Keyboards come in many shapes, sizes and most are pretty much the same, but companies are of course trying to come up with things to make their product stand out from the crowd by adding features and integrating other things into them.
Today for review I’ve got the Adesso Win Touch Pro Desktop Multimedia Touchpad Keyboard, (quite a name there eh?) and it is a feature rich product that most people should appreciate. The Win Touch Pro Keyboard has an integrated Touchpad in the palm rest just like you would find on a laptop computer, along with that it features shortcut and multi-media buttons as well. This is a great keyboard for those that use laptops often and are accustomed to using a touchpad instead of a mouse. So let’s just jump right in…
Adesso Win Touch Pro Desktop Multimedia Touchpad Keyboard Review
Author: Kristofer Brozio
Sponsor: Adesso
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
Adesso Win Touch Pro Desktop Multimedia Touchpad keyboard
Color: (Dark Gray/Black)
Model Number: AKB-430UG
Connection: USB
Platform: Windows Vista/XP/2000/ME/98SE
The Adesso Win-Touch Pro Keyboard features an integrated touchpad featuring Glidepoint Technology. The touchpad can take the place of your mouse making it easier than ever to control your PC. The keyboard features quiet tactile keys and a molded wrist rest that supports palms while typing. This keyboard also features 9 hotkeys that launch your important applications and control your multimedia experience- all at the touch of one button.
Features:
Stylish Design with Full Wrist Support
Full-sized 107 Key desktop Windows Vista Enhanced Keyboard with molded ergonomic wrist support. Quiet tactile membrane key switches for longer life. Large ENTER Key and Space Bar. LED indicators for Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock.
Built-In Touchpad Puts Cursor Control at your Fingertips
Integrated touchpad eliminates the need for a mouse and saves valuable desk space. And its centrally positioned for ultimate comfort and convenience. The Glidepoint Touchpad puts cursor control at your fingertips. Navigate, scroll, zoom, access files and enter data all with just a light tough of the finger. It’s easy, it’s comfortable, and installation is a snap.
Hot Keys for Multimedia and Internet One-Touch Access
Hot Keys on the new Win-Touch Pro Desktop Keyboard connect you directly to your favorite multimedia activities with one-touch – navigate music and video clips, surf the Web, start many of the programs you use most, and more. With these 9 hot keys and a sleek, slim design, this keyboard adds dynamic features and vibrant looks to any desktop.
Specification:
* Actual Dimensions (Inches) 18" x 9" x 1"
* Touchpad Dimensions: 2.25" x 1.75"
* 2 Mechanical Buttons
* LED lights for Num-Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock
* 4 Internet Hotkeys (Home, Search, Favorites & E-mail)
* 5 Multimedia Hotkeys (Mute, Vol-, Vol+, Stop & Play/Pause)
* Glidepoint Driver 3.2 required for advanced features
* Approvals: FCC Class B & CE
System Requirements
* IBM, Pentinum, Pentinum II class compatible or higher
* Windows Vista, XP, 2000, ME, 98SE
Warranty: 1 Year
A Better Look at Things
:
The Adesso Win Touch Pro Desktop Multimedia Touchpad Keyboard (we’ll be calling it Win Touch Pro for short) comes packaged in a professional looking box with pictures of the keyboard and of course features and specs listed as well.
Opening the box we find the user manual and the keyboard under a protective plastic shield, and the user manual is the only thing that comes with it.
The Win Touch Pro is a full sized, office style keyboard with integrated touchpad in the palm rest, similar to what you would see on a laptop.
The Touchpad is a Glidepoint brand, there are only a couple major manufacturers of touchpads out there and Glidepoint is one of the better ones, Glidepoint is actually a brand name, the manufacturer is Cirque. Synaptics would be the other popular manufacturer, those you commonly see in Dell brand laptops from my experience. Unlike most touchpads you’d find on a laptop this one actually has marking on it in the form of arrows and labeling.
Across the top of the keyboard, above the function keys is where you’ll find the additional shortcut and multimedia keys.
On the left side you have basic functions, Home, Search, Favorites and E-Mail, the right side is where the standard multimedia keys are located.
There are three more additional keys as well, they are Power, Sleep and Wake, located above the normal cursor key area.
There’s not much special about the bottom of the keyboard, it does have legs that fold down to raise the keyboard up if wanted by the user.
Installation, Testing and Comparison
There is really no installation with this product, to use the keyboard and the main functions it is plug and play with newer operating systems.
Of course you can go to the Adesso website and download the Glidepoint software that will allow you to customize and configure the touchpad to your own preferences.
The software is very useful for configuring the touchpad to work as you want it to and I highly recommend downloading it and using it.
There are five main parts the the Glidepoint software, the first is configuring the buttons and tap zones:
The second tab is to control the speed of the cursor, the same way you would with your mouse.
The third tab allows you to adjust ‘Tapping’
The fourth tab controls how you scroll with the touchpad, zooming and forward/back as well.
The fifth tab, for me is the main one, you’ll want to head here first and check the ‘Disable all touchpad sounds’ option, because pretty much everything you do with the touchpad will emit a shrill beep from your speakers and it’s gets annoying very fast.
The last tab just tells you information about the driver version etc, nothing special…
One of the first things you’ll notice about this keyboard is that it is large, I mean it is probably the biggest keyboard I have seen to date, and I don’t mean because of the added touchpad, the width and depth are much more than I have reviewed or owned.
Typing on the Adesso Win Touch Pro Keyboard is interesting because when the legs are folded in it’s flat and when you fold out the legs the keyboard is at an odd angle to type on. It’s hard to describe but it’s almost as if using the legs makes the front higher than the back, it doesn’t, but just seems that way because even up at an angle somehow the keys still remain relatively flat.
Personally I don’t like using flat keyboards but I gave it a go with this one for this review, I can say it won’t be replacing my current keyboard it just doesn’t feel right to me.
That’s not saying this keyboard is not a good one, just personally it’s not my style.
The Adesso Win Touch is actually fairly nice to work with, the keypresses are virtually silent and have a soft feel to them, they seem to have a shorter keypresses as well. The additional buttons shortcut buttons work well and add to the overall experience of this keyboard, giving you your common tasks at the touch of a key.
The Touchpad is very nice to use and fully featured, although if you aren’t accustomed to one it’ll take some time to get used to. I did find that the touchpad is very sensitive and, at least with my typing style, gets in the way, at times I’ve found myself wondering what happened to my cursor or why I clicked on something while typing. The Touchpad works as expected though, actually it seems to work better than the one I have on my laptop, it’s actually very nice to use when you want to use it.
If you use a laptop a lot of the time then this won’t be an issue, but I use my laptop every once in a while and I still hit the touchpad on my laptop as I did with the Adesso Win Touch Pro keyboard, so it’s not something that’s wrong with the keyboard, it’s more the user knowing the Touchpad is there and not leaning on it.
I believe this product is more for those people that use laptops often or even daily, the average desktop user won’t really appreciate the Touchpad. I have a friend who only uses a laptop and when he uses a mouse it feels very odd to him and he’s just as happy with his touchpad as I am with my mouse.
Summary:
Personal preferences aside, the Adesso Win Touch Pro Desktop Multimedia Touchpad Keyboard is overall a well made, feature rich product.
The addition of the Touchpad is a nice feature that those who use laptops often will appreciate.
The additional shortcut keys are a welcome addition also, they make life a bit easier and that’s always a bonus.
DragonSteelMods gives the Adesso Win Touch Pro Desktop Multimedia Touchpad Keyboard a 4.5 out of 5 score.
Pros:
-Touchpad integrated
-Multi-media/shortcut keys
-Quiet
-Soft key presses
-Well made
-Long cord
-Easy installation
-Configurable through optional software
Cons:
-Large sized
-Odd angle when feet are used, flat when not
-Does not come with software/drivers
I would like to thank Adesso for the chance to review the Win Touch Pro Desktop Multimedia Touchpad Keyboard and for their continued support of DSM.
Questions, Discuss HERE
{amazon id=’B000BH7Q0E’ align=’RIGHT’}
review# 386