Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000

This is a wonderful keyboard. When I purchased my last computer, I made the mistake of getting a wireless keyboard, which did not have an option of ergonomic configuration. My previous keyboard was… ergonomic, split. I spend upwards of eight hours a day writing, or keying. My left hand was getting numb and a little painful. The numbness and pain have not been an issue using the ergonomic keyboard. I find that my typing skills increase as well. The additional feature buttons make this a wonderful keyboard. Windows 7 recognized all the features and works seamlessly.

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This is a very excellent keyboard. I was ready to be disappointed because of the various reviews that I read, but I have to say that I don't agree with any of them, at least no 100%. I've heard rumors of… the keys being hard to press, which is all together untrue. I have had no issues pressing the keys whatsoever, and I've found them enjoyable. They aren't rough on my hands at all and I really don't see how they could be hard to press. The spacebar, however, does take some time to become accustomed to. Because of the curve of the keyboard it makes the spacebar hard to press because you're not really hitting it in the center and it's not balanced very well. I think this could have been solved with two separate keys for it. Although it is annoying, it is nothing that can't be over seen for the overall superb quality of the product. I did find the installation of the software annoying. Like anyone else would do, I plugged in the keyboard and booted. Within moments I found that I couldn't type anything, but I had a log in password to type... I had to grab another keyboard and restart. This is really more of my fault, but I think it should have more plug-n-play capabilities. Still, I don't think that's really enough to hate the keyboard.

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Fairly quiet, very comfortable keyboard. My only complaint is that the space bar is badly designed in terms of balance--it should have two springs, or should have been split into two keys. I had to replace… my 3-year old keyboard earlier this year because over time, it would not cooperate when pressing with my thumb on the far right of the key--I'd have to press right in the middle of the bar to get it to work, which was inefficient for fast typing. I've seen online instructions for fixing this problem, but decided not to risk it and just bought a new one. So far so good. My only wish for this keyboard (besides a split spacebar key) is that it could be folded for travel. I travel a lot of work, and using my laptop keyboard is very hard on my wrists. I tried carrying this beast to Africa with me, and it just wasn't practical (nor did it fit in my carry-on baggage so I had to check it). Ah, but a dream to have a foldable ergonomic keyboard!

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The Microsoft Natural 4000 excels at being a good standard use keyboard for ergonomics, but under the hood, it fails. While I am impressed that Microsoft has realized that it was going in the wrong… direction from the Microsoft Natural to the Natural Elite, there are other short comings that this and previous keyboards have had, and even more so, most of their periphial line. If you plan on doing standard typing, development, office work, etc, this is a great keyboard. However, just as the previous versions of the Natural, if you plan on using many keys simultaneously, this is not your keyboard. The Natural 4000 shines in that it is very comfortable as the wrist rest area has built in pads with a soft leatherette feel, the keys are quiet, and we see a return to the front riser which alleviates wrist strain due to it assisting in keeping your wrists straight. This is important because if a keyboard is going to be truely ergonomic, it needs to focus on what it means to be ergonomic...give a split key design to reduce the outward flair of the wrists and also add a slight angle to accomodate the angle of which the hands must bend to come to the surface of the keyboard. The Natural 4000, much like its first generation model meets this challenge, which is important if one studies the Natural Elite model which began the decline of following ergonomic design by removing the front reiser and most of the curvature that made this series of keyboards become as popular as it did. The Natural also gets high marks in that the keys are quiet, they are arranged in the correct standard of 104 or so key layout, so if you are a developer, you know exactly where the keys are going to be (as far as special symbols, namely the "|" key, the arrow keys, and the "Insert", "Delete", etc) are in their correct locations. This means that any typist can switch to this model and adapt quickly. So many of the interesting models of ergonomic keyboards re-arrange the "Insert", "Delete", "End", etc keys that it makes the keyboard awkward. Another common mistake is the keyboard vendors make the arrow keys awkward by moving the left and right arrow keys upward so that they are not aligned with the down arrow key as seen on the common standard. While this is not a big deal to most people, it is if you plan on using this keyboard for playing games. This keyboard comes with many media keys that allow you to do such things as start your music player, adjust your volume, start many popular programs including your web browser, etc. Stylistically speaking, the keyboard looks very sleek wth its black and gray design, and with curvature that both adds comfort and is asthetically appealing. With the leatherette in the front, the soft glowing leds, and the extra meta keys, it reminds someone as if he or she has upgraded his or her keyboard to a sports car. Microsoft gets high marks on the appearance of the device as it does look nice, and the black and gray goes well with the black and silver trends of most periphials and computers. So, all in all if all this device is going to be used for is the office and development, one may ask what can go wrong. The answer is, not much. However, this is a Microsoft periphial. Traditionally, the keyboard lines have been okay in the realm of workmanship, however in the mice line, the units simply do not last. Typically the mice stop responding to events, and simply wear out, which is sad seeing as opticals would seemingly last longer noting the reduction of moving parts. Unfortunately, this has now crept into the keyboard line as well. A good example, the Microsoft 2000 keyboard line have been noted for their cheap crafting which results in overall failure for the devices, and people simply discard them. This has happened in under two years of use. I'm seeing similar issues in the 4000. At times, the K key sends an L keystroke as well. Strange, but okay, just one key. Then the function keys failed to work. However there is an F lock key that should be checked, and is normal, but this simply isn't the case as the keys simply do not work. While many people could argue that they do not use the function keys, in an office environment one most certainly does (how many times do you hit F3 to "look for the search result again" after searching for text in a text editor? how many times do you use F5 for a refresh of a web browser?). The biggest issue I have is the number of keys one can press at a time before the keyboard simply can't handle any more input. This is extremely bad if you are a gamer. First person shooters, one may be able to pull it off, but even the simplest games such as Continuum, or even old titles such as Interstate 76 where multiple keys will be pressed as you are holding one key down for movement, and another one for an action, it is probably headed for failure. This may be a result of how the Microsoft keyboards handle the control key in their line. This has been a problem for the Microsoft Natural, Microsoft Natural Elite, and the Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboards, so it is historical. So if you are even considering a game, I would recommend keeping a cheap usb keyboard in your drawer and using it for gaming. The only final notes I can add for the Natural is noting the additional media keys, your mileage of going through a KVM to control multiple computers will vary. Many KVM vendors will tell you that if you can not control your computer past POST and before boot, it is because the keyboard has too many keys and it is affecting the KVM. However, I have noted that if keyboards have USB hubs on them, this tends to confuse KVMs in what information is being sent to the computer, so if you are using a KVM, do not plan on using any keyboard with a USB hub as most BIOS's can not handle them for the additional information that is sent that the protocol in the KVM doesn't support. Also, the Natural 4000 works well with Linux (but again, not well from the Gaming perspective) as there are a few methods that can be used to allow use of the additional media keys. This is a big plus again for people who want to do development as you can assign various useful events thus removing the need to grab the mouse. All in all, the 4000 is a decent keyboard, but it is not the be-all end-all solution due to Microsoft not addressing the issues under the hood. Some may say this coincides with the Microsoft philosophy, but that is for the user to decide.

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