To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Just... don't. They are too expensive to risk finding that out. Actually, they are built out of a single thick sheet of perspex with an aluminium backing, so would think they are pretty tough, but I would still not be letting my kids near it...
They are very thin, yet they have the key travel of a normal keyboard. They feel very nice, and the built in cursor controller is pretty nifty. If you need a number pad though, you might want to give it a miss, as it doesn't have one. Logitech make some good shit, even if it is a tad expensive. The MX revolution is a very nice mouse, and compliments the DeNovo edge nicely (combine the two of them and you are looking at over $500 AUD, which could get you a lot of cheaper keyboards, so you would want to have money to burn to justify the expense of it all).
Say all you want about the "biomechanics of my hand", a keyboard is just more comfortable for me to type on if it's slanting toward me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
P.S. if what you say is true, then why did the supposedly well-researched MS natural keyboard still have the keys slanted toward the user at something of an angle?
Microsoft's research was rubbish. Their so-called ergonomic keyboards are anything but - they have a steep angle, which require the user to bend their wrist up, which puts stress on the ligaments of the wrist after prolonged use, and the split keyboard designs cause the elbows to splay outward, placing stress on the shoulders. Most experts in the field of ergonomics regard Microsoft keyboards as horrible monstrosities of bad design, and I certainly share that view.
The only reason computer keyboards were ever designed with a tilt was because that is how typewriters were designed. Typewriters were built this way out of mechanical necessity (more expensive and advanced typewriters were flatter), not because it is good to type on this position. The first computer keyboards resembled typewriters, simply becasue that is what people were used to. The most ergonomic position for your hands is to be slightly curved inwards, as they are when relaxed. It is hard and expensive to design a desk and keyboard that allows for a negative tilt, so a flat, ultra-thin keyboard is the best compromise between ergonomics and practicality.
In my workplace, our occupational therapists recommend that the angle of the keyboard should be parallel to the angle of the forearm, which if your desk is the correct height, is either perfectly flat or as negative as your setup will comfortably allow. Obviously, if you can't touch type very well, a negatively angled keyboard will be quite difficult to use, for obvious reasons.







Member since:
2006-04-20
For me the ergonomics are crap (although still better than most standard keyboards) - there is no possibility of having it perfectly flat on the desktop, or even at a negative angle, which is what most occupational therapists recommend. I have an Evoluent keyboard, which is about 1cm thick and lies perfectly flat on the desk. It is fantastic, although the key layout took a while to get used to. Angled keyboards give me wrist strain, and I'm annoyed that apple ruined an otherwise perfectly good keyboard by making it impossible to lie flat on the desk.
A slant is anything but helpful if you understand the biomechanics of the arm and wrist(unless the slant is a negative one, ie, they keyboard slopes away from you).
If I could justify the expense, I would get the Logitech DeNovo Edge keyboard, by far the best keyboard ever designed, but damn that price tag!
Anyway, that is my rant for the day...
EDIT: don't get me started on the Mighty Mouse....
Edited 2007-08-08 01:54