Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000

Microsoft’s latest mobile desktop offers a Bluetooth-connected keyboard, with the useful addition of a separate, self-contained number pad.

This package doesn’t include a Bluetooth transceiver for your PC – you’ll need a Bluetooth equipped laptop, or an adapter for your desktop.

The keyboard uses Microsoft’s “Comfort Curve” design – a gentle curve toward the user aimed at promoting a more natural wrist-angle than standard keyboards allow.

While it may be comfortable in name, it doesn’t address ergonomics: it’s not one of those centre-split keyboards designed to address serious occupational health issues, and it’s not height-adjustable. It sits very flat on the desk, which some users (myself included) aren’t going to find particularly comfortable.

The keyboard is a basic model other than that curvaceousness: no multimedia buttons, no quick launch keys and no wrist rest. the only extra is the numberpad. The numeric keypad is a simple rectangle with the stock-standard key layout: perfect for Excel aficionados. It takes its own battery and connects to the PC as a totally separate Bluetooth device. You could buy the Mobile Keyboard 6000, use the keyboard on your Bluetooth-equipped desktop, and carry the numeric keypad with your laptop: there’s nothing binding the two devices together.

Gamers, take note: if you want a number keypad that will quickly switch from right-to-left to use for weapon switching or quick-select buttons, this is a good bet.

The real niche for this setup, however, is the laptop user wanting an external keyboard to live on their desk at home, with a portable number pad they can carry while travelling. For $149 you’ll get both, in one stylish package.