Adesso Wireless Slimtouch Mini

The Adesso Wireless Slimtouch Mini keyboard is, as the name suggests, a mini keyboard which is great as space becomes more of a luxury on our desks. The keyboard itself is elegantly designed and light as a feather and could quite easily be used on your lap or being held in one hand all of which are complimented by the ease in which keys are pressed and the touch pad is used. Before we get into all the details here is a brief run-down of the specifications:

The Specifications

• USB Mini Receiver connection
• Dimensions: 11.8″ x 8.3″ x 1″
• Weight: 1.1 lbs
• Number of Keycaps: 88
• Keyboard Technology: Membrane
• Mouse Function: Touchpad with two Buttons
• Switch Life: 5 Million Cycles
• Switch Travel: 3.0+/- 0.3mm
• Includes 4 AAA Battery
• Power Consumption:
  - Active mode: 7mA
  - Standby mode: 5mA, Without any movement, the keyboard will go into standby mode.
  - Sleep mode: 150uA, 10 minutes in standby mode, the keyboard will go into sleep mode.

Getting going

I was a little sceptical plugging it into my Windows XP machine, thinking it would require me installing a couple hundred drivers but it didn’t - I plugged the USB receiver into my spare USB port and within a few seconds the touch pad mouse was working and I was typing away at the rather small keyboard. There where a few small changes I had to make to get the keys mapped properly but over all it was a quick and painless install.

Installing it on my Macbook was even easier as Max OSX took care of all the keyboard recognition problems and I was up and running within a few seconds.

Using the Slimtouch Mini

Because the keyboard uses laptop style keys they are easy to press and feel very light to the touch. The keyboard does away with the numerical keypad but numerical keypad support is provided if you use the function key. The touch pad behaves and acts as you would expect a laptop touch pad to and even has the, now standard, scroll pad which really does help when you need to scroll. Over all windows users are well catered for with all the regular Windows keys and all work without any drivers having to be installed.

The manufacturers claim the keyboard will work up to 30 meters away, but I haven’t been able to verify the exact distance and the maximum distance I have tested it at is around 15 meters away and it still worked.

Problems I encountered

Because the keyboard is only 88 keys (small laptop size) it takes some getting used to and I have found myself constantly tapping the touch pad, which feels in the way, even though it is slightly recessed into the keyboard surface. The only other gripe I have is the sleep function of the keyboard. As you read in the specifications the keyboard goes into standby after 10 minutes of no activity which is great for battery life - but when you need to use the keyboard again it sometimes takes a good 30 seconds to come out of sleep mode and sync properly with your PC again.

Conclusion

The Slimtouch Mini will be great for anyone who is looking to have a very neat desk or are worried about space but may not be ideal for users who spend their entire day typing away at a keyboard.

Pricing and Availability

The Adesso Wireless SlimTouch Mini is available from WantItAll for R 1,359.00

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Filed Under Computing, Featured Reviews, Peripherals