Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Written by Ken Wednesday, 17 September 2008 20:36

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Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000

Price paid: £32.25 including delivery from Amazon marketplace

The Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 is the latest (and supposedly greatest) in Microsoft’s line of weird and wonderful keyboards that emphasise comfort. With a weird and distinctive split down the middle and angled boards, these keyboards are supposed to make typing faster, healthier and more enjoyable.

 

 

Why go ergonomic?

 

Some people feel that having the fastest processor or best graphics card is important in a computer. I’m of the opinion that having the best mouse, keyboard and monitors (and to a lesser extent speakers) is more important – these are the things that you interface directly with. I can never understand those people who have a 400 pound graphics card and run it through a single cheap monitor, and in the same way I can’t understand people willing to spend thousands on a new computer, but happy to stick with the ultra-cheap cost cutting keyboard the manufacturers threw in.

 

A while ago, when I was writing software for a living, I started to get the first twinges of RSI – pain in the back of my hands, stiffness and coldness. Since I was relying on my typing to hold down my job at the time, this sent a shiver of fear through me, and I took immediate action. One of the measures I took to stop the problem getting worse was to buy a Microsoft Natural Pro, one of the original ergonomic keyboards.

 

Recently, after at least five years of hard use, this venerable, stained, worn keyboard finally gave up the ghost (too many pints of beer have been spilt through it over the years, I suspect). This was an excuse to invest in the Natural 4000, which I’ve had my eye on for some time – a little bit of shopping around secured me an OEM (brown box) version for £32.35 including delivery from PC Arena on the Amazon marketplace.

 

Design

 

At first glance the Natural 4000 looks very similar to the much older Natural Pro despite the newer keyboard being decked out in black and silver (an improvement on the easily-stained beige of the Pro). Both keyboards have the main QWERTY pad split into two sections at an angle to each other. Both have a deep wrist rest, and a number of extra buttons for media control, launching programs and accessing your computer. There are slight differences in button layout – the newer board has a “zoom” slider in between the keyboards, and some of the programmable buttons are different.

 

However, the ergonomics of the Natural 4000 are quite different underneath. The biggest difference is that the 4000 comes with a (removable) plastic platform designed to raise the front of the keyboard. This means that the board actually angles down from the front to the back, raising your wrists and ensuring that the bones in your hand line up with your forearm.

 

More subtly, the two main letter-pads on the Natural 4000 are slightly concave to match up with the differing lengths of each finger – the pads on the Natural Pro were convex, meaning your middle finger was raised up while your little finger had to stretch down.

 

Finally, the keys are arranged in a subtle curve on the newer keyboard, whilst being presented in two (albeit angled) straight lines on the older keyboard. These changes, combined with a soft fake-leather wrist rest, promises to make the Natural 4000 more comfortable and better for your skeleton than its predecessor.

 

At this point it’s worth pointing out that people who can’t touch type (and aren’t prepared to learn) shouldn’t bother with this keyboard. When I first started using a split keyboard, I was amazed by how often my fingers typed on the wrong keys – the split board tends to enforce touch-typing discipline. Hunt-and-peck typists might also have trouble with the keyboard tilting away from you, since it makes reading the letters on the keys almost impossible.

 

The Natural 4000 is slightly lighter and feels a little cheaper than its older Natural Pro sibling, although time will tell. If the Natural 4000 is still working after 5 years of hard use I will be very impressed. Microsoft quotes 250,000 keypresses per key as the expected lifetime (compared to over 1 million keypresses for a microswitch keyboard). The keyboard comes with a three year warranty.