Logitech DINOVO MEDIA DESKTOP BLUETOOTH K/B MEDIA PAD & MOUSE (Logitech-9673120403)

Logitech DiNovo Media Desktop

DINOVO MEDIA DESKTOP BLUETOOTH K/B MEDIA PAD & MOUSE (Logitech-9673120403) Review, by Aoife M. McEvoy April 23, 2004

Show More Show Less

0 Comments | 0 Topics | Print Only This Review

• Reviewed by: jebusa47

  Strengths: Space saver

  Weaknesses: Pieces get lost

  Overall: Had a bit of trouble getting it to connect at first but now works just great. With the number pad not part of the keyboard it tends to end up not where the keyboard is.

• Reviewed by: rongripon

  Strengths: Small, easy to pack keyboard and mouse. If Media Pad needed, also easy to pack but normally don't need.

  Weaknesses: Keys don't respond quite as well as normal keyboard.

  Overall: Very good product. Pricy but if you look around you can find it a bit more reasonable. Product being used in Tradeshows and keeps the cables out of sight, except for mouse charger. After purchase service from Logitech is great.

• Reviewed by: NicholasMacer

  Strengths: Media keys, separate number pad, crisp key action, very slick look & feel

  Weaknesses: Mouse battery life, key configurability, possibly some compatibility issues with old games.

  Overall: Wow! This keyboard is slick. The lines are subtle and the fact that it?s not packed in with extra web buttons really lends some class to my desk. The key action is similar to laptop keys, providing not much vertical movement, but I find the crispness to be greater then the laptops I have used which give a feeling of weight to the keys without being clunky. They feel very nice to type on. The mouse though is why I bought this set instead of the ?Laser mouse? DiNovo set. It looks and feels almost identical to the MX 7000, meaning that as a backwards left-hander, there is really only one button that is difficult for me to access, meanwhile I went to a comp USA store and had a look at the ?Laser Mouse,? which was so ergonomically designed as to make left handed operation very uncomfortable, and many of the buttons would be totally unusable. Unlike my old MX Duo set, however, when I place the mouse in the charge cradle it starts charging right away with no need to fiddle with it or tape it down to ensure a proper connection. This was a worry point for me when making this purchase, and I?m glad to see that Logitech has corrected this issue. The number pad for this keyboard is unique in that it is not attached. It can operate as a freestanding calculator, it can be used to navigate the screen using non-configurable navigation buttons, or it can be a standard 10-key pad. Logitech refers to it as the ?Media Pad.? I find this a handy feature since I don?t usually need a number pad handy, but I can walk around the house and change my music from other rooms. Also, my slide-out keyboard tray on my desk is not wide enough to fit a standard keyboard and mouse. Stick the media pad on a shelf and all of a sudden the mouse fits fine.There are four buttons on the main keyboard, and one on the media pad that can be freely reconfigured to perform a modicum of various tasks; and only ones predefined by the Logitech software. The software for the MX Duo provided greater flexibility to reconfigure keys, and I was a little disappointed by this. One of the things you can do is create custom menus that appear on the screen with web pages or programs, but these menus are not keyboard navigable. So to launch a movie with the media pad from the couch I can hit the media button, and a menu appears with options to run WMP, Winamp, Power DVD, and RealPlayer, but pressing the up and down keys do not navigate the menu so I still have to get up and physically walk to my mouse and click on one. This is a major oversight in my opinion because it means you might as well not have the media pad if you still have to walk back to the desk. Also, the battery life of the mouse is adequate, if you remember to place it in the charger before bed. It lasts about two straight days on a charge, but what is severely annoying is the low battery warning. On my MX 7000 the little red LED would begin to flash at about two hours to failure, giving me plenty of time to find a stopping place in my game or work and if necessary go pull my USB mouse out of my backup box. With the DiNovo I get the low battery warning about ten minutes before the mouse goes dead. If I want to finish what I was doing I have to have my USB mouse out and handy at all times, kind of defeating the purpose of the cordless desktop. This is easily remedied by simply remembering to charge the mouse at regular intervals, but I am forgetful. I also have a funny problem when trying to run any of the ?Rainbow Six? family of games. The mouse movement works fine, but all keystrokes and button clicks have a few second delay, making game play 100% impossible. I have not ruled out everything yet, but I have a strong suspicion that the Bluetooth keyboard connection is somehow to blame. Halo, Max Payne, and RTW run fine however. Overall performance, quality, and style I think is far superior to the MX Duo despite some annoying limitations, but remember, this is just a keyboard and mouse. There is very little that you can do on this baby that the keyboard from my first 286 would not do just as well (and in the case of that stupid start button, sometimes the extra functionality is a con), so if you are buying this as a status symbol to finish off that mega system you?ve just built, go right ahead, or if you?re looking for something elegant you can keep in the living room to run your media PC, I think this is one of the best. If you just want to type in WinWord, don?t waste your money, by a $6 keyboard at your local computer store.

• Reviewed by: jtrousdale

  Strengths: Nice Design, quiet keys.

  Weaknesses: Intermittent problems with keyboard not being recognized by the PC (running XP Home with all updates) - happened so much, I am done with this - back to the trusty corded keyboard and mouse.

  Overall: I have owned this keyboard/mouse for over five months and at first all seemed to function well. The mediapad seemed to drain the two Duracell batteries fast. Lately, the keyboard would "lose" it's connection with the PC. Occasionally all three (keyboard, media pad, and mouse) would lose connection and after MANY attempts to reconnect and fix the issue - I give up. Technology should not be this challenging. I have tried new batteries, alternate USB ports, uninstalled and reinstalled the factory software, downloaded the latest software from Logitech (updated in 2004) and nothing seems to make this stable and reliable. That's all I want from a keyboard/mouse. It is time to retire this keyboard - It's not worth the fuss and frustration. Give me something that works and works well! Logitech needs to work on this before I will dare try another product from them.

• Reviewed by: FujiRider

  Strengths: Bluetooth, Nice Design, Very Quiet

  Weaknesses: Slight delay before keyboard/mouse/media pad is recognized

  Overall: The looks of the Logitech Dinovo Media Desktop is just amazing. The colors go nicely with the high tech design of the combo. The keyboard, mouse, and media pad does have a slight delay until it is recognized by the system. But you can solve that easily by touching a key or moving the mouse on each of the devices so it is recognized so your keystrokes are read. It takes some time to adjust to this keyboard but once you do, typing feels natural once again. I love that when you do type, the keyboard is silent and it just feels great in your hands. I also used the bluetooth to connect to my phone and headset and it works great.