Wireless is a great tag to add to any product, be it as complex as networking or as simple as a keyboard. It's important, however, to make sure that the final product lives up to the wireless hype.

People buy wireless keyboards and mice for one of three reasons. Firstly, they're very good for anyone who needs to make presentations while moving around a room. Secondly, they can be quite good if you have a desk that's already cluttered enough without messy cables. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is the equation that says "Wireless equals cool". It can be, but only if the product design is as good as the technology behind it.

Microsoft isn't the first to market with a wireless keyboard and mouse combination. The wireless Desktop isn't even its first wireless product. Late last year it launched the Wireless Intellimouse Explorer, an optical wireless mouse. The Wireless Desktop kit takes Microsoft's attack on the wireless peripheral market a step further, combining a wireless keyboard and mouse in one box.

Installation of the Wireless Desktop is surprisingly painless. Unlike similar offerings that run via USB or PS/2 with an adapter, the Wireless Desktop can only be plugged in via PS/2. To use both the mouse and keyboard, you'll need two PS/2 ports. The PS/2 only requirement is a blessing for anyone who uses their USB ports for other things, and especially for anyone with a limited number of ports. On the other hand, it does limit the Wireless Desktop's appeal to users of notebooks that only carry a single PS/2 port.

Communication using the Wireless Desktop takes place via a small wired receiver, which has a connect button on the top, as well as lights to show keyboard functions. We have two gripes with this. We can understand why the lights are on the receiver (it extends keyboard battery life) but it does mean you have to keep the receiver visible, which limits where on a desk you can realistically keep it. Our other gripe is with the connection button, a very solid chunk of plastic with very few button-like characteristics. Yes, it's round, black, and somewhat button-y. It's just that it doesn't really move much when pressed. At first we thought it might be a button cover for a button sitting just beneath it. To be fair, it does work, and we never really had to deal with it much, but we foresee users with slightly dud batteries hurling digits (and abuse) at this non-button with great force. That can't be a good thing.

The keyboard itself is based on a well-tested Microsoft design; it's the Microsoft Internet keyboard sans indicator lights. Response from the keyboard was excellent for most typing purposes, although we didn't really have time to test the keyboard to the point of battery exhaustion. Microsoft rates the keyboard as effective up to 1.8m away from the receiver; we easily doubled that without any real problems -- apart from trying to see what we were typing.
When it first launched to market, the ten extra buttons on the Internet Keyboard were a real talking point. A few years on, and they're barely noticeable on the Wireless Desktop keyboard. Extra features like this are of course only worth the money if you're going to use them. Compared to other current flashy keyboards -- even Microsoft's own Office Keyboard -- the extra features on the Wireless Desktop keyboard seem a little weak.

The one area that the keyboard does differ from the Internet Keyboard design is the palm rest. For reasons best known to Microsoft, the rest isn't integrated on the keyboard, as it is with the older Internet model. Instead, what you get is a very flimsy clip on unit. The clips are very loose, and the rest as a whole doesn't quite fit smoothly on the keyboard itself. This isn't too bad if you're using the keyboard on a desk, but move it around and the rest quickly becomes a flapping nuisance.

Presumably in order to keep the price down, the Wireless Intellimouse Explorer isn't offered in the Wireless Desktop box. What you get instead is arguably the worst mouse Microsoft's ever offered. It's not optical; Microsoft have instead gone for a standard ball and socket mouse. The mouse itself has been moulded in a semi-ergonomic shape, with inverse contours around the body of the mouse itself. For any but the smallest hands, however, this is an uncomfortable shape after only a few minutes of use. Alongside the fairly standard left/right mouse buttons divided by a wheel arrangment are two additional buttons. Unlike the standard for its Explorer mouse cousins, which is to have the buttons as large arrangements down the sides of the mouse, the Wireless Desktop mouse has tiny little buttons with solid edges on them. These are all but impossible to use reliably, but can be assigned to most common computer functions.

Daft physical design aside, our main complaint with the Wireless Desktop mouse is that it just isn't that responsive. We're used to the odd phenomenon where an optical mouse will occasionally shudder as it re-orients its position on a desk. To see the same thing happen with a ball and socket mouse, and frequently to boot, is plain annoying. While the supplied software allows you to tweak mouse speed to alleviate this problem to an extent, it still took us far too long to acquaint ourselves with this quirky mouse. Being a ball and socket mouse doesn't help its precision in any real way.

One thing you'll have to factor into your purchasing decision when considering a wireless solution is the cost of batteries. In an unusual decision, the Wireless Desktop mixes and matches its batteries; the wireless mouse uses 2 AAA batteries while the keyboard uses two AAs.

The Wireless Desktop works but could be much better. The mouse particularly lets the kit down, but if you were planning to use the keyboard as your primary input source, you'd need to invest in a decent palm rest as well. It also doesn't help that the whole kit lacks the frills that its competitors offer. It is a touch cheaper than similar mouse and keyboard combinations, but it really is a case of getting what you pay for. If you can stump up the money for this kit, it'd be worthwhile saving that bit extra for a unit with better features and more reliable response.

Microsoft Wireless Desktop
Company: Microsoft
Price: AU$149.95
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone:  13 20 58

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