Premium Keyboard/Mouse Combo at a Premium Price

I did quite a bit of research before buying my Logitech DiNovo Bluetooth Keyboard/Mouse combo. I was looking for the best combo out there, and I think I've found it.

Keyboard:
Unlike other clunky, button-filled keyboards on the market, the DiNovo has a very clean, minimalist design. There are 3 customizable buttons on the keyboard, volume and mute controls, and a clever round media oriented switch to stop, fast forward, rewind, and pause/play music or video. The keyboard is imperceptibly thin, resembling a laptop keyboard. Keys are light to the touch, and a thin rubberized area at the base is comfortable for many hours of typing. Battery life is respectable. 4 AA's power my keyboard for about 8 months at a time.

MediaPad:
Logitech has done an interesting thing by making this part of the package. Instead of including a number pad on the keyboard itself, the DiNovo set includes this unique MediaPad that acts as a calculator, number pad, media controller, and basic navigator through Windows. It contains the same volume and media switch as the keyboard, but it also sports an LCD, which normally displays date and time. When in calculator mode, all operations are displayed on this screen. When a song or video is playing, the title and progress of the track are displayed. Remember, this is bluetooth; the MediaPad can control volume and playlist progress from up to 30 feet away. Very impressive. Logitech really paid attention to detail with this product: calculations made on the MediaPad are automatically copied for easy pasting in Windows. The MediaPad operates on 2 AA batteries, and life is substantially lower than that of the keyboard, due mostly to the LCD. Expect about 4 or 5 months.

Mouse:
My model came with the MX900 optical mouse, while the newest iteration sports an MX1000 laser mouse. There isn't too much to say about the mouse, aside from the fact that it's Bluetooth. Logitech does not make a Bluetooth MX1000, citing their customer base's (serious gamers) disinterest in a Bluetooth mouse which would not provide the response times of a cordless model. However, people who buy the DiNovo are looking for the best Logitech has to offer, so I am happy to see their inclusion of a Bluetooth MX1000. Unlike the keyboard and MediaPad, the mouse uses a rechargeable battery. Simply slide the mouse into the included recharging station.

Overall Comments:
This is a wonderful addition to a desktop computer, as it adds Bluetooth functionality to easily share data with a laptop, cell phone, or PDA. The pairing process with the individual pieces is quite simple, and Logitech did a good job with the operating software. I have a computer with Windows Media Center, so I don't take advantage of the included media software. I did install it, however, for a quick test. As one would expect, it doesn't quite compete with Media Center, but for someone who has a regular Windows OS, the media abilities of the software are excellent.