In my mind, the two major companies behind mice and keyboards are Microsoft and Logitech.  Yes, there are other companies that manufacture keyboards and mice, but Microsoft and Logitech seem to compete more closely. 

Today, I will be reviewing Microsoft’s Wireless Optical Desktop Elite Desktop Set.  This set is a mouse and keyboard combination.  In this review, I cannot avoid mentioning Logitech’s MX 700 Wireless mouse which is the main competition against Microsoft Wireless Optical Intellimouse, the mouse included in this desktop set.  Having used the MX 700 for quite a while now, I will make references when comparing Microsoft Intellimouse with Logitech’s.  The ultimate goal of Microsoft’s Optical Desktop Elite is to combine both style and performance into one outstanding package.

These are the features that you can expect with this desktop set:

-Tilt Wheel Technology

                The Tilt Wheel Technology makes this mouse different than other mice.  Instead of having an ordinary mouse wheel that scrolls up and down, the scroll wheel can also move side to side.

-Three-Times-Longer Battery Life

                With the latest power saving technologies, Microsoft claims that the mouse and keyboard can last up to 6 months without any performance degradation.

-“My Favorites” keys

                The “My Favorites” keys allow you to customize the keyboard to your needs.  Just like how certain radios allow you to assign a radio station to a key, the same can be done with this keyboard.  You can assign a specific function to one of the favorite keys.

-Smart Receiver

                The receiver processes the signals from the mouse and keyboard.

-Wireless Freedom

                This desktop set is specifically designed to be wireless.  This means no fuss with wires when using your keyboard or mouse.

The keyboard is black with the unique keys having a silver color.  At the left of the keyboard is an extra mouse wheel with the tilt-wheel technology.  In addition, right above the tilt wheel is a ‘back’ and ‘forward’ button which is useful when browsing through websites quickly.

The top left of the keyboard has the ‘My Favorites’ keys.  At the very top of the keyboard are the multimedia keys.  These are complete with all the usual standard keys such as play, pause, fast-forward and reverse and mute.  This includes control of playback as well as volume levels.

The top right of the keyboard has the commonly used functions for Windows.  Some of these keys include ‘my documents’, ‘mail’, ‘log off’, ‘sleep’, etc.  These are particularly useful when working with Windows XP.

The base of the keyboard is different than most other keyboards.  It is nice due to the leather-like feel of the material used to support the wrist.  The choice of material for the base of the keyboard was an excellent choice.  If the base was unprotected with just plastic, then I would imagine the pressure and sweat of the wrists would wear down the plastic easily.  The base supports your wrists and is very comfortable.

If you have a close look at the keys, you will notice the grid-like pattern that can be seen through the semi-transparent keys.  It looks different and it makes the keys more durable.

When I started using the keyboard, I was impressed by the softness and quietness of the keys when typing very fast.  With the software installed, the unique function keys worked flawlessly.  For example, when using the volume control while playing an MP3, there was a volume meter bar that showed up at the bottom right of my screen.

The mouse is equally high in quality.  When you place your hand on the mouse, you can feel the high arch of mouse on the center of your palm.  This takes some pressure off the fingers to allow you to press the mouse buttons easier.  I was very impressed with the mouse buttons.  Having been used to the Logitech MX 700, I immediately noticed that it required much less force of the hand to push the left and right mouse buttons.  Some may not like this, since it makes them feel cheap.  I like buttons that can be pushed easily because it creates less strain on the fingers over a long period of time.  Overall, I found this mouse to be much lighter than the MX700.

The mouse wheel is different from other mice, being very smooth.  This can be a good and bad thing.  When viewing web pages, the smooth mouse wheel allows you to move up and down very fluidly.  This gave a very natural feeling when scrolling up and down in web pages.  This fluid mouse wheel also makes it easier to glide through large documents.  This also allows less effort to continue reading when you see words near the bottom of your screen.  The potential downside to this smooth mouse wheel is when it is used in games.  The mouse wheel in games is commonly used to switch between weapons in first person shooter games.  The smooth mouse wheel can make it difficult to switch from one weapon to another since you might over or under-steer.

As a gamer, I decided to use my mouse in a first person shooter mod called Natural Selection.  I also tried it in games such as Call of Duty and Far Cry.   I found that the mouse was able to keep up with my hand in general.  Compared with the MX 700, there is a tad of delay which I could unconsciously feel.  Most people will not notice it and will be very happy with the performance of the mouse.  What also made me like the mouse was the fact that it was very light compared with the MX 700.  Having gotten used to the heavy MX 700, using the Intellimouse felt a bit odd because I was used to having to rest my wrist hard on my mousepad.  After an hour of usage, I was able to gain full control of the mouse.

Since both the mouse and keyboard are based on the 27MHz radio technology, you are limited to a distance of approximately 6 feet.  6 feet may seem like a small number, but you would have to have a good reason to use your computer more than 6 ft away.  I was still able to reach close to 6 ft.  If I went farther than that, then it would display the wrong key or the receiver wouldn’t pick it up.

Finally, this product claims to have up to 6 months of battery life without any performance degradation.  The mouse uses 2 AA batteries, while the keyboard uses 3.  You can even run your mouse on a single AA battery!  I will test this product further and provide an update on the battery life later.

Microsoft’s Wireless Optical Desktop Elite is a fantastic product that will surely please the majority.  With its quality construction and features, this product is hard to be without.  Although I think the Tilt-Wheel Technology is a great idea, I don’t think it’s the kind of necessity that you absolutely must have as Microsoft is emphasizing in this product.  At the retail price of approximately $100, this desktop set is well worth the price.  What makes this an even better deal is the fact that you can probably buy this product for well under $85. 

In order to make this a better desktop set, I would like to see Microsoft try to boost the tracking resolution of the mouse even more and to try to make the mouse rechargeable like the MX700.  Other than that, this is an excellent product!