Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro

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Review: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro

The single connecting cord splits into a PS/2 connector and a USB connector. (If you want to use the two additional USB ports in the back of the keyboard, you'll have to plug it into a USB port in your PC.) Load up the included IntelliType Pro software to get the 19 new buttons working, and you're set.

Seven of these blue buttons, located near the top of the keyboard, are for web-surfing duties: back, forward, stop, refresh, search, favorites, and home. Others can be configured to start your mail program, open the "My Computer" window, tell your system to sleep and summon the calculator.

But we found another set of seven to be the most useful of the pack: audio controls! With functions like volume (up/down), stop, play/pause, previous track, next track, and media it was a cinch to control the music playing either from files stored on the hard drive or directly from the CD

We found all the buttons handy and a welcome addition to an already great keyboard. It was a neat shortcut to access a button physically without having to move the cursor to the top of the page, click, etc.

If the natural style isn't your thing, MS is also making available the Internet Keyboard Pro (available Feb. 2000), a standard keyboard with the same functions as the Natural Keyboard Pro. And for the "lite" user, it offers the Internet Keyboard, which removes the audio controls and the USB ports. Look for the Internet Keyboard Pro to go for $55 and the Internet Keyboard at $30.

It's not a new concept. We've seen multifunction keyboards before (from Compaq, for example, but you'd having to buy the computer that it comes with). But MS makes it work really well, and now everyone can get their hands on one.-- Danny W. Lam / GamePro