Kinesis MPC Keyboard
Company: Kinesis Corporation
Estimated Price: $315.00
http://www.kinesis-ergo.com
FUNDAMENTALS
Most of you are using a conventional keyboard. A minority of enlightened users have their keyboards positioned below desk height, on a special keyboard drawer or shelf. An infinitesimal percentage do their typing (or “keying,” as it is now called) on a contoured ergonomic keyboard.
What’s wrong with this picture?
I’m looking at you now from across the room, and wondering if your chair position, height, and adjustability are optimized for your body at the desk (or “workstation”–take your pick). Is your monitor positioned on the physical desktop (“workspace”) at the best height and distance for your body and vision?
Keep reading. It gets worse.
You sit at your friendly Macintosh for several hours at a stretch (remember that word, “stretch”) because you enjoy it, and because you are totally involved in the game/spreadsheet/webpage/document/project/whatever currently running on your system. Occasionally you need to leave the spot, for visits to the bathroom, or for some food and drink.
After an extensive round of typing or mousing, your fingers, wrists, and forearms need a good shake (remember “shake” also) because they have become stiff from doing the same thing for such a long time. Your back and shoulders also feel stiff, from sitting in your chair in one position without much other movement.
Enter the contoured ergonomic keyboard? No, not yet.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
I have spent much of the last three years studying the literature and evaluating special keyboards. Do you know much about RSI (repetitive stress injury) or CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome)? If you have not previously given them a moment’s thought, I expect you will soon, sooner than you ever imagined.
I’m not a prime candidate for RSI/CTS therapy, and if you follow a little common-sense advice, neither will you be. Custom keyboards can improve your physical well-being, and possibly your computer productivity, but they come third in the ergonomic food-chain of self-help.
The following prescription sounds easy to take, but you will resist it vehemently until you are coerced into it:
A. Every 25 minutes take a five-minute break from the computer. Get on your feet. Do a few stretches. Go for a little walk. Shake your body in several directions. Talk to a human being. You will add life to your years and years to your life at the Macintosh.
B. Talk to someone who knows more than you regarding keyboard and monitor placement, and follow this person’s advice, beginning with a sliding keyboard drawer and, probably, an elevated monitor position in front (NOT at the side) of your seated body position.
C. Consider purchasing and using an ergonomic keyboard.
D. Buy and use a high-quality, adjustable chair. (This is a topic worthy of a separate essay.)
SO WHAT’S NEW?
As I was preparing this review, a reviewer and several readers of TidBITS http://www.tidbits.com stole my thunder. There are only so many things to say regarding any one product, and most of them can be found by searching the archives in both TidBITS and TidBITS Talk, from the main TidBITS page, for “Kinesis” or “ergonomic” or “keyboard.” Quite a bit more is available from Kinesis, linked from their Web site.
The punch lines from most reviewers and users of this unusual keyboard are:
Right, it’s time for my five-minute break. You too. Get up and move it, now!
Didn’t that feel good? Set your timer for 25 minutes again.
We don’t need to walk in the footprints of the dedicated writers who have covered this product previously. I can add my personal evaluation to the growing group of reviews, and hopefully assist our readers in actively pursuing a new and different keyboard, AFTER they have adopted the sensible improvements of regular mini-exercise and hardware placement.
HOW IS THE KINESIS KEYBOARD, JOHN?
I thought you would never ask! It’s weird, and it works.
Applying the My Mac Magazine Q/D/S/V standard to it, we find:
QUALITY is good. The keys, contoured chassis, cables, and accessories are well-constructed, and built to last.
DOCUMENTATION is thorough and well-written. More is discussed than the average person ever wants–or needs–to know. My reviewer packet was an encyclopedic resource on alternative keyboards and workstation ergonomics, much of which is available from the company website. Special mention goes to the booklet of Adaptation Exercises, which, when followed, produce foolproof results over a several-week period.
SUPPORT is reasonably quick and responsive. My first demo keyboard was defective, and after a detailed set of troubleshooting email messages with the Kinesis tech director, it was repaired and returned in perfect condition.
VALUE for this expensive after-market item is right on target, especially for users who have been plagued by RSI/CTS. Consider this keyboard to be medicine that tastes better every time you take it.
Do I have any gripes? Here they are:
1. The power key is tucked back behind and under the keys, which is a very awkward location for doing keyboard RESTARTS.
2. This keyboard can also be used by PC users, and the PC power key does power up the Macintosh, but leaves everything on the Mac frozen. This PC power button stays ON when pressed, and needs to be pressed again to enter the OFF position. Very inconvenient, especially, when a newbie presses it by accident. (There is a long version of this story involving plenty of unprintable words, which I will save for another time.)
Jon Biggs from Kinesis explains:
I can understand your frustration when you accidentally press this button instead of the power button. In actuality, the PC power key of which you refer is the Mac/PC selector button and is not a PC power key. When you push the button to the “in” position it switches it to PC mode and when you push the button to the “out” position it switches to the Mac mode. The power key located next to the Mac/PC selector button is used only when the keyboard is in the Mac mode and operating with a Mac. Therefore, the selector button is only used to switch between operating systems and not to power up the computer.
Okay, Jon. I promise I’ll only press the correct power key.
My ten personal favorite traits of the Kinesis Classic MPC are:
1. Palm rests are included, but the keyboard is so well-designed that most of time wrists are “floating” above the padded rests.
2. Remapping and/or copying of specific keys is easy to accomplish. Both Classic and Professional modes feature unlimited remapping. The Pro keyboard offers larger individual macros (up to 142 characters) than does the Classic (up to 56 characters), which is why the Classic model is adequate for most users.
3. Programmable foot switches (both Single Action and Dual Action) are available, at $30 and $69, respectively. Kinesis provided me with a foot switch, but I did not have the opportunity to become accustomed to using it. I now understand that “Each contoured keyboard can support up to two single action foot switches or one dual action switch, allowing the user to activate key actions and macros,” according to Jon Biggs.
4. Special attention is given to new users with pre-existing injuries. Kinesis is particularly sensitive to their needs.
5. Kinesis offers a very strong standard limited-lifetime warranty.
6. Ergonomic guidelines are discussed in the User’s Manual.
7. Long live the LEFT THUMB Backspace and Delete keys! Remember that you can program (“remap”) any keys to suit your personal needs.
8. The keyboard fits into a standard under-desk sliding keyboard drawer, with dimensions: 16.5″ wide x 3″ high x 8″ deep.
9. Kinesis offers a 60-day refund, but I expect the majority of keyboards are kept, or possibly upgraded to higher models.
10. An extensive family of accessories is available, with reasonable prices. The company also sells the non-programmable Essential MPC for $265.00, and the advanced programmable Professional MPC for $395. If you’re interested in using a Dvorak key layout instead of the typical QWERTY layout, Kinesis now makes Macintosh-compatible Dvorak units: “We offer a QWERTY/Dvorak dual legend switchable keyboard. The user can switch ‘on the fly’ between layouts, and because it is hard wired into the keyboard, it does not require any special software or drivers,” says Biggs.
A few peculiar attributes of the Kinesis family of keyboards are:
1. The “embedded numeric keypad” can be activated in several ways. I could use a bit more time to take full advantage of this feature.
Jon Biggs from Kinesis tells me that:
You can either press the “Keypad” function key or use a foot switch to activate the embedded keypad. We have found that people who extensively use the keypad love this feature because they never have to move their hands to type numbers and they can use a foot switch to move back and forth between typing letters and numbers.
I should also mention that by “embedding” the keypad into the right keywell it greatly reduces the width of the keyboard. This allows the user to locate a pointing device much closer to them, reducing the reach as compared to other keyboards.
2. Thumb keys are used for keystrokes and combinations, including (LEFT SIDE) Backspace, Delete, Home, and End; and (RIGHT SIDE) Page Up, Page Down, Enter, and Space. Both the COMMAND and OPTION keys are available from either left or right thumb. The integral design of all these thumb keys redistributes workload away from overused little fingers to underused, stronger thumbs.
Biggs continues:
On a traditional keyboard the majority of the keying workload is allocated to your weakest fingers. According to one study, your little finger (which is also your weakest, in terms of maximum finger-pushing force) is assigned the greatest number of keys (25), while your strongest finger, the thumb is allocated the least number of keys (1). Not only do the thumb keys found on the Kinesis keyboard redistribute the keying workload, they also minimize the awkward and extensive reaching to specific keys.
3. Left and right fingers do most typing in separate concave key wells, each containing 28 keys. This separation of the hands, and the corresponding finger pressing actions, takes several weeks to become automatic. (It’s difficult to describe the experience of using a Kinesis keyboard, perhaps even more difficult than actually doing the learning!)
Jon Biggs states:
One of the more damaging characteristics of a traditional keyboard is that it promotes hand and finger extension. Meaning, the joints in our hands and fingers curl up and extend forward from your hands rather than relaxing down slightly in the direction of the palms. Also a traditional keyboard does not accommodate for the relative lengths of your fingers (e.g. a flat surface assumes all of your fingers are the same length), thereby, forcing your longer fingers to arch up over the keys.
Kinesis contoured keyboards addresses these problems by (1) creating concave wells by which to type in; placing your hands in a much more natural and relaxed position and (2) adjusting individual key heights to accommodate for the varying lengths of your fingers.
IN CONCLUSION
Given the research and quality built into every Kinesis keyboard, plus the 60-day return policy, I strongly RECOMMEND users with physical pain consider this keyboard immediately. Everyone else should become familiar with this family of ergonomic keyboards and accessories. Two thumbs up! I wish I could keep my Classic MPC, but I’ll be sending it back to Kinesis soon. Too soon.
MacMice Rating: 3.5
John Nemerovski
nemo@mymac.com
Websites mentioned:
http://www.kinesis-ergo.com
http://www.tidbits.com
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