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Design, Style, and Comfort
The MX 5000 keyboard offers a sleek design which doesn’t include any sharp corners or straight edges, which really make it a stylish device. The black and gray plastic housing will match the color schemes of most new computers. At just 0.878 inches high and with a zero degree tilt, the keyboard rests almost completely flat.
For further support, the MX 5000 comes equipped with a detachable wrist rest. After hours of continuous use, I noticed minimal fatigue with my fingers and hands. With most keyboards my fingers begin to tire after the first half hour or so.
I found the overall typing experience to be extremely comfortable and smooth, and the constant tapping noise that is usually associated with typing is almost non-existent. However, I did notice that when I went idle for over a minute or so, then began typing again, that there was a noticeable delay (sometimes up to a second). It did’t cause any major problems, but it was a little annoying at times. For instance, there were times when I'd hit a key and nothing seemed to happen. So, I'd hit the key again, and all of a sudden the same letter appeared twice on my screen. The good news: once I began typing continuously, I didn’t notice the slightest bit of delay. I've noticed much worse delay issues in my past experiences with wireless RF keyboards. So, Bluetooth is certainly an improvement when it comes to wireless technology.
Functions and Hotkeys
Along the left-hand side of the MX 5000 keyboard you will find the touch-sensitive media control pad. The control pad's very top button is the “media” button, which will launch your computer's default media player. With a simple light tap of the button I was able to open my iTunes and access my entire media library. Right below the “media” button are controls for play/pause, stop, and skipping tracks ahead or back. Below that you will find a zoom control on the left and volume control on the right, which are both operated by sliding your finger across them.
The touch pad can be a little tricky to navigate, simply because the controls are so small. Users with large fingers may have difficulty controlling the media pad. In addition to its small size, I definitely noticed that I had to press the zoom and volume controls much harder in order to get results. So, while the media control pad is a very cool feature, there is sill room for Logitech to improve upon.
To the left and right of the LCD screen you will find a series of preprogrammed hotkey buttons. Starting on the left side are one touch buttons that will open your video, music, and photo libraries. Located to the right of these buttons is a one touch Bluetooth “sync” button that allows your computer to establish a Bluetooth connection with your cell phone or PDA. On the right side of the LCD is an email button which is preprogrammed to open Outlook Express. To the right of that is the “messenger” button, which opens Windows IM application, and then the webcam button, which will launch your computer's camera (if you have one). One of the nice features of the hotkey buttons is that you have the ability to reprogram them in order to launch whatever applications you choose.
The MX 5000's F keys are half the size of the letter/number keys, which is actually nice because it saves space. F keys two through four are preprogrammed to launch Microsoft's Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. F7 is programmed to print and F8 will save. F9 through F12 are smart keys that you can program to instantly perform virtually any user function.
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