The Microsoft Office Keyboard

By JAMES ANTHONY

Because we get so carried away with the power of a computer, or how it is moulded, even the look of a monitor - we tend to forget that one of the most important pieces of PC hardware is the humble keyboard.

To find one that suits is not an easy matter and once you've settled in with it, changing becomes almost as difficult as farewelling a friend.

But, Microsoft does make it easier to trade in your ageing board because it produces such damn fine keyboards.

I've been using the Microsoft keyboards for yonks now and, it has to be said, I've never had a complaint with them and the poor things cop an awful pounding.

The latest offering from Bill's Mob is the Office Keyboard, a nice looking unit absolutely chockas with programmed buttons to make life - particularly on the Internet - much, much easier.

Firstly, though, the thing you notice about the Office Keyboard is the nice feel of the keys under your fingers.

The keys are all well sprung and there is a solidity to tapping away that brings back the long-distant memories of the clatter of typewriters. It really is a pleasure to key things in on this board.

The unit is slightly bigger than most keyboards and now accommodates a grey side area and hand rest. On the left of the grey panel are very handy short-cut buttons and a page-scroll wheel. The buttons are for going backwards and forwards on certain browsers, cut, copy and pasting and changing between applications.

If you are a heavy 'Net user then having your mouse in your right hand and the left using these shortcuts gets your speed right up.

On the curved and angled button panel at the top of the keyboard are 12 shortcuts for a host of things such as opening Word, Excel, your email, the Internet, a calendar, calculator, a mute button, volume controls, and log off and sleep buttons.

There is also a function lock key that allows you to operate your F-keys as usual, or turn it off and use the same buttons to get instant help, open or close documents, spellcheck, save, print and undo and redo functions.

Once the Office Keyboard got installed and hooked up - in about 30 seconds flat - there was no looking back. This is now my keyboard of choice. It has a recommended retail price of $129.95.