I recently bought the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard
and thought there might be a few points that other reviews left out that I
could explain. I spend all day, every day at my day job hammering away on my
keyboard, so I thought I’d be in a unique position to provide a review of the
Sculpt from an office/heavy user perspective.
I bought this for $65 from an online camera retailer of all
places. I went with the “for business” version that doesn’t include the mouse
since my office-supplied mouse was working out fine. And also because some
online reviews said the mouse really wasn’t worth it for them.
Ergonomics
First off, the Microsoft Sculpt keyboard is a very comfortable
keyboard to type on. The whole reason I purchased it was because I was having
some mild wrist pain from using my flat aluminum Apple keyboard with my wrists
improperly resting on my desk. I tried using a wrist rest but just couldn’t dig
how I felt like I had to hover my hands over it.
When you have the included optional (and quite nifty)
magnetic “stand” in place under the edge that faces you, the Sculpt has a very
gentle negative tilt that keeps wrists higher than fingertips. (Of if you
choose not to use the stand it has a nicely positive tilt.) There’s also a
slightly tented profile to the keys, so the split center keys (TGB, YHN) are
highest, with a slope down to the outside edge keys. This positions the wrists
quite well in my case. It’s worth noting I have hands that are well above
average size, so this keyboard could be a great fit for someone similar with
very large hands.
The oversized wrist rest itself is covered in a matte
textured material with just a little bit of padding under it. The texture is
kind of non-slip, like a cross between vinyl faux nubuck and a nylon duffel
bag, but I’m not sure how well it will wear. Overall, though, the wrist rest does
add a nice level of support.
Build Quality Notes
The Microsoft Sculpt keyboard is both strikingly upscale and
cheap at the same time. The curvy, swooping, stingray-inspired shape with the
center cutout definitely looks cool sitting on my desk, and the glossy matte
key trim contrasts nicely with the matte faux nubuck of the wrist rest. Coworkers
comment on it all the time.
But looking closer reveals that the glossy surfaces are an
absolute fingerprint and dirt magnet. (For me this is a non-issue since the
rest of my work area is pretty haphazard and nobody is going to be judging me
based on keyboard cleanliness.) The plasticky, rough texture of the back of the
keyboard is also a little off-putting. It kind of feels like something you
would find in a 1990s-era Toyota. Some online reviews suggested that Microsoft
was building the Sculpt on par with Apple hardware – based on the observations
above I don’t think I would agree. The Sculpt is functional, just not fabulous in
the amazing way that Apple does their hardware (although I’ll admit it’s the
comfort that counts here!)
At first, I had really mixed feelings about was the separate
number pad. This separate pad means you can position it wherever you like on
your desk. Initially I thought this seemed like an afterthought – as if
Microsoft simply copied the Apple wireless keyboard and then realized that
their users are nerdy, number-crunching types who use Excel and can’t live
without their number pad. But the more I’ve used it the more it’s grown on me,
I like that I can keep it off to the side when I’m not really using it. This
also lets me position my mouse a little closer to the keyboard, which I suppose
is more ergonomic. Granted the number pad feels a little cheap, like one step
above a pocket calculator, but it does have nice rubber feet that have kept it
securely planted on my desk surface (the main keyboard has these rubber feet
too). It also has a convenient Calculator button and a backspace button so you
can quickly crunch some digits and correct them if you screw it up.
The function keys across the top double as a row of quick
access buttons, and you switch between regular function key mode and quick
access button mode with a chintzy, wiggly toggle at the far right of the
keyboard where you couldn’t possibly reach it from the typing position. That
little toggle feels like it will be the first thing to break off. Also note the
function keys don’t have the same travel and key feel as the regular keys –
they are more like the buttons on the side of your iPhone that control the
volume, for example, in that there’s hardly any key travel. This gives them a jarringly
cheap feel that I still can’t get over. If you need to use the Esc key a lot
for anything, you might even want to skip the Sculpt keyboard for that reason
alone – you’ll miss the satisfying clunk of the longer-travel letter switches
every time you need to use it.
Luckily the rest of the keys have a reasonably light action
with satisfying travel, a nice balance between a chiclet keyboard and those
huge old dinosaur keyboards with massive key travel. Although some reviewers
said this keyboard was quiet, I do not find it to be that quiet. Each key press
does result in a definite click, so in my morgue-quiet office I’m sure my
co-workers can hear it across the hall in their offices too. My old aluminum
Apple flat keyboard was quieter, but I guess I’m willing to trade that for the
improved typing position.
Takeaway
The bottom line is I love the typing position and the
at-a-glance style is nice, but I wish some of the small details were nicer. The
toggle switch for the Fn keys, the cheapo feel of those same F-keys and the
finish of the unit leave a little to be desired.
Update - Saved My USB Dongle That Was Stuck in Port!
The most ridiculous thing occurred today at my office. The
little USB dongle for the Sculpt keyboard got jammed into a USB port on my PC and I
couldn’t get it to come back out! It seemed like there were little metal tabs
inside the port that just clicked in place, and then the nano-dongle was just
so small that it felt like it was going to break off if I yanked too hard. Little pieces of the black plastic started flaking off when I tried to grab it with a binder clip that I happened to have handy. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.
After about ten panicked minutes and some frantic and increasingly furious Google
searching that revealed that there is absolutely no way to buy the USB dongle
separately, I managed to pry the little tabs out of the way with a thin plastic
sheet and retrieve the tiny dongle. From now on, I will only be inserting it
into the USB ports just far enough to contact the connectors, not so far that
those little tabs catch it!