Digital Trends

Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 December 13th, 2007 | by Josh Norem

Use and Testing

When we pulled the keyboard and mouse out of the box we had to go through a somewhat lengthy setup procedure due to the number of parts involved. First we had to put four AA batteries into the keyboard. Then we put a single AA battery into the mouse. Then we plugged in the AC adapter and connected it to the USB hub. Then we had to turn both the keyboard and the mouse to the “on” position. We then put the Bluetooth receiver into the hub and were able to control the mouse and install the Intellipoint software. Wow – what a lot of work for a keyboard!

We opened up the software and found that both the moue and keyboard utilities were very easy to use and full of features. The keyboard software lets you customize every setting and every special button. Some buttons can’t be customized per se, such as the Gadget button, but you can opt to disable it if you don’t want to use it. There are also five customizable hotkeys at the top of the keyboard (F5-F10).

The keyboard utility lets you easily customize all the hotkeys and extra buttons

The mouse software is also excellent. You can customize every button, and can even program specific buttons for different programs. The only button we changed was the right-side button, which is set to “magnify” by default, which is odd. You press it and a large box opens up that magnifies everything in the window.

The software lets you tweak all five buttons, adjust sensitivity, and more

Once we had everything set up, we typed, and moused away. The keyboard is great and is very comfortable to use. We normally like to flip the little tabs on the back of a keyboard to prop it up a bit, but this is not an option on this keyboard since it has to lay flat to allow the USB hub to slide over the top of it. However, we didn’t mind this at all; it’s very comfortable and the action on the keys feels very good. The ancillary buttons are easy to use and the controls that are used instead of a mouse had a positive feel and were accurate at all times.

The mouse is okay, but felt a big too large for our tastes. And at just 1000dpi it felt kind of ‘floaty” to us, but that’s most likely because we just got done sampling the amazing Logitech G9 Laser. Of course, the mouse is fine for general tasks, but is not the most accurate mouse available. Its comfort is decent, and the non-ratcheting mouse wheel made us pine for a ratcheting feel when scrolling through folders looking for files.

The powered USB hub works fine, but there is one problem: there’s no indication on the unit where the hidden USB ports are located so finding them is a matter of hunting around until you find the port.

We’d also like to point out that the coolest feature is the backlighting. If you don’t use the keyboard for a few minutes the backlighting dims. Then, as soon as you put your hands over the keyboard it turns back on, which is very cool in our opinion. We also like its silvery glow and how it automatically adjusts the brightness according to available light. 



Conclusion

We like this keyboard and mouse a lot, but we simply cannot stomach this model’s whopping $300 USD price tag, especially since it doesn’t have a number pad. Yes it has a lot of features and is very elegant and easy to use, but we can buy a new video card that can play Crysis for that kind of money. Aside from the high price, the only real quibbles are that the mouse feels “floaty” and the USB ports are hard to locate. Despite these issues it’s a great all-around keyboard/mouse combo that is highly useful and would adapt just fine to use on your desktop or lap.

Pros:

• Great keyboard
• Backlighting is nifty
• Useful control buttons

Cons:

• Super expensive
• No number pad
• USB ports are hard to find
• Mouse feels “floaty”