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A Glance At 24 Keyboards & Mice

Posted by timothy on from the so-you-don't-have-to dept.

robyn217 writes "Hey, KBs and mice aren't the most glamorous hardware in your system but there's no reason for them to be dull. I spent the last month testing out a new keyboard and mouse every day; covering everything from strange one-handed KBs to cool gesture-sensing pads to tacky ball-based mice. Check it out if you're thinking about trading up." Strictly one-paragraph blurbs here (I wish she'd talked about each keyboard's tactile feedback, and long-term comfort on the oddball designs), but if you need to do a visual scan of current offerings (many wireless), you can work toward a new mouse by clicking your way through. Update: 01/21 21:58 GMT by T : Errr, Robyn's a He, not a She -- many apologies. That hasn't happened in years!

7 of 587 comments (clear)

  1. Did they give them the 'junk food' test? by tinrobot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You know, the real world tests, like how does the keyboard perform after spilling a Red Bull all over it?

  2. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  3. I wonder... by thrills33ker · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why would anyone want a one-handed keyboard?

    Oh... hang on...

  4. Worthless by RobPiano · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As everyone who will read this article will soon find out, it has almost no content. As such I suggest we talk about our own mice/keyboards and experience. I for one really want to know if anyone has tryied the "iGesture" pad/keyboard. It looks cool, but got only 3 circles in this article.

    Currently I am working with all standard QWERTY keyboards. I had one that had volume buttons and some hot keys, but found that I never used them. My student informed me he switched to DVORAK under MacOSX just by switching the key binding. He says that it only took him 2 weeks to get used to it, and two months to get to loving it. I may make the switch after I finish writing my thesis.

    As far as mice, I have a Microsoft Optical Mouse with the side browsing buttons. This is a very good mouse. At work I have a logitech mouse, and it functions perfectly and was very cheap. If I bought another mouse I would buy from Logitech.

    Lastly I have an IBM mobile optical mouse. Do not buy this mouse. Its useless.

  5. old, old joke by Wingchild · · Score: 5, Funny

    covering everything from strange one-handed KBs

    There used to be an old joke about this; Build a one-handed keyboard and the world will beat a path to your door.

    The joke was interchangeable with `left handed mouse for right handed people`.

    And as long as we're in innuendo land, it's appropriate to add that if you build it, they will come. :)

  6. Re:Best Keyboard... by tjansen · · Score: 5, Interesting
    A lot is wrong with PS/2:
    • PS/2 is not hotpluggable. It is possibly to short-circuit your motherboard and fry your controller (not likely, but I saw at least one broken mobo after a failed hotplug attempt)
    • It is stupid to have a separate kind of port for each peripheral. There are already more than enough (serial&parallel ports, firewire, gameport, and analog audio in/outs should die as well, and in the long term there should be only one for network and peripherals)
    • Some people want more than one keyboard or mice/trackballs/graphics tablets. So should a system come with 5 PS/2 ports just for the case? Unlike USB you have no chance to add more PS/2 ports.
    • Even though they look identical the system has two separate ports for keyboard and mouse. Why? There is no logical reason (except bad engineering) for this, and definitely does not help usability
    • PS/2 devices are not good at identifying themselves. With USB a OS can identify the device type and load drivers automatically from the net.


    >>How the fcuk I am supposed to connect 8 usb devices on a 3 port USB card without a USB hub ?

    I agree that even today systems have not enough USB ports. 10 should be a minimum.
    But what's your problem? Try connecting 8 keyboards to three PS/2 ports...

  7. Re:Best Keyboard... by Mafiew · · Score: 5, Informative

    USB mice have a refresh rate of only 125Hz. A ps/2 mouse can be run at 200Hz with a program called ps2 rate (was for 98 not sure if it works for xp) so your ps/2 mouse can actually run smoother than your USB. Also I recall that I had a logitech ps/2 mouse whose driver had a refresh rate setting.