Digital Trends

Logitech diNovo Media Desktop

July 29th, 2004 | by Brandon King

Design and Features

Logitech's diNovo keyboard and mouse are some of the most functional and beautiful desktop ornaments you will find. From the sleek low profile design, to the custom software, the collection oozes style and quality. It is the first conversation piece type of keyboard from a big-name manufacturer that is widely available, stable, and easy to use.

Based on Logitech's Bluetooth wireless hub, the diNovo Media Desktop is designed for all types of computer users including gamers, office workers, and media enthusiasts. The package contains a full-size keyboard with extra shortcut buttons, Logitech's MX900 optical mouse and a separate number pad that doubles as a Bluetooth multimedia controller. Sleek keyboard and high-performance mouse aside, it is the MediaPad that separates the diNovo from the competition. Integrated into this standard number pad is handheld Bluetooth remote commander capable of controlling all of your media applications.

Each of the three wireless components of the diNovo uses standard, replaceable AA batteries. Logitech's most advanced Bluetooth mouse, the MX900, drops easily into the dock for recharging. Logitech says that the keyboard and MediaPad batteries should last around three months, and our subjective tests proved that to be realistic. With casual use, you should be able to get a good three weeks of use on a single charge of the MX900 mouse, or as Logitech states, about 10 days for an “average office user.”

One minor complaint we have is that the base station cord is too short, as was the case with the Logitech Bluetooth Desktop we reviewed a few weeks ago. Because the design screams minimalist, the best excuse we could come up with was either they expect the base station to be placed on top of a tower, out of sight, or plugged into a desktop hub or monitor base sporting USB connections.

Structurally the diNovo feels very well built, made mostly of a lightweight metal. The design features a nice balance of shallow curves and sharp angles. Perhaps most striking is the thickness, or should we say thinness. The keys sit only about one-centimeter from the desk surface. The keyboard has a built-in wrist rest with what might be called texturing, but not padding. All surfaces, except the wrist rest, are smudge proof.

In addition to the full compliment of keyboard keys, the custom software allows reassigning of the function keys to any function you choose. Too many keyboards have suffered from "button sprawl" - the addition of more buttons to do small tasks — and but the diNovo only has a few extras. The F-keys ability reduces that clutter significantly. The few additional small silver buttons are quite useful though. The buttons on the left side allow quick access to standby mode, Web browser, E-mail client, and search. The right side has volume up, down and mute controls as well as a media button (more on this later) and a four-way media player pad (play/pause, stop, forward, back). And for those of you that enjoy tweaking your BIOS on a daily basis, the DiNovo is fully boot/BIOS/Safe mode compatible.

The mouse included with the diNovo is the award-winning Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse. As we concluded in our Bluetooth Desktop review, this is an excellent mouse. It has great resolution, precise tracking and we never experienced any lag. But what would any great mouse be without ample extra buttons? At the thumb rest there are two buttons for quick access to forward and back in a web browser. Around the scroll wheel are fast scrolling up and down (scroll at 10 times the speed of normal scrolling), and a button designed to be used for switching between applications. Of course all of these can be reassigned to whatever function you like, or disabled. The only new mouse function missing is the sideways tilting scroll wheel found on some new Microsoft mice, but we may see that in future revisions.

The separate numeric/media pad is the most interesting piece in the package. It sports a non-backlit LCD that displays mode, num lock status, time, date, battery level, Bluetooth connection status and even a customizable welcome message when the system is powered on. There are three modes that the pad can be placed in: “123”, “NAV”, and “+/=”. 123 mode allows the MediaPad to function as a standard numeric keypad. NAV activates the secondary key functions, such as a directional pad and media related functions used in the Logitech Media Desktop application. And +/= mode converts the pad into a standalone calculator, which can be set to copy the result of any calculation into the Windows clipboard. The pad sports the same low profile and volume/media buttons found on the full keyboard. The MediaPad is designed to be used as an omni-directional remote control for a PC when playing back media files through any of the supported media players. In addition, the keypad displays notification if you receive email or an instant message along with a chime. During normal operation, the media pad displays date and time.