Microsoft Arc Keyboard Microsoft Arc Keyboard

Pros: The keyboard is compact, which is what my wife really wanted for her new setup. The lack of a separate number pad and excess keys help to accomplish this. We also got it on sale at a local shop for $30.

Cons: My wife blogs quite often. I occasionally play some FPS games. The receiver is 2 feet away and we both have issues with input lag, periods of complete unresponsiveness, duplicate keystrokes, and some keys not responding unless they're pressed in a certain fashion (especially the space bar) even when no other wireless devices are anywhere close.

Other Thoughts: The good looks, the price, and the wireless capability mean nothing if you're going to use this keyboard for more than typing in search engines.

Pros: 1) It is supper small.
2) The ergonomics is really good with it's arc shape (Hence it's name duh!)
3) Great for everyday use.
4) Good for Design Software (2D/3D/Imaging).
5) Great for gaming (small footprint allow you to place in very comfortable position).
6) great feedback from the keys.
7) very quiet keys.
8) Easy to clean
9) Long battery life for something running on 2 AAA!

Cons: Very minor things which shouldn't bother you if you are considering this keyboard:

1) the arrow key is a bit touchy if you use soft like excel and move from box to box. Not sure if it's my fingers that too big or if I push too fast. Still not an inconvenience to me. but it might be a pain for arrow users in other soft.

2) there is no numeric pad (which I was aware of) and that could be an issue for people not use to use upper number keys. If you type english and french often, or other languages which requires accents using the ALT codes, you can still get your accents by switching the keyboard type to "United-States International" Still not a big deal to me.

4) No Cap-Lock or Num-Lock light. No big deal to me either.

3) uses AAA batteries. Now I'm really being picky since I only change them every 4 to 6 month depending on the use.

Other Thoughts: I have had this keyboard for over a year now and I would buy it again in a heartbeat. The footprint is the smallest I have seen in a hard plastic keyboard without sacrificing comfort.
I use it for anything from office work, Design softwares such as Solidworks, AutoCAD & Photoshop.
I even game with it and play Black OPS 2, GTA IV, Fallout 3 with no problems. I read someone said it's not a good gaming keyboard, which I can understand if you are used to use the arrow keys, or the numeric pad. I personally only found numpads are usefull when using trailer to cheat. Just stop cheating :)
I bought it because I was changing my workspace and I was running out of space on my desk. It does the job perfectly well and makes it very easy to clean the area.
The only thing that would make this keyboard any better is if it would use a Li battery that you could recharge through a mini USB.

Bottom line, If you have space issues this is the one you need. (expect 1 week getting use to its size to be fluent with it.)

Pros: I was pleasantly surprised with this keyboard especially after taking it out of the well packed box and removing it from the hardy cloth "pocket" it comes with. I assume for travelling since the pouch won't be that usable in the home. Installed the 2 AAA batteries that came with it,found the tiny Nano Transceiver in a recess on the back which is held on magnetically (nice touch), plugged it into a USB port, and it installed itself being usable within seconds.

This thing is light, very light and has a crisp keypad feel to it which is much better than other mini blu-tooth keyboards I've tried. I tried it out on my media computer running Windows 8 RC and this thing is built for Windows 8 tab usage. The arrow keys have been replaced with a 4-way toggle on the lower left which works well for navigating on the start screen. The F keys are programmable using the software which was installed when plugging in the transceiver. I haven't tried programming the F keys yet but it looks simple to use.

Cons: It isn't so great for fast touch typists IMO as the "throw" of the keyboard is half that of standard keyboards. Better off with a standard keyboard for daily PC desktop use.

Other Thoughts: I would recommend this product for folks with X-boxes or media computers, couch potatoes, and maybe even on tablets with a USB port (not tested on my Android tablet). But the lightness, easy installation, the 4-way toggle for arrow keys, plus the "cool" factor makes this an excellent choice for an alternate keyboard.

Pros: Small which is what I wanted gaming from the couch playing Dust 514. The ergonomics is extremely comfortable on the hand and all the normal FPS buttons are easily reached. Response time is good.

Cons: Not blue tooth so I cannot use with my tablet :/

Other Thoughts: Excellent for people looking for a wireless keyboard for dust, I coupled this with the Logitech Performance MX mouse and now I just eat up all those silly controller users :)/

Pros: i bought this keyboard after using my friend's who has his set up with his htpc (laptop). his laptop is in a closet around the corner form where he sits to watch tv and the signal is great. he also has the arc mouse, but i do a lot of gaming so i use a gaming mouse. i also use a gamepad so i didn't need a gaming keyboard. i chose this one because of my prior use of my friend's and for it's size, wireless function and ergonomics.
i'm a big guy with large hands, so going from a logitech full-size gaming keyboard to this one is taking a bit to get used to the size difference. imo, it has a better feel than a standard laptop keyboard. as well, having to use the "Fn" key for some of the function keys will take a bit to get used to, but seeing as how i don't use those keys very much, it certainly wasn't a deal-breaker.

Cons: none at the time.

Other Thoughts: it's a little weird to look down and not see my big full-size gaming keyboard sitting on my desk.
but then i see how much more room i have if i need to write (yep, i still write using a pen/pencil) and it's nice to have that room without having to move my keyboard way out of the way.

Pros: Size
Battery Life
Storage Bag

Cons: Illuminated keys would be nice, but battery life would be bad.
Some reviewers complain about the 4 way rocker vs: 4 arrow keys? The rocker works very well. It's just different than a full size keyboard, but small is the benefit.

Other Thoughts: I wanted a small keyboard for easy storage for my HTPC PC. It has a storage bag and fits easily into my coffee table storage.
The keys have a nice feel.
I didn't but here, but thought a review would help others decide. I'm glad I got it.

Pros: Reasonably small footprint(no keypad)
Very light weight
Very solid feel--doesnt give or slide on the desk
Great wireless distance

Cons: Not necessarily a big fan of the four direction arrow key instead of actual arrow keys but it works very well. not enough to take an egg off for

Other Thoughts: Was a bit hesitant purchasing due to range concerns with the little tiny nano transmitter. Rest assured, the range is terrific! I'm using it on my HTPC from the otherside of the room no problem!

Pros: Compact
Amazing battery life
Sturdy and stable on the desk
Responsive
Quiet

Cons: No arrow keys - Uses a 4-way rocker

Other Thoughts: I was attracted to this keyboard by its design, and the small size which works well for me since my desk is a small folding table. It makes a nice lap keyboard as well, it is extremely light and sturrdy. It has pretty responsive keys, and you don't need to push hard by any means to get them to activate. My only gripe is that the arrow keys are a small 4-way rocker key that is not only hard to press but rather unresponsive.

Pros: The key travel is nice and responsive with a very solid feel and the keyboard itself has no flex when you press keys. It feels like the keyboard of a very good laptop computer.

It lacks a Windows "Menu" key -- since I have never used that key in the 17 years since it was introduced I call that a PLUS.

I use a Mac and the Microsoft Intellitype software actually works really well on Mac OS 10.7. It has built-in settings to swap the Windows Key and the Alt Key to make the layout more like a standard Macintosh keyboard. It also has a built-in option to swap the Caps Lock key and the Control key, something that I love as a programmer.

Excellent range and battery life, comes with a travel case and the USB receiver is tiny and held magnetically on the underside of the keyboard when not in use.

Cons: Instead of standard "Inverted T" arrow keys it uses one key that rocks 4-ways. THIS IS A HORRIBLE IDEA, and in my case I find it a pain to use.

The F7 through F12 keys are combined with the F1-F6 keys, so you need to press a separate "Fn" key to press F7-F12.

The ergonomic shape makes using WASD in a game to control movement awkward since the W feels way off to the side of the S key instead of right above it.

Other Thoughts: I've been using a Microsoft Arc Keyboard as one of my primary keyboards for about two months now. I am a computer programmer using it with Mac OS 10.7. It is the keyboard I use when I am working at home for 3 days of the week.


The "ergonomic" shape takes some getting used to if you are coming from a "regular" keyboard but you soon learn.

The arrow-key is the worst part of this keyboard. The lack of real F7-F12 keys is an annoyance but one I can live with (on a Mac at least).

I was most impressed at the Intellitype software that you can download from Microsoft's web site. It makes it s you don't have to make compromises to use this keyboard on a Mac since you can set up the keys to match the function of a standard Apple keyboard with just a little bit of work.

But the arrow key really is bad enough to make me think twice about completely recommending it to anyone.

Pros: great wireless distance!
keys feel good

Cons: its a little small
doesn't work in bios