When my original keyboard loss some functionality (it had a missing key on the number pad and both Windows keys stopped working) after being in the hands of my 3 year old, it was time to search for a replacement.

I came across Long Zheng's article about the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop, I thought it looked pretty cool, and having been a previous owner of a Microsoft ergo keyboard I thought I'd give it another try.

The desktop consists of the keyboard, mouse, an external number pad, and a "raiser" that makes the keyboard sit a bit higher. All input devices come with Duracell batteries. Oddly, the keyboard takes two AAA batteries whilst the mouse takes two AA batteries - I thought it would have been the other way around as this makes the mouse a bit heavier on the desk and thus restricts movement.

The standout of the package is most definitely the keyboard, after using my Razer Lycos with the soft rubber keys, it's going to take some time to get use to the more typical finish on the Sculpt keyboard. The travel is pretty short on the keys but it feels really good and responsive, my favourite keyboard still being the one on my Lenovo X1 Carbon. They sure know how to put a great keyboard on their laptops!

The mouse is a different story, whilst the movement is precise its physical size is massive - my current breed of mice is the Logitech Anywhere MX which is quite small so it's a big difference to the Sculpt mouse. After about 30 minutes of use my wrist started to hurt, and apparently there's a right way to hold it as depicted in one of the booklets you get with it. I'm going to need to give it more time to get comfortable with it. Here’s a size comparison between the two mice.

I inserted the USB receiver (yep, it's not Bluetooth, it's Bluetrack!) to the back USB port on my PC that sits below my desk, and both mouse and keyboard had absolutely no problems finding it to get them working. Great stuff!

Finally, would I recommend this? Absolutely - but give the mouse a try to see if it is to your liking, especially if you're not use to larger mice.