Following my recent misadventures with the Rocketfish keyboard/mouse wireless combo, I decided to go with a Microsoft solution to replace it. At my local Office Depot I found a Microsoft wireless combo set that was about the same price: the Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 (version 3).

It consists, like the Rocketfish setup, of a keyboard, mouse and USB dongle. Unlike Rocketfish, it’s a wireless trio rather than Bluetooth. There’s not really any functional difference in how they work, for most uses.

The keyboard on this set is ergonomically designed — at least that’s what it says on the box. The keys have a curve, which you can see in the picture. It’s taken me a bit of time to get used to, and I can’t say I’ve noticed any big improvement in comfort. It is comfortable, however.

There are plenty of keys for special purposes, like zoom keys, volume keys and so on. There are also a number of programmable keys that you can set up for individual functions. I like the keyboard very much.

The mouse is taking some getting used to. It may be hard to tell from the picture, but the mouse is big and heavy. It’s taken me some time to acclimate to the size and feel of it. It has the standard two buttons and wheel, plus several thin buttons on the left side that are also programmable.

One very cool thing about the mouse is a small compartment on the bottom into which the USB key fits. It’s a small thing, but it makes the dongle easy to transport and not lose. I move around a lot in my house with my laptops, and having the space for the key is very handy, and a thoughtful touch.

I’ve been using the combo for about three days now, and have no connection problems to report. This is big, since I was constantly losing the connection with the Rocketfish set.

The Laser Desktop 6000 set is definitely pricey, but I think it’s worth the money, given my needs for efficient computing.