Microsoft Hardware announced earlier today the new Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000. Last week, I met with the awesome folks from Microsoft Hardware and they handed me a Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 to use here in my office. Several of my latest blog posts (including this one) were written using the Comfort Desktop 5000.

A “desktop” is essentially a keyboard + mouse set. The Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 comes with the Wireless Comfort Keyboard 5000 and the Wireless Mouse 5000.

The Wireless Comfort Keyboard 5000 is designed to encourage a natural wrist posture with a slight 6-degree curve. I spend a great deal of time typing on a PC so as you can imagine, having natural wrist posture is pretty important. It also features a soft-touch palm rest – with a textured design.

 

Like with previous keyboards from Microsoft Hardware, the Wireless Comfort Keyboard 5000 comes with removable feet. If you are someone that wants their keyboard tilted upward from the front, you can configure the feet for this. I personally like the keyboard tilted up from the back so this is the configuration I am running currently.

The Wireless Comfort Keyboard 5000 has low-profile quiet touch keys which make typing more comfortable.

It also features Media Keys for one-touch quick access to volume and playback controls.

The Wireless Mouse 5000 utilizes Microsoft’s BlueTrack Technology. That means this mouse can be used on more surfaces than any laser or optical mice could. The transceiver (2.4GHz wireless) for the desktop snaps into the bottom of the mouse. The design of the Wireless Mouse 5000 utilizes rubber on the sides for an easier grip. A 2 color battery life indicator will let you know when your batteries need replacing and the Wireless Mouse 5000 allows for one-touch access for Windows Flip.

The Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 takes advantage of Windows 7 in several ways. It utilizes Taskbar Favorites, which I blogged about back in June. Taskbar Favorites maps the order of applications on the Windows Taskbar in Windows 7 to the “My Favorites” hot keys on a Microsoft Hardware keyboard. The “My Favorites” hot keys are the 5 numbered keys usually at the top of the keyboard. So for example if Internet Explorer 8 is the first pinned application on your Windows Taskbar in Windows 7, it gets mapped to the #1 My Favorites hot key on the Wireless Comfort Keyboard 5000.

To utilize Taskbar Favorites in Windows 7 today with your Microsoft Hardware keyboard, click here to download the latest version of IntelliType (version 7).

This fall, Microsoft Hardware will be supporting Device Stage in Windows 7 which will include the Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000.

NOTE: The above screenshot is not final and is used as an example for this blog post.

And the Wireless Mouse 5000 takes advantage of Windows 7’s enhanced Windows Flip capabilities with thumbnail previews of running applications.

The Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 will be available starting this month at an estimated retail price of $79.95 (U.S.).

This weekend I decided to run out and pick up one of Microsoft Hardware’s new BlueTrack mice. I grabbed the Microsoft Explorer Mini Mouse which is perfect for folks who are on the go with their laptops. Both the Microsoft Explorer Mini Mouse and the Microsoft Explorer Mouse (for desktop PCs) are available this month at Best Buy stores. The difference between the 2 is the Microsoft Explorer Mouse is slightly bigger and rechargeable.

Microsoft BlueTrack Technology is a brand new technology for mice designed to work on more surfaces than both optical and laser mice. So how does BlueTrack Technology work? It uses a Microsoft-designed image sensor to generate a high contract image of the surface in which the mouse is on. This allows for greatly improved tracking accuracy. The BlueTrack “light beam” from the bottom of the mice is 4 times as large as the lasers used in today’s laser mice. Because of this, mice using BlueTrack Technology can be used on difficult surfaces such as granite, carpet, or wood.

The Microsoft Explorer Mini Mouse package come with of course the mouse and USB transceiver as well as a neat cloth carrier and a disc with the Microsoft IntelliPoint 6.3 software. The cloth carrier has the BlueTrack logo on it.

The design for the mouse is comfortable with 2 customizable buttons on the left side. The USB transceiver “snaps” into the bottom of the mouse and when it’s snapped in, it turns off the mouse so it doesn't use battery life when not in use.  Here are a few shots of the mouse.

I also compared the Explorer Mini Mouse with the Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 and Arc Mouse.

The Microsoft Explorer Mini Mouse is certainly a mouse you should look at if you’re looking for one especially with the advantages of BlueTrack Technology.