First impressions of this wireless keyboard and laser mouse set are positive. The mouse is quite funky-looking and the keyboard has an even more stylish appearance, with a smoked grey plastic trim around the outside. A battery charger for the mouse is included and an AAA rechargeable battery is supplied, although the keyboard runs off two standard AA batteries (which are included).

Getting the Wireless Laser Desktop 7000 set up is easy; just a matter of installing the software, charging the mouse battery for an hour or so, then plugging a dongle into a spare USB port.

We'll cover the keyboard first. It looks great and is sturdily built, with solid keyboard legs that are twisted through ninety degrees and locked into sockets to sit flush (there are no bendy little fragile limbs here). The design is called the "comfort curve" because the keyboard curves down slightly towards the middle, and there's a large panel underneath to help support the hands and wrists when typing.

The gently curved key layout does take a little getting used to, although perhaps not as much as you'd think. We acclimatised to it pretty much within an hour, although there is one black spot and that's the left-side shift key. It's a tiny thing squeezed on the end and the size is such that typing capitals can initially be a hit and miss affair.

The keyboard action is just right - soft but firm - and there's a plethora of extra keys scattered around the main banks. The usual multimedia and Web surfing controls are here, alongside zoom in and out buttons and one-touch keys to bring up My Documents or My Pictures folders.

There are also three programmable, touch-sensitive hotkeys which can be linked to any folder or Web page, and using the software any key can be reprogrammed to link to an application, document, Web page or function. The keyboard's a smart piece of work, aside from that slightly awkward shift key and the fact that it doesn't come with rechargeable batteries. However, if you've got your own rechargeables, then naturally you can use them.

The mouse is reasonably chunky: we normally use a Logitech MX518 and it's about the same size as that. It's smooth and accurate (rated at 1,000dpi), and it has excellent ergonomics (for right-handers), with curves on the right-hand side to rest your third and fourth fingers on. And the mousewheel turns so smoothly it's almost like it's a component whipped off the dashboard of some obscenely luxurious car. The only downside is that the rodent's a tad lightweight, and doesn't quite equal the build quality of the keyboard.

There are some useful extras on the mouse, with two buttons on the left-hand side. One lets you go back a page when surfing, while the other brings up a magnifying glass that allows you to read small text or zoom in on images.

When you click the mousewheel under Vista, this activates 'flip 3D' which lets you view and pick from all your open windows. In XP this is changed to 'instant viewer' which displays windows in a 2D form, allowing you to point and click at whatever you wish to switch to.

Verdict
This is a quality keyboard and mouse set, with a load of thoughtful touches included to increase your desktop productivity. The only real let-downs are the small left shift key and the lack of rechargeable batteries for the keyboard (although you can ignore this flaw if you've got your own rechargeables).

Company: Microsoft

Contact: 0870 6010 100

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