Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard for Business. Wireless , Comfortable, Ergonomic Keyboard with Split Design and Palm Rest. Separate Number Pad Included

I am a software engineer, so I'm on the keyboard all day, every day. I touch type, including special characters, and am reasonably fast. I'm pretty picky about my keyboards.I have a new favorite keyboard.First of all, be aware this keyboard has a Quirk, that lots of folks seem to have run into:The wireless works fine, as long as:- The receiver dongle is not more than two or three feet away from the keyboard AND- The receiver is in a direct unobstructed line of sight with the keyboard.I have one at work and one at home, and for both I bought a USB hub which I keep on my desktop nearish the keyboard. Once I did this I've had no further issues. The one I have at work I've been using continuously and heavily since ~June 2017.Once I worked out the above two things, I had no further issues, for going on four months now.But if you violate either of the above two factors, the keyboard will work fine - mostly.But occasionally you'll encounter the keyboard going 'dead' - completely unresponsive - for a few seconds up to five minutes or so. Then it comes back, as if nothing ever happened. This had me looking for all sorts of system and network issues ...Occasionally the keyboard will drop key events, such as 'key-Delete-down' or 'key-Delete-up', or whatever. It's inconsistent. When it starts, this will happen randomly, often enough to totally disrupt your work, for an hour or so.Then it will stop happening, and be fine for 1 to 10 days.Then it will happen again.Basically I narrowed it down to a weak wireless connection between the dongle and the keyboard itself.Whenever the dongle was further away, or the battery getting old, or there was a lot of wireless traffic in my area of the building, I might see issues. Changing the battery will make you think that fixed it, but it didn't. The problem will return. (Once I figured out and fixed the above two factors, I put the old/original battery back in the keyboard as an experiment. The keyboard worked fine, and is still working fine on that battery.)After six months of happy use, I bought one for my home system as well. It worked fine - for a couple months - then I started to see the above issues. I'd put the dongle in a USB port on the back of my computer, which put it about three feet from the keyboard in a direct line. But the computer case, parts of my desk et cetera were physically between the two.I installed the dongle in a USB hub on top of my desk, about 1.5 feet from the keyboard, with nothing in between the dongle and keyboard, and all the issues disappeared, and have not returned.So now this is my new favorite keyboard.Overall it feels great and is at least as comfortable as my previous favorites (see below).The keys are short throw, fast, and quiet, like a good laptop keyboard, but a little noisier. It's definitely quieter than any other non-laptop keyboard I've ever used. It's significantly narrower than any other keyboard I've used, a little wider than a standard keyboard with no number pad. I like this aa lot, as it lets me put my trackball comfortably close for the first time ever. That's definitely a plus.The arrow keys are in an inverted 'T' layout on the lower right, close enough that I quickly learned to use them efficiently without having to stop and look for them. I do occasionally hit the Left-arrow key when I go for the right Control key (which I use a lot). But that's probably my lack of precision.The PageUp/PageDown etc keys are definitely in a new and unique arrangement. I wasn't sure I liked it at first, and worried that their proximity might mess up my use of the Enter, backslash, and Backspace keys, but that didn't happen. The Delete key is large, is two rows tall, and is just to the right of the Enter and Backspace keys. I figured I never use those keys, so I didn't really care.To my surprise, once I got comfortable with the keyboard, I found I -was- starting to use those keys. The layout is actually great, and I use them constantly now where I never did on previous keyboards.As others have pointed out, the function keys are somewhat mushy buttons, definitely not the same mechanics as the other keys, with minimal tactile feedback. I rarely use them - EXCEPT for the Esc key.If you are a heavy UNIX/Linux vi or vim user, you'll find the Esc key pretty annoyiing. It will slow you down. (Time to switch to emacs!)The wrist rest is comfortable, with minimal give. It will start to show a bit of wear marks after 6 months or so of use, but nothing significant.I've never used the number pad thingie, and probably never will.Formerly my favorite keyboards were:- Fellowes Microban Split Design Keyboard, Black (98915)Still like, have a few.Dislikes: Largish, noisy to type on, left alt key is not -quite- in the expected place, arrow keys are not in a 'T' layout, /page up/down etc keys are not in a 'normal' 3 wide by 2 tall layout. Definitely still usable.Likes: Best, most comfortable long-term layout (until the Sculpt).- Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite USB (the original, NOT the 3000, 4000, 'comfort', etc.)Still like, have a few (including the very rare black version).Dislikes: All the same as the Fellowes, except the alt keys are in the correct place here. For gaming, this keyboard doesn't handle chords or very fast keystrokes well - sometimes doesn't 'see' some. But never had an issue in any other situation. A little noisier than the Fellowes (to where coworkers have commented on it). This annoyed me enough to try the Fellowes. Also, they are generally very robust - But don't spill any liquid into one, even a little. The 'b' and some keys nearby will stop working - permanently. No amount of drying, cleaning, disassembly and cleaning will restore it. It's dead. By contrast the Fellowes keyboards seem to shrug off such accidents.They come in ivory only, unless you manage to find one of the very rare black ones. (I didn't know they existed until I stumbled across one on Amazon Warehouse Deals).Likes: The ONLY Ergo keyboard for many years I found to be an improvement over a 'standard' layout. And it is definitely much better, much more comfortable for me. I bought several as backups, used them at home and work. They're robust: I've used the same ones for years with no issues, and I have a heavy touch (learned on a manual typewriter). Relieved a bunch of minor complaints, mostly muscle tension.Happy typing.Update: 04/12/19I have the same keyboard at work.I've used the original batteries since I got it. (I replaced them briefly while debugging the wireless issue, but then put the originals back).I have finally had to replace them (red light flashing on the kb for weeks, but finally it just quit).I got it about 4/18. So the batteries lasted exactly a year.I'm a software engineer, and use the keyboard heavily all day, almost every day.

As a computer programmer suffering from mild carpel tunnel effect (aching around wrists and splitting pain close to the tip of ulna bone), I have been using the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 since 2006 (It also goes without saying that you should have a decent chair with lumbar support + arm support...plus a desk with proper height etc).While I appreciate the split layout from the Natural Keyboard 4000, one thing I find quite inconvenient is the frequent hand travel from the keyboard to my mouse (I am right handed). As a programmer, I rarely use the number pad, and this extra wasted space requires me to move my hand back and forth for a good minimum of 6" per one way trip. Obviously, over the years, I have mastered the keyboard shortcuts to save time; however, I still use mouse a lot, especially if you come to appreciate the multi gestures feature in your mouse (i.e. Apple Magic Mouse, Microsoft Wedge Touch Mouse etc).Upon receiving the Sculpt keyboard-only package, I noticed that the battery chamber cover along with the batteries already popped out, roaming freely within the plastic package. Knowing that the cover is magnetic, it would be a challenge to hold everything in place during shipping. But it is not a big deal, aside from minor scuff marks on the battery cover resulted from sliding or squeezing against batteries during shipping, it is still fully functional. This keyboard takes two AAA batteries. Since I just received this product, I do not know how long the battery life will last. Also, note that there is no power switch button with this keyboard, so it is unclear how you can power down the keyboard to save batteries (aside from the obvious popping out batteries)The keyboard setup with OS X Mavericks is a breeze. You simply plug in the USB dongle into the available USB port, and OS X will ask you to verify the keys to the right and left of the "Shift" key, and to confirm that it is US North American version of keyboard, you are good to go! At the time of writing this review, I am currently typing on this Sculpt keyboard along with Apple's Magic Mouse. The setup works perfect, as I can finish typing, and very quickly move my hand over to the mouse if necessary.In terms of learning curve, I would say that the Esc key at the upper left corner may take a little bit to get used to. Often times, I accidentally pressed "," (comma) key right below to Esc key. I also have similar muscle memory issues with Backspace and Delete keys, since they are so close together, but it is really just a tiny issue to adapt. Aside from the aforementioned issues, I'd say if you have used Natural Keyboard, you shouldn't have any trouble reaching the same typing speed as before.Someone already mentioned that the keys are chiclet style, but perhaps, because I am already quite used to the same style on Macbook Pro, I find the tactile feel is just as good, if not better, than Natural Keyboard 4000. The added bonus is that I now type a whole lot quieter than before.There are two areas that I wish Microsoft can improve further with Sculpt, both of which are not related to the typing experience itself.First, the device does use up one available USB port. It would have been quite nice if the keyboard is Bluetooth based. I do not quite agree with the official response from Microsoft stating that Bluetooth based keyboard suffers from unsatisfactory response delays. At least from my experience, Apple's Bluetooth keyboard seems to have no issues at all.Second. the slot for storing the USB dongle is hidden inside the battery chamber. It means that if you happen to put away the keyboard completely, you must take out the separate magnetic support (if you use it), open up the battery chamber with your nail, and then insert the dongle for storage. It would have been nicer if the storage slot is in plain view, so that we can easily shut off the keyboard by inserting the dongle inside the keyboard.I will update if I have more to report. Overall, it is a good keyboard, especially for those that do not use number pad. Note: I haven't reviewed number pad, as I don't use it.Update (Oct 27 2013): In Natural Keyboard 4000, the wrist rest is leather based, and has nice cushion feel to it. Under Sculpt keyboard, the cushion feel is also quite good, but the fabric is no longer leather based, as it is more foam-based. Thus, if you arm gets ashy on a dry day, it can leave much undesired ashy marks on the wrist rest fabric. It is also quite hard to clean. Still, functionality-wise, I find it very comfortable to type on still.