Like its ergonomic predecessors, the keys are split in the centre of the QWERTY board, sweeping gently down towards each edge at a slight angle outward from the centre. With a design inspired by the vast and beautiful tropical fish from which the codename was borrowed, the keyboard is astonishing to look at from just about every angle. Microsoft’s internal development codename for the Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard was ‘Manta Ray’, and even a casual glance in its direction makes it obvious why. and €129.99 across other parts of Europe), is the Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop a worthwhile purchase, or is this just a case of style over substance?

But with a recommended retail price of $129.95 in the United States (£99.99 in the U.K. However, in spite of these curiosities, on the surface, it appears that this is a pretty decent set of products.

Similarly odd is the fact that each of the three peripherals uses its own battery type: the keyboard requires two AAAs the mouse eats two AAs and the keypad uses a ‘button’-type CR2430 lithium battery.

While Microsoft had the presence of mind to ensure that they all connect to the same receiver – thereby only taking up one USB port – a Bluetooth connection would have negated this requirement entirely. You might expect the trio of devices to connect to a computer via Bluetooth, but no – instead, they connect via a 2.4GHz wireless signal to a small USB dongle. However, Microsoft’s Hardware Compatibility database warns that the set is not compatible with Windows RT. Designed primarily for Windows 8, Microsoft also officially supports their use on Windows 7, although they will also function on Mac and Linux, albeit with some features unsupported. With the latest arrival, the company has created a set of three peripherals that make up the Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop: a keyboard, a mouse and a separate numeric keypad. Over the next two decades, Microsoft continued to develop new and improved ergonomic keyboards and mice, designed to reduce the risks of repetitive strain injury, carpal tunnel syndrome and other afflictions resulting from extended use of input devices. (There are some nice details from Ziba, the company with which Microsoft collaborated on that device, on its website.) While it wasn’t the first such peripheral to be ergonomically designed, the Natural Keyboard blazed the trail for a more affordable generation of wrist-friendly computing devices. Microsoft’s first ergonomic keyboard went on sale almost twenty years ago, with the launch of the Natural Keyboard in 1994.

Microsoft sculpt ergonomic desktop mac