Top to bottom: my gross old Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, the new Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop, and my 10-month-old Kinesis Freestyle 2 for Mac. It is indeed smaller and with better-feeling keys than the 4000, but I wouldn’t confidently recommend it unless you need its flexibility to be in a radically different shape. It’s decent, but not great: the split design easily scoots around and loses your set position, the key layout is subtly different enough to have a moderate learning curve, it’s even uglier than the 4000, and it’s a bit expensive for a wired keyboard. Last year, after using the 4000 for six years but wanting something smaller with less-mushy keys, I bought the Kinesis Freestyle2 for Mac (with the “VIP3” feet). (Spoiler: It’s in the mouse’s battery compartment.) I had to read the instructions to find out where the USB RF transceiver was. But it’s surrounded by cheap, rough-edged cardboard, and unpacking is not obvious. Microsoft has learned some packaging design from Apple: you’re greeted with the product facing you nicely, rather than stuffing it upside-down in a plastic bag. I also didn’t (and won’t) install any of Microsoft’s software on my Mac - I never had problems with the 4000’s Mac software, but the Sculpt works well enough for me without any, so why install it? Just go into System Preferences, Keyboard, Modifier Keys and swap Command and Option. Note: The Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop also includes a goofy mouse, but I won’t be using it, so this is solely a review of the keyboard. I was hoping the Sculpt would be a worthy successor that also fixed some of the 4000’s shortcomings. And it’s cheap-feeling and ugly as sin by today’s standards, but keep in mind that it’s 8 years old - it was designed when PCs looked like this.ĭespite its flaws, the 4000 is a good keyboard overall for four reasons that have always made it stand out from other ergonomic keyboards: it has a standard key layout, it’s available in brick-and-mortar stores for easy tryouts and returns, it’s very comfortable, and it’s very cheap. It also never had a usable wireless version. The 4000’s biggest flaws are its mushy membrane keys and its tremendous size, which forces right-handed mousers to keep their mice too far away. When the new Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop was announced, I preordered one immediately: as a huge fan of its ancient predecessor, the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, I knew it had promise. And that I own a 1-kilogram tungsten cylinder. Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard shown with other objects for scale and subtle evidence that I’m productive and/or hip. A programmer, writer, podcaster, geek, and coffee enthusiast.Ībout Microsoft’s Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard

Ms ergonomic keyboard 7000