As I come to the realization that a significant part of both my work and personal hobbies involve sitting at a computer, I have become increasingly wary of the stories I hear about things such as repetitive stress injuries (RSI), and what will likely be the impending damage to my eyes. In an effort to avoid, or at least delay, the former issue I have tentatively purchased an ergonomic keyboard. Specifically, the Surface Ergonomic Keyboard from Microsoft. I say tentatively because it’s not cheap. I may return it, but so far I’ve put a few thousand keystrokes on it and it’s feeling pretty good. This review is meant to get as in-depth as a keyboard review can be when written by someone who has never written a keyboard review. I’ll briefly explain my rough, but sufficient, testing procedure and what I found out. Then I’ll get into some details and comparisons I noted to other keyboards I’ve used.
The Methodology
I’m a keyboard snob. I recently purchased a ThinkPad, and at least fifty percent of the reasoning was I needed a better laptop for work, and the keyboard on the one I currently owned just wasn’t up to my standards. I read keyboard reviews online (or at least, I read many laptop reviews and they at least mention some information about the keyboard in each one.) The terminology thrown around is often “actuation force”, key switches, and key travel; this all culminates in the reviewer taking a typing test and comparing it to their average — I assume an average based on some keyboard they prefer.
I have no idea how to measure actuation force, I don’t have calipers on hand to measure travel to the nearest millimeter, and I don’t much skin in the keyboard switch game. Ultimately, my methodology for testing any keyboard, be it on a laptop or used as a peripheral, is simply to type a lot on it. If I can succeed in a 10FastFingers typing test and be comfortable after a long typing session, then I’ll feel pretty good about the keyboard. That being said, I’ll have some specific comments about this keyboard insofar as it might be relevant; I won’t just leave it at “This is how fast I typed on it.” Particularly with an ergonomic keyboard, there is a good amount to be covered.
My methodology was essentially to take the aforementioned typing test; then I sat down and for half an hour and continuously typed, copying the Bible from the beginning (I needed something sufficiently long to type). Then I took another typing test.
The Results
I’ll get right to it. I’d never used an ergonomic keyboard, and while I am a touch-typist I have a few slight quirks that using this keyboard highlighted for me. I have a tendency to occasionally hit the “Y” with my left hand, which is not doable on this keyboard. Similarly, I often hit the “6” with my right hand; again, this is not possible. So, my first typing test suffered. For reference, on both my ThinkPad keyboard and the mechanical keyboard I’ve been using at my desk I average between 110 and 120 wpm, and normally around 98-99% accuracy.
On the first attempt with the Surface Ergonomic keyboard, I came in around 90 wpm and near 90% accuracy. It wasn’t looking good.
However, I gave it the benefit of the doubt. It was a comfortable feeling keyboard, I just wasn’t used to it. Rotating my wrists while typing so my palms faced each other a bit more made things more comfortable. The alcantara wrist rest has a very small amount of give, and is quite soft to the touch. So, I decided to go in for the long haul and give the keyboard a fair shake. I opened a Google Doc, and in another window opened up Genesis, and went to town. Ten chapters later, I determined I had likely developed a sufficient feel for this new style of typing and took another typing test. I came within my expected average that time. (I just took another after writing the previous sentence; I got 122 wpm with 99% accuracy.)
So, I adjusted.
The Good
As I said before, the wrist rest is quite comfortable and supportive, although I do make a conscious effort to keep my wrists elevated a bit, as it’s both better form and improves my typing speed. I have not felt any of the slight pains I sometimes have when typing on a traditional keyboard. Also, it works fine just sitting in my lap.
I’m someone who needs long key travel. I think part of this comes from playing piano; my fingers are used to moving quickly and striking against a reasonably heavy object (when compared to a finger.) On a keyboard with less resistance, my fingers “get ahead of themselves”, greatly increasing the errors I have while typing. Nothing drastic is necessary, but the current trend toward minimal-travel chiclet keyboards is not something that works for me. The Surface keyboard is excellent in this way. It is quiet, but still manages deep travel that keeps my fingers happy. The feel of the keys is also excellent, although I could do for some concavity in the center to help my fingers stay in place.
This keyboard is run by a AAA battery, which some people view as a negative. I’d personally rather have that than a keyboard I need to remember to charge. It’s easy to replace a AAA battery; it’s no fun to sit around while your keyboard charges. Also, the keyboard is rated to have a 1 year battery life on a single battery. We’ll see if that plays out, but even 6 months would be fine by me.
The Bluetooth works, which is more than I can say for many Bluetooth peripherals I’ve encountered in my time. On a Bluetooth keyboard, a big concern is delay. I’ve had many problems with word “skipping”, or just significant lag, while using a Bluetooth keyboard. I’m currently typing this on a system running Kubuntu, and have had no issues with the keyboard connecting right away, and having as good of a response time as the wired mechanical keyboard I’ve used until now. The media keys (on the function row) work as expected, both in Windows and Linux.
While I’ve mostly used tenkey-less keyboards for the past few years, having a number pad back adds some stability to the keyboard, as well as just being a convenient feature.
The Bad
I would love it if this keyboard supported multiple devices. My mouse does with the touch of a button, and I frequently switch between using it for my desktop and laptop. I wish the keyboard did the same, because…
The biggest downside to using an ergonomic keyboard like this is when you immediately switch to any other keyboard. Having my wrists rotate feels fantastic; then going back to my laptop keyboard gives the sensation that something is missing. My index fingers suddenly must go further down than before, and it is uncomfortable.
A better alternative to Bluetooth is doing what Logitech does with their unifying receivers. It takes up a USB port, but I have plenty of those on my devices. It’s a wireless solution with even less (potential) lag than Bluetooth, and also uses less battery.
The surface of the keys is not very nice. While the overall construction feels nice, and the keys are not wobbly, they have more of a plastic feel than I like. The mechanical keyboard I have has very study key caps; my ThinkPad laptop has a soft feel to the keys that is pleasant, and also makes them feel durable.
I wish this keyboard came in any other color schemes. Three-toned light gray is not super cool, and doesn’t quite work with the aesthetic I have going on at my desk right now.
Conclusion
I really like this keyboard, and I am happy I decided to give the ergonomic design a try. It’s comfortable, the keys have good travel and feedback, and I can still maintain my typing speed despite the adjustment required by having my hands separated from each other while typing.
However, it is a bit expensive. I might try out the Microsoft Sculpt keyboard, which is quite similar, but comes in black (which I prefer), has concave key caps, and is a bit cheaper since it doesn’t have the Surface branding to arbitrarily increase the price. We’ll see though.