Advent Wireless Aluminium Laser Desktop review

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Verdict:

The aluminium design makes this keyboard and mouse look great, but it's style over substance, as the keyboard isn't very comfortable to type on.

Review Date: 31 Jan 2010

Price when reviewed: £36

Supplier: http://www.pcworld.co.uk

Reviewed By: Will Stapley

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

User Rating

In an attempt to stand out from the crowd, Advent's gone for a silver design with a brushed-aluminium keyboard surround. Although they look impressive, both the keyboard and mouse feel a bit cheap.

Advent has also made some errors with key placement. Due to the oversized left Shift key, the Backslash key has been moved to the bottom row, and as a result we consistently pressed it instead of the Alt key. The Return key is also single-height, which further hampers usability.

The keys are rather flat and make a lot of noise. We didn't find typing particularly smooth on this keyboard and fast accurate typing was difficult.

The 18 shortcut buttons are lined up along the top, but they're all crammed in close together and Advent could have made better use of the space available.

Those with small hands will appreciate the mouse's design, but everyone else will simply find it too small to use comfortably. It is, however, responsive and will suit both left- and right-handed users.

All in all, it's an attractive, but otherwise mediocre desktop set.

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