Microsoft Intros All-In-One Keyboard With Built-In Touchpad

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Microsoft has a new all-in-one keyboard that includes a touchpad.

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Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.

17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hang-the-9
    They needed to bundle this with Windows 8 when it first came out for helping people without touchscreens navigate. Good price, but the fact it uses a USB dongle makes it useless for many devices like phones and tablets that don't have USB ports. Bluetooth is the way to go if they wanted it to be used multi-platform.
    Reply
  • red77star
    Microsoft is really trying hard to convince people that they should use touch interface so their OS can make sense...what a 'tards.
    Reply
  • Am I the only one that is excited about this keyboard? I have an HTPC with Windows 7 and this is the PERFECT keyboard for it. My computer doesn't have bluetooth and i don't care about using one of the 6 usb ports for a dongle. As for using bluetooth if you want ot be "multi-platform"? I dunno about you, but my TV doesn't support bluetooth, my home computer doesn't support bluetooth, or my HTPC support bluetooth. I was actually hoping it DIDN"T use bluetooth, or if it did, came bundled with a dongle anyway.

    Also great is the "mouse" being replaced with a touchpad. One less thing to worry about. And at only $40? Sold.
    Reply
  • Spac3nerd
    A point stick is the only pointing device that makes sense in a stand-alone keyboard because it does not significantly increase the physical size of the keyboard and you can keep both hands on the keyboard at all times.
    With the space that is taken up by the touchpad, you might as well use a mouse.
    Reply
  • hang-the-9
    13109953 said:
    Am I the only one that is excited about this keyboard? I have an HTPC with Windows 7 and this is the PERFECT keyboard for it. My computer doesn't have bluetooth and i don't care about using one of the 6 usb ports for a dongle. As for using bluetooth if you want ot be "multi-platform"? I dunno about you, but my TV doesn't support bluetooth, my home computer doesn't support bluetooth, or my HTPC support bluetooth. I was actually hoping it DIDN"T use bluetooth, or if it did, came bundled with a dongle anyway.

    Also great is the "mouse" being replaced with a touchpad. One less thing to worry about. And at only $40? Sold.

    There are a ton of keyboards like this that were out for years, Logitech has one, lots of other less known names have one. http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-touch-keyboard-k400r http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0U008P8452 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1NV1450475 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823852001

    This keyboard is actually a bit too bulky to be used as a good remote for a media computer, especially for a bedroom where you want the thing small enough to fit on a night-table. Although the touchpad is larger than most, it's nothing new for a media center computer, and is worse than most due to the size.
    Reply
  • Nada190
    Might return my K400 then, I don't like the mini shift and enter keys and keys are too close together.
    Reply
  • Soda-88
    That's a tenkeyless keyboard, not a full sized one...
    Reply
  • 2Be_or_Not2Be
    They needed to bundle this with Windows 8 when it first came out for helping people without touchscreens navigate. Good price, but the fact it uses a USB dongle makes it useless for many devices like phones and tablets that don't have USB ports. Bluetooth is the way to go if they wanted it to be used multi-platform.

    There is still a large percentage of computers that do NOT have Bluetooth. In fact, I would say that the majority of desktop PCs do not have Bluetooth. Even for the ones that do have it, I can imagine the frustration of people who will have problems just trying to pair the devices, let alone those who can't even figure out how to turn on Bluetooth on their desktop.
    Reply
  • hang-the-9
    13110413 said:
    They needed to bundle this with Windows 8 when it first came out for helping people without touchscreens navigate. Good price, but the fact it uses a USB dongle makes it useless for many devices like phones and tablets that don't have USB ports. Bluetooth is the way to go if they wanted it to be used multi-platform.

    There is still a large percentage of computers that do NOT have Bluetooth. In fact, I would say that the majority of desktop PCs do not have Bluetooth. Even for the ones that do have it, I can imagine the frustration of people who will have problems just trying to pair the devices, let alone those who can't even figure out how to turn on Bluetooth on their desktop.

    If MS wants that keyboard to be used for several types of devices outside of computers (as it seems to be according to the article), not having it be a bluetooth one is a bad idea. Every wireless keyboard I have seen comes with a dongle to use it with, you don't need bluetooth built-in to a computer, the bluetooth dongle will be bundled with the keyboard. But you can't add a regular PC wireless dongle to most portable devices that DO have bluetooth built-in so a bluetooth keyboard is a LOT more usable cross platform than anything that needs it's own special dongle to work.
    Reply
  • knowom
    I'll stick to having a traditional number pad on my keyboards thanks, but no thanks Microsoft. A touch pad in place of "some" of the additional macro keys "would still probably want 3-4" that you see in a lot of keyboards might be a worth while trade off.
    Reply