Chillin' in the lounge

Putting this keyboard into action on my HTPC setup, I notice that there is no driver disc for this device and true to its word it's a plug and play dongle with all the relevant drivers already being part of Microsoft's architecture.

The trackball performs a bit too well at times and I found myself having to dial down the sensitivity along with pointer acceleration thanks to the precise tracking.

That being said, if you try to spin the ball it will simply not register and while this initially seems annoying if you wanted to move the pointer to one edge very quickly, it is really there to help you keep your movements with the ball refined and controlled.

It's unusual going back to a trackball after years of touchpads and optical mice, but after a couple of hours playing you find yourself falling back into your trackball style of control and it becomes intuitive very quickly.

The keyboard itself is lightweight and nicely shaped to rest on your legs and the keys are evenly spaced to give a natural feel. Typing is pretty easy and few mistakes are made once you re-adjust to the keyboards slightly smaller size.

Style-wise, the rack does not win many points, with generic looking black plastic and grey keys;it will go with everything but is not winning any beauty contests sorry to say.

If anyone is looking for a solid keyboard and mouse combination the VidaBox has you covered with all the features you would expect for the money and the no-frills design, meaning less annoyances.

Driverless setup is a bonus, however, and it works great with Windows 7, too.