The Logitech DiNovo Edge is a very interesting keyboard.
The first interesting thing about it is the MSRP: $199. For a keyboard. A month ago, I thought “who would be crazy enough to pay $200 for a keyboard?” Well, lower the price to $100 ($150 on Tigerdirect and a $50 mail-in rebate) and apparently I am. It figures that I’d be typing this on one.
Now, the reason I went for it is because I wanted a keyboard I could type comfortably on for hours – after all, I’m spending a good chunk of time writing a very long thesis, and when I’m not doing that, I’m usually typing something else. The keyboard is also supposed to have excellent Bluetooth wireless quality (it does; it hasn’t missed a single keystroke yet) and a very slim profile (again, it does). It’s truly a joy to type on.
Other features include a volume slider that I thought would be cooler than it really is and a trackpad that functions as a fully working mouse (albeit not a very good replacement for one – it’s meant for people who like to couch surf on their “media PCs” and whatnot).
Finally, Logitech’s name also carries it a long way; there are not many companies that can charge this much for a keyboard and get away with it. Logitech users such as myself will generally pay more because of the reputation for quality that the products have established.
However, I am beginning to become wary of Logitech’s keyboards, because along with the reputation for quality, they have a nasty habit of removing essential keys from the keyboards. For example, on this $200 keyboard, there is no numpad. It’s completely absent. Num lock, of course, is gone too, since there is no number pad to lock. SysRq no longer exists, but the only function that key ever served was to generate an interrupt that was handled by the BIOS in case the OS scheduler froze up or something. The home, end, delete, page up, and page down keys are arranged differently, but this is something that veteran Logitech users will be used to already; Logitech loves to rearrange these keys. In total, there are only 84 keys left on this keyboard. Most layouts have around 104.
Possibly aside from the loss of the numpad and the inability to 10-key (although I’ve been using the top row long enough to 10-key it fine regardless), the greatest omission that Logitech may have made is the menu key. It simply isn’t on this keyboard, requiring the use of the far less graceful Shift + F10 shortcut. In its place is an “Fn” key, which (you guessed it) gives you access to a bunch of “media” / “Internet” keys (and four customizable ones above F9-F12).
The right Windows key is also missing, but many other keyboards don’t have this either, so it’s far from unusual.
Finally, a more minor criticism is that the trackpad, though it has a scrolling area, is difficult to scroll. Not really an issue if you use it with a mouse.
Overall, the typing feel alone is enough to justify the price, high as it is, but the lack of a menu key almost breaks the deal (it would except that I mapped that “media center” key with the Windows logo at the top to Shift + F10, essentially making it my new menu key). The keys are low and respond in a similar manner to most laptop keyboards, but don’t suffer from the spacing issues of a laptop keyboard. It actually seems to have increased my typing speed by 10-20 WPM.
So, the pros:
Very nice feel.
Aesthetically pleasing.
Integrated mouse and volume control.
Slim profile.
Excellent wireless connection quality.
Cons:
$200 is WAY TOO MUCH.
The mini adapter that comes with the keyboard is specific to the keyboard; it can’t be used as a general bluetooth adapter.
The numpad and menu key are absent; these were useful.
The trackpad, particularly when scrolling, is difficult to use.
The volume gauge is actually just a fancy pair of “up”/”down” buttons. I was hoping for an actual volume meter.
Only two keys on the keyboard can be customized without having to hit Fn.