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Keyboards

Microsoft Surface Ergonomic Keyboard

6owners with an opinion
80%of verdicts positive
1/0positive/negative since 2024
0happy after 3+ years

Praised for comfort; criticized for ease of use.

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Likes it
that one is good, but I detest keyboards with their own magic little dongle since it's a damn fine thing to misplace. Its tiny, tiny function keys didn't endear me, either I'm surprised OP didn't enjoy https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/surface-ergonomic-keyboard... which is currently listed as out of stock but I dunno if that means "permanently" or what, but they seem to be available via 3rd party channels Its "klacking" aside, pour one out for https://duckduckgo.com/?q=microsoft+natural+elite+keyboard&t... which I loved, although I'll be straight that I love the Surface Ergonomic better because I think its keytravel is much, much nicer and no weirdo + shaped cursor keys, the inverted T like $diety intended
Likes it
I was using my friend's Microsoft Surface Ergonomic Keyboard when I was staying at their house for a few days. I really liked the keyboard so I bought one for myself. It's been great so far, and my only issue with it is the function key (Fn). Pressing Fn just toggles a light on the key, and it doesn't actually send any keypress event, so I couldn't figure out how to start dictation. It took me quite a while to figure out how to solve this problem, but I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed figuring it out. I thought I write up a detailed answer on StackExchange and post on HN. I'm really impressed with Karabiner-Elements. They have a documentation site [1] with some really interesting examples for complex rules. I like the idea of setting up keyboard shortcuts to launch apps [2]. There's also a safeguard for command-q, so you always have to press it twice. (Google Chrome already does this, so you could even set up a condition to ignore the rule if Google Chrome is the active application.) I'm looking forward to coming up with more ideas for shortcuts and workflows. This is like having bash aliases for your entire operating system. [1] https://ke-complex-modifications.pqrs.org [2] https://ke-complex-modifications.pqrs.org/#apps_launch_any_l... [3] https://ke-complex-modifications.pqrs.org/#command_q
Doesn’t like it
For me, backlit keys on a laptop is nice because I'll use a laptop in a dark environment and they layout isn't the same as my desktop keyboard so my touch typing isn't always 100%. When I'm at my desktop, the room is always brightly lit. My rant was directed at desktop keyboards that have customizable LEDs. They come with custom software that let you specify the colors on each individual key. And yes, the colors can change based on your current layer. I was lamenting the cost associated with engineering the LEDs into the keyboard's circuit, and the cost of writing the custom software UI and embedded software on the keyboard to control the LEDs. I read a bit more about the company Dygma. It appears they started as a gaming keyboard company, and are now entering the ergonomics market. It makes more sense now why they included the LEDs. They have already written the software UI and have the engineering experience. My personal keyboard is a Kinesis Freestyle Pro. It's a huge improvement from my Microsoft Surface Ergonomic Keyboard, but it doesn't completely cure my RSI. The only total cure I've found for that is to not type for a living :( . I've tried a lot ... although I haven't tried diet adjustment yet.
Likes it
I've use the Surface Ergonomic keyboard as my daily driver, and agree it is great. My only complaint is the indicator lights on Caps and Fn are not bright enough. If you really want a dongle the previous Sculpt Ergonomic has a dongle but the Num Pad is separate :-/ It doesn't have the delay you talk about, and has much better battery life than the Surface version (had it for three years and have't changed them yet). https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/keyboar...
Likes it
I'm using Surface Ergonomic keyboards at home and at work, can confirm good build quality. I won't weigh in on quality of typing experience. Everybody I know says that I type like I'm trying to beat my keyboard to death, so while I like typing on them quite a lot, I don't know if that'd transfer to someone else. Only hiccup I've found is that you need Bluetooth 4.0 for the new low-power state, so you'll probably have to buy a dongle even if you have a brand-new fancy laptop.