If you are on the lookout for a new keyboard and mouse, you should consider the Microsoft Sculpt Comfort desktop set – here is our review.

The Microsoft Sculpt Comfort desktop consists of both a Sculpt Comfort Keyboard and a Sculpt Comfort mouse.

Sculpt Comfort Keyboard

· Contoured design promotes natural wrist position, putting keys within easy reach

· Cushioned palm rest provides support and promotes a neutral wrist position

· Detachable palm rest can be removed for a sleek, compact look

· Split spacebar with backspace functionality designed to improve typing speed and efficiency

· Windows 8 shortcut keys provide easy access to commonly used functions

Sculpt Comfort Mouse

· Windows touch tab for easy access to apps and start screen

· 4-way scroll wheel for navigating up, down, left and right

A Closer Look

Sculpt Comfort Desktop perfectly integrates with Windows 8. The keyboard hotkeys provide shortcuts to the most commonly used keyboard functions. The Windows Touch tab, a touch-sensitive strip located on the side of the mouse, enables you to take advantage of swiping functionality as you navigate the Start screen.

Final Thoughts

The first thing you notice about the keyboard is its shape. It’s curved in the middle and it has a palm rest attached. This isn’t the first ergonomic keyboard Microsoft has produced and they have been very popular – I even had one for a while. They do take a little getting used to but once you are used it them it does feel more comfortable using it, especially for extended periods of time.

Some people don’t like palm rests, that’s fine, I often fall into that category myself, and so you just flick a switch on the understand and the palm rest detaches. And to put it back on later you just click it back into place. This is a good idea meaning you have the best of both worlds!

For users moving over to Windows 8, the fact this keyboard has Windows 8 hotkeys will certainly make the transition easier, and faster! I found myself using the hotkeys more than I thought I would and I really liked that Microsoft included a switch so that I didn’t need to hold down another key to activate those hotkeys and I could easy switch them off if I need the function keys instead.

Connecting it to my PC was simple – I just plugged in the 2.4 GHz wireless transceiver into a spare USB port and Windows did the rest. I did have a few issues to begin with – the keyboard worked fine, but Windows 8 would only recognise it as a generic keyboard, which really surprised me considering its a Microsoft keyboard designed for Windows 8, although it didn’t stop it working. It was just a little annoying until I got it all sorted. I could have left it but I’m a bit picky like that!

One of the big features of the Sculpt Keyboard is it’s split space bar. This gives you the option to have one half of the spacebar as a space key and the other as a backspace key. The idea here is that you don’t have to reach for the usual backspace key. In fact, writing this review I have been using the backspace spacebar key on the keyboard. It does take a little getting used to – after many years of using a keyboard it does feel strange using your thumb to hit the backspace. Because the spacebar is split, you can choose have the backspace key as either the left or right part of the spacebar (see the images above to see what I mean). Now don’t worry, if you really don’t want to use the spacebar for anything other than a spacebar you can turn off that functionality – the choice is yours. Give it a try and see what you think, but do give it a fair test!

The mouse was very comfortable to use and I found myself constantly using the Windows button on the side of it to swap back and forth between screens.

As usual with hardware that uses batteries, make sure you either have a spare set ready just in case, and in fact consider swapping the batteries for a set of rechargeable ones, it will save you money in the long run!

Overall I liked the keyboard (and the mouse), it felt natural and comfortable to use and the Windows 8 hotkeys save me a lot of time and effort. I’m not sure if I will stick to the backspace key on the spacebar but that’s just me!

The cost of the Sculpt Comfort Desktop is £69.99, which is a great price for the keyboard and mouse, but as usual look around for a good deal.

Learn more from the Microsoft website.