/keys)
  • Very top left buttons 1, 2 and 3 (not the numeric key row above the letters) can sometimes be useful if I only have a couple of windows open and want to switch between them quick....but realistically, it's just a single button Alt+Tab function that I rarely make use of since I've been Alt+Tabbing for the past few decades.

My overall rating for this keyboard (basing it off the fact that I love and still use the old MS Natural Elite keyboards to this day at home), I'd rate it a 7 out of 10. Solid, but could certainly be better.

• Usability, I'd say this keyboard is decent. It's held up better than I thought it would based off my experience on the horrible Ergonomic Keyboard 4000.
• Functionality for me decent. If it lost the extra keys that I listed above, it would be so much better.
• Durability of the keyboard is good. Keys are quiet, don't stick and give decent feed back, but the letters wearing off so fast is pretty pathetic. (on the up side, people that can't touch type don't want to use my keyboard so they stay the hell off my computer at work...at least I have that going for me)
• wrist pad is very durable. The wrist pad on the Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 was covered in faux leather (or something similar) and it wore off fast and the foam under it would wear and come off in small clumps. The pad on this keyboard is much more durable and shows very little signs of wear.

If you're in the market for an ergonomic keyboard that won't break the bank and so far has been pretty decent in terms of quality and performance after 10+ months of use, this might fit your needs.
As of this posting MS store is selling them for $39.99 or a dollar less on amazon right now.