Microsoft Sculpt Ergo Subjective Review
In August of this year, Microsoft announced another ergonomic keyboard - Sculpt Ergo. I have been using its predecessor, MS Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 for about 6 years and during this time I would like to see some development and something new in commonplace :)
Not so long ago, new keyboards were brought to Russia. The keyboard turned out to be good, but not without its flaws.
In my opinion, MS NEK 4K turned out to be quite successful and I have no serious complaints about it. Of the minor ones, the buttons are long-stroke, and because of this, the keyboard thunders when typed. The second is healthy and I would like something more compact.
In the new clave, according to a long-standing engineering tradition, both points were repaired, but they added their own shortcomings, fortunately also not very serious.
The main differences between the new clave from the old:
*) short-stroke laptop buttons, do not rattle
*) there is no carriage of extra buttons
*) a digital unit in a separate case
The last two items make the keyboard itself significantly less, leaving more space on the table for a
A nice design chip - besides “Microsoft” on the right on the palm rest, there aren’t any inscriptions in sight and not even on the back. All labels are on the back of the battery cover. The cover itself is also a squeak of technological design - it is mounted not on bolts / latches, but on magnets. Also attached to the magnets is delivery under the clave. A convenient approach - there is simply nothing to break off and it holds securely (if you do not chop nuts).
Another marginal convenience - batteries are inserted + one way.
Continuing the theme of pluses - instead of the FnLock button, there is now a switch. As for me it’s so much better. On the old one, this lock used to switch, it’s not clear why, because of this, the F1-F12 started working as another series of additional buttons. Pretty annoying.
The button block home-end-delete-insert has moved to another place. At first you miss, but this is more a matter of habit, as a minus I would not consider it.
But there are a few drawbacks. The F1-F12 series is thinner than the rest of the buttons, as I understand from design considerations. Because of this, getting into them is more difficult, for example, instead of ctrl-esc, ctrl-`is pressed and vice versa.
The panel under the buttons is smooth - "mirror", that is, not matte as on the previous one. What does this mean - dust and dirt, which will always sit down, actively surface this surface, and when you try to wipe it, this surface will be scratched. So all the shine will go away very, very quickly, leaving room for scuffs. Controversial decision.
Now there are no Caps / Num-Lock bulbs on the keyboard. On numlok it was very convenient to display the indication of the layout of en / rus. And although it is clear that if there were bulbs, then the keyboard would have lived on a battery for a completely different time, the bulbs still were convenient.
In general, the keyboard is excellent, the build quality is very high - nothing creaks / rattles. Buttons are just as they should - not too soft, not too tight. In general, just as the soft keyboards were one of the best, they remained.
The digital block is not particularly remarkable in my opinion. Only, unlike the keyboard and mouse, the cover rests on latches and screws, and not on magnets. One of the two main drawbacks of the kit is visible here - it has three items (keyboard, tsifroblok and mouse) and each is powered by its own kind of batteries. Keyboard from 2xAAA, mouse from 2xAA, digital block from 1xCR2430. And although every case can be justified by some technological or design excuse, taking care of the battery zoo is not very convenient.
The second main fakap of the set is the mouse:
It looks like a kind of small cobblestone with a notch for, as I understand it, the thumb. The cover, like the keyboard, is on magnets.
Under the lid there are barahteki and a recess for a usb whistle (a whistle common with the clave). The surface of the mouse buttons is the same glossy as under the keyboard buttons, with the same consequences. In addition, this surface also bites very easily. The wheel does not know how to spin freely, as in some Logitech mice, but sways left and right.
The main problem of the mouse is in its shape / size. One gets the feeling that it was developed by undersized Chinese under their little hands. If you put your hand in a convenient way (this is an ergonomic mouse and should be comfortable), then I get something like this:
In this position, the wheel is about the second phalanx of the index finger. They have to twist either with the side of the finger, which is inconvenient, or lift up the finger strongly, which is also inconvenient. With a comfortable grip, the thumb does not fall into the recess for him at all.
There are two buttons on the mouse - blue and black (right under the blue). The black button is tight, you can press it sideways with your thumb, while the mouse either crawls on the table or you have to strain your hand to keep it in place. If black is simply uncomfortable to press, then blue - completely uncomfortable. It is pressed from above, and the edge of my finger usually overlaps it with me. The blue button is also tight.
In general, you can use it, but I wouldn’t call this mouse either comfortable or ergonomic.
For comparison, the photo logitech performance mx:
The thumb rests where it is needed, all three buttons are conveniently pressed and soft enough not to jerk the mouse when pressed.
In general, I am very pleased with the keyboard. Despite the fact that it is not sold separately (maybe only for now), in itself it fully justifies the purchase of the entire set. I would arrogantly ignore the mouse.