New Dell keyboard and mouse leak out

Dell has a ways to go before it can match, say, Microsoft's peripheral acumen -- or the considerable buzz being generated by Blue Track at the moment. That said, the computer giant looks to have a couple new ones in the pipeline, and that's always a treat for the folks too poor or lazy to replace their pre-bundled keyboard and mouse. The keyboard's short-throw keys will be a love it or hate it affair, but the media keys seem nice enough, while the mouse offers sensitivity-denoting LEDs and some laser tech underneath to match those smooth, predictable contours. No word on a ship date, but look for these to show up in your new Dell boxes before long.

[Zinger314 @ Sep 9th 2008 9:15AM]

Zoinks! It's the Zen Mosaic on a keyboard!

[SimonRichards @ Sep 9th 2008 9:17AM]

These products pretty much sum up Dell as a whole...

[Wwhat @ Sep 9th 2008 11:19AM]

Ouch.

[Dr Zoidberg @ Sep 9th 2008 12:03PM]

What, black?

That makes no sense.

[SimonRichards @ Sep 9th 2008 6:39PM]

Dell....is just...dull, that's what it means.

[TheAzureKnight @ Sep 9th 2008 9:18AM]

Fuck ugly....like almost everything made by Dell.

And yes that includes the ugly wedge shaped Studio Line.

In fact the only good looking thing I've seen from Dell is their Studio Hybrid but seeing as that doesn't have Montevina and is overpriced (in my opinion) then it really isn't worthy of looking into.

[Colin Potter @ Sep 9th 2008 9:22AM]

Hmmm... yes... How extremely mediocre of you Dell.

[Andrew @ Sep 9th 2008 9:27AM]

That mouse is going to be sooooo uncomfortable. At least make it somewhat ergonomic please

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 9th 2008 9:28AM]

Here, I think I found the right PC for you.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/08/hp-specs-a-24-hour-elitebook-dells-19-hour-mark-hangs-its-head/

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 9th 2008 9:29AM]

(Reply to: TheAzureKnight)

[TheAzureKnight @ Sep 9th 2008 9:33AM]

I don't need a business laptop but if I did that wouldn't be a completely bad option. It looks a lot better than most business laptops from HP and Dell to be honest.

My current laptop that I order is the HP Pavilion dv7t and I can't wait till it arrives!

I have nothing against Dell except the quality and the look of their products. Their prices are good but if they simply made them look at least decent I'd buy them. As it is now I can't stand almost all their notebood products. Desktops are okay though.

[dc @ Sep 9th 2008 9:39AM]

I used to be a big keyboard guy... stuck with the Microsoft Natural Keyboard on my desktop and have stuck with the ThinkPads on the portable side. With that said, I generally liked the prebundled Dell keyboards. When my Natural keyboard failed on me, I grabbed one of the prebundled Dell keyboards (the ones with the tiny footprint) and have used it ever since. Yeah it's a little cramp but for it's size, it's not all that bad...

[guybrush @ Sep 9th 2008 9:43AM]

That is just UGLY!

[Magallanes @ Sep 9th 2008 11:49AM]

No, it is not just ugly but FUGLY!

Anyways, the power of dell is their cheap pc market

[Cardbored @ Sep 9th 2008 9:53AM]

Well at least it has blue LEDs? Those are cool... right?

[Adderz @ Sep 9th 2008 9:54AM]

I think i just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

[michas_pi @ Sep 9th 2008 11:57AM]

I pooped a little.

[Ed @ Sep 9th 2008 9:56AM]

Anyone else have the urge to cut something with that keyboard? ... like your own wrists?

Mouse looks ok, props for the LED(s) ... but that keyboard looks like a razorblade =/

[DS @ Sep 9th 2008 9:57AM]

I actually really like the current Dell keyboards. I've used a lot of keyboards, including high-end ones from Microsoft and Logitech, but for some reason I greatly prefer typing on the free ones Dell currently bundles in. It's nice having just a plain keyboard, without a bunch of media keys or swaths of empty plastic taking up space. I have a couple of them in storage for when they get discontinued.

[Aaronage @ Sep 9th 2008 9:59AM]

The definition of bland :P

[Dan @ Sep 9th 2008 10:00AM]

Engadget, why are you reposting stories that Gizmodo posted 2 days ago with the same photos? http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/09/new_dell_keyboard_and_mouse_are_destined_for_millions_of_cubicles_across_the_globe-2.html

[Monte @ Sep 9th 2008 1:19PM]

Is this really the first time you've noticed that Engadget and Gizmodo often cover the same stories (hello, they're both gadget blogs) and that they don't always report them at the exact same time? As for the pictures being the same, they both use the same source.

Brilliant detective work. You totally busted Engadget!

[cmil1212 @ Sep 9th 2008 10:02AM]

Not as ugly as the apple crap, but anyone in their right mind usually gets replacements.

[Ian @ Sep 9th 2008 10:42AM]

I really like the basic dell keyboards. My only problem with the current ones is that they are too light and have a tendency to move around on the desktop. I don't EVER use media keys except for the mute, vol+ and vol- so I try to avoid paying more for the fancy stuff on most of MS's keyboards. I recently picked up the low end MS Laser Desktop 3000. I love the keyboard and mouse. I needed a new keyboard and figured I'd just keep my MX1000 but have completely replaced it with MS's mouse. Keyboard has minimal 'extra' keys, and the mouse just feels nice to my hands.

[wickedpheonix @ Sep 9th 2008 10:44AM]

Why should I even care?

[Wwhat @ Sep 9th 2008 11:22AM]

It looks like old-skool unattractive we-didn't-try worthless stuff.
The blue led is to assure you against all the rest of the signs that this isn't from the 80's or something.

[Wwhat @ Sep 9th 2008 11:24AM]

Of course these aren't the best of shots to sell the product, I'm sure a skilled photographer and some photoshop smoothing can make this look like the bee's knees.

[hyperdyne @ Sep 9th 2008 11:26AM]

This is a major step backwards. Like other readers, I love how slim/space-saving the current Dell keyboards are. It's hard to find keyboards without a bunch of crap media buttons on the top or a wrist rest that can't be detached.

[DK @ Sep 9th 2008 12:21PM]

What's so special about it?

[Jason @ Sep 9th 2008 2:25PM]

When covering a story you might want to cover where the content came from or at least give credit to the site that broke the story.

http://www.techwarelabs.com/community/showthread.php?t=16475

[tiuk @ Sep 10th 2008 1:35AM]

I'm still trying to figure out how they thought it was a good idea to ship mechanical ball mice rather than optical as a default option a year or so ago. You'd think ball mice would actually cost more than cheap opticals these days.