Personally I think that these devices have no future, as they are dumber versions of portable computers (laptops and netbooks). If we compare tablet computers with laptops we can see that a laptop has the most features, while the tablet lacks an adequate number of input devices (keyboard, mouse) and storage devices. The iPad for example doesn’t have a hard drive, nor a memory card reader, so you can only transfer files to its limited internal flash memory (8/16/32/64GB) from a computer through a USB cable or network connection, or simply from the internet through 3G or Wi-fi.

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If I would have to choose only one accessory for my tablet computer, it would have to be the attachable keyboard, available for most models, including all versions of the iPad and the Android-based tablets. Unfortunately the touchscreen is all you can count on to use as pointing device, unless you happen to spend a lot of money on some expensive Logitech tablet computer accessories.

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This $50 Bluetooth mouse is meant to be used with Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) tablets. Unfortunately Apple’s iPad doesn’t support Bluetooth mice by default, so only if you jailbreak it, can this function be enabled. Jailbreaking an Apple gadget is of course against the law, as Apple wants to be fully in control of the way users configure and connect their Apple gadgets to other tablet computer accessories.

There are several other useful accessories that are addressed to smaller groups of users. but add very little to the functionality of tablet computers. It’s hard to say what advantages did these flat portable computers bring into the hands of users. At the end of the day you realize that you can’t really use tablet computers instead of laptops without adding a lot of accessories and they are also too big to use them as phones. The one thing that tablet computers are good at is being efficient. Normally a laptop or netbook needs about 10-20Watts of power to surf the web, listen to music or work in office applications, while tablets need just around 5Watts. Lower power consumption also means that there’s no need for active cooling, so this may be the second advantage of these gadgets, at least until laptops will become even more efficient.

Owning such a Razer keyboard will permanently stop you from blaming the keyboard whenever you lose a game or make a wrong move. It uses Ultrapolling at 1000Hz, which means an impressive 1ms response time for any key pressed. On the right instead of the keypad this keyboard has an LCD touchpad with 10 programmable tactile keys above, also backlit by the LCD, displaying the function icon on every key.

Razer Keyboard

The rest of the keys on the keyboards look very simple, just like on any high-end keyboard, like the Apple Wireless Keyboard. Of course all keys are backlit and the frame of the keyboard also lights up in the appropriate color, so you can easily remember on which side you’re fighting. In fact the keyboard had a multi-color LED for the ligting of the frame, so you can set it to virtually any shade of any color, depending on your mood or the game you’re playing. Not bad for a $200 keyboard, right?

The Star Wars Razer keyboard will be accompanied by a very special mouse featuring two highly sensitive sensors. It will also feature the 1ms reaction time, just like the Razer keyboard. It will have an estimated retail price of $129. What I don’t find practical on this mouse is the huge number of programmable buttons, 17 to be more exact, all of which can be pushed by your thumb.

Razer Keyboard

If you have these two computer accessories, then all you need is a low response time monitor. Alienware (owned by Dell) makes some high quality gaming monitors with 1-2ms response time, but the biggest problem of gamers has to do with internet latency. The average time for a packet to travel from you to the game server and back is about 50ms, which is at least 10 times longer than all the input and output devices combined (keyboard 1ms + mouse 1ms + monitor 1ms). I expect to see more products trying to resolve this much more important problem than with input/output devices.

Dinovo Wireless Keyboards

On the picture above you can see the smaller – diNovo Mini – keyboard. It has a unique design, based on the standard QWERTY layout and surrounded by a lot of multimedia function keys. Directional keys (arrows) have an unconventional shape, right above the ENTER key. They are meant to be used in menus, just like on modern TV/DVD player/TV BOX remotes, with an OK button in the middle. The Logitech diNovo Mini keyboard connects to a computer through Bluetooth.

If your computer doesn’t have a Bluetooth adapter, then you’ll have to purchase one separately, because the keyboard’s retail package doesn’t include one. If this keyboard has a weakness is its internal Lithium-Ion battery, which lasts for up to a month between charges. This is very poor efficiency amongst today’s wireless keyboards and mice, as they can work for at least 6 months on a single charge. Of course the keyboards I’m talking about use proprietary 2.4GHz radio transmissions, and not Bluetooth. The Logitech diNovo Mini woreless keyboard costs around $150.

Dinovo Wireless Keyboards

As you can see in the picture, the Logitech diNovo Edge wireless keyboard resembles a standard computer keyboard. It has all the keys you need to operate your computer, and more. A special so-called TouchDisc touchpad can be found on the right, which is just like a laptop touchpad, except for the fact that it’s round. Above this there’s a touch sensitive volume control and mute button.

The Logitech diNovo Edge wireless keyboard has just a couple more extra buttons on the left, including zoom and power management controls. You can see that it was designed for typing, as it uses the whisper-quiet PerfectStroke key system and it’s also fitted with a palm rest. It comes with a charging base and USB Bluetooth mini receiver for just $161. The integrated 950 mAh battery lasts for up to 2 months.

All in all both diNovo wireless keyboards are very practical and they also look great. Compared to an Apple wireless keyboard they cost more, but have a lot more prectical features.

The backlit keyboard concept might have come from cell phones, which are ultra-portable devices and we use them in many different lighting conditions.

Keyboard

Computers on the other hand are used at home or at the office, where I assume that there’s electricity and lighting. For laptops to on the other hand backlit keyboards may make sense, because we may use them in the dark, where is no electricity nor lighting. This scenario is also unlikely, because usually the display’s backlighting emits enough light in the direction of the keyboard too.

Backlit Keyboard

Backlit keyboards have a hidden advantage, forgotten a long time ago. Early computer keyboards were made of two different color materials, I’m referring to the keys of course. The body of each key was white, while its letter or description was made of black plastic. This way keyboards had a very long life, as they were very durable in construction, but key descriptions also didn’t disappear.

Today most keyboards have letters and descriptions painted on, or applied to the surface using other cheap techniques. They all get worn out quickly, within the first 1-2 years of use, as the human skin and sometimes even our nails touch the keys and slowly destroy their surface.

Keyboard

So backlit keyboards have the advantage of being constructed out of two different color materials, preferably the key is made of black, non-transparent material, while the letters and descriptions are made of see-through material (not necessarily 100% clear), in order to allow the backlighting to surface.

Good quality backlit or illuminated keyboards cost around $100, for example a slim Logitech illuminated keyboard with palm rest sells for $80.

Apple Keyboards

Apple Wireless Keyboard is one of the coolest input devices ever designed. It doesn’t have any strangely shaped buttons or palm rest, it’s just a small and practical keyboard. The best thing about it is that it connects through Bluetooth to an Apple laptop or desktop, so you don’t have to worry about wires. Nowadays most Apple computers come with integrated Bluetooth, thus avoiding the unpleasant sight of a Bluetooth adapter sticking out of a USB port.

Buttons are very similar to what laptops have, so in a sense it prepares the average user for the foreseeable migration (from desktops to laptops). Users already familiar with laptop keyboards also benefit from Apple’s keyboard design, because they don’t have to remember separate keyboard layouts for their MacBook and Mac desktop computer.

If we look at the fine materials used in Apple Wireless Keyboard, the $69 price isn’t exaggerated at all.

Apple Keyboards

Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad is a different story. It connects through a simple USB 2.0 cable and also serves as a USB HUB.

Apple Keyboards

As you can see the space in the back of the keyboard, which would have been used for the wireless module and batteries for it, now is much smaller and houses only a two-way USB hub. One USB cable goes in, and it’s split between the keyboard and an additional external device. This external USB port can support any USB device in the form of a USB stick and also some external hard drives which don’t require more power than the USB port has to offer.

Apple Keyboards

Apple suggests that you can connect a wired Apple mouse to avoid another cable going to the computer case. This mouse costs $49, the same price as Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad. As practical as these accessories may be, the price is usually exaggerated when more types of accessories have the same price tag.

In conclusion all these Apple accessories are worth buying if you have the money for them. They are very comfortable to use and can be easily cleaned.

As you can see, these locks are very low-tech computer accessories, because they don’t have any electric or electronic parts, but resemble simple bike-chains. As a consequence, these computer locks are a temporary solution. If you lock your laptop with it to a table in a public place for example, someone can’t take it and run away with it easily. On the other hand, if the computer is left without anyone watching, the thief may have some tools that can free the laptop in a couple of minutes.

Kensington Computer Accessories

There are quite a few available models, some are harder to break, others can be simply pulled off the desk’s leg (the one seen on the picture) if the thief manages to avoid its built-in sounding alarm.

Attaching a Kensington lock to the monitor makes a lot of sense in a public place, but if you think about it, the thief will probably look behind the monitor to free the cables. He will notice it and could still get away with the monitor. Nowadays it’s hard to imagine that a room with at least two or three computers can’t afford at least a video security system.

Kensington Computer Accessories

They are very cheap, an average central unit costs around $200 (hard drive included) and an average analog camera another $50. Using a security camera and making an insurance are much smarter anti-theft solutions. In this way you’ll get your money back, the stolen goods might be recovered and the robber could get caught.

Kensington Computer Accessories

Other Kensington computer accessories include mice, keyboards, mobile phone and smart phone accessories, docks and stands for laptops, power adapters, chargers and different net-book accessories. Few of the most practical net-book accessories are listed on a page of the official website.

A kit containing three essential net-book accessories costs about $40. I don’t know why a reversible sleeve is better than a non-reversible one, but both types protect the net-book from dust and other minor exterior factors. The truth is that even if you buy a slightly thicker laptop case, it probably won’t protect your laptop if you drop it from a 1m height. Special laptops designed for surviving falls and liquid spills live through falls without any kind of cases, but that’s a whole other category and price range.

Kensington Computer Accessories

The optical mouse isn’t optional for productivity on the road. The incorporated track pad or touch pad is compact, very precise, but it simply has no efficiency. I would like to see some improvements in that field, after all these years when manufacturers just added a couple of virtual buttons to the track-pad and multi-touch functions. Absolutely impractical if you’d ask me. The $40 kit also includes a Kensington lock for situations when you can’t be sure what kind of people pass by your opened and vulnerable net-book.

Kensington also recommends an extra universal charger for $50, a USB hub and other types of optical mice for net-books, however the Essential kit should be sufficient for most users.

Although there are several types of keyboards available today, their main architecture is the same, mostly QWERTY arrangement, above them the numbers and F1-F12 function keys. ENTER/TAB/SHIFT(s)/CTRL/ALT/MENU/START/HOME/END … etc. keys can be found on all keyboards.

Not even the A-shape design was able to change the keyboard preferences of the big majority of computer users. Even Apple, a company known for trying to challenge tradition, kept the original keyboard design, but made it out of different, more elegant materials than plastic.

In my opinion, the keyboard design won’t change in the next 10-20 years either, but there are two concepts, which may become practical if they will be made compatible with a large number of games and applications.

The first one is basically a big touch-screen, used only for displaying keys and receiving input.

It’s a very interesting concept implemented in a couple of laptop models. It’s major disadvantage is the lack of physical parts. Typing isn’t very comfortable when done on a hard flat surface, which doesn’t react to the touch of your fingers. The other problem huge could be fixed. As you can see in the picture, you have to keep your hands in the air at all times. If you touch the keyboard even slightly, then keys are activated. By fine-tuning the software that analyzes the input, it can be adjusted for a specific typing style, but this raises more questions about where to draw the limits. Your typing style may be dependent on your mood, so if you’re angry and press down harder on the buttons then the software’s settings should also change. For now this solution is most suited for public computers (in libraries, ATMs …etc.) where all kinds of people may require different keyboard layouts. Even though most such computers have only one language installed (English, Chinese …etc), it would be nice if anyone could type in his own native language. We’ll see in which direction they will take this technology, but until then there’s another keyboard concept also based on a color screen.

This little gaming netbook resolved the problem of the mechanical feel as it’s made with transparent buttons. Underneath these buttons there are small LCD screens (or just a big one?) which display the chosen function for each key. For gamers it’s an excellent solution, because they don’t have to memorize which letter does what, because the picture of the function is shown on each key. When playing on traditional keyboards, these icons would be displayed on the bottom of the screen, or wherever the player puts them.

They could either be pressed with the mouse or with the appropriate button on the keyboard. Both solutions are less efficient than pressing the icons directly with your fingers, without covering a part of the screen with your hands. These are the two designs which in my opinion may have a future, but this next concept will surely fail before it enters the market.

Projected keys can be seen in science fiction movies and some prototypes have also been built, but they accumulate a lot a flaws. One is the lack of mechanical feel as I have mentioned before about the touch-screen keyboard. The other obvious flaw is having to keep your fingers raised in the air while not typing. Nothing new up to this point, but the picture reveals yet another problem, caused by your fingers getting in the way of the red beams. You constantly face eight annoying moving red dots as the keyboard projector’s light reflects from you fingernails. Pros who never look down on the keyboard may not be bothered by it, but such a phenomenon may cause psychical problems as you force yourself not to look down on what’s happening to your fingers with the moving red lights.

The years went by, and today I type as quickly as those characters in the movies. And there is more. As I revisit those movies and I take a closer look at what they are doing on computers I realize now that they were faking it. There is no way they could operate those programs by randomly striking the keys./learninguspc_stickers_s.jpg” alt=”"

Even though I understood the miracle of television, I cannot explain how I came to write so fast and to know every key on the keyboard. The only explanation I have is that I have been working very, very much on computer. If anyone asks me to help them do the same I couldn’t.

Unlike me, there are very many people who know how use the keyboard. Let’s see an eight-step crash course to how to get acquainted with the keys.

Step 1: on our computer we choose the On-Screen Keyboard. To do that we go to Start button, find All programs, Accessories, and Accessibility heading.

Step 2: we click on the blue toolbar to make sure the window is active.

Step 3: we press the Alt key and keep it down while pressing Print Screen key to copy the image of On-Screen Keyboard. Alt key can be found by looking for the key that has Alt imprinted on it. Print Screen is the key that has PrtSC on it.

Step 4: the copied image must be pasted in a Word document.

Step5: we print the page in Word in as many copies as we can.

Step 6: in order to play the acronym game, we must write our name vertically down the left side of the sheet.

Step 7: with a pen, maybe with different color for each letter, we could trace the letters. We mark the letters that compose our name on the printed keyboard.

Step 8: we can think about spelling a word that would begin with the letters of our name. This will create a mental connexion between the words we say and their counterpart letters on the keyboard.

This is one exercise that can help us create mental connexions between things pertaining to our own universe and the keyboard. It may actually work. But this is only a first step in getting acquainted with how to use the keyboard. It takes a lot of practice and very many hours or even days to type fast and correctly on the computer keyboard.

On the other hand, this kind of laptop cases look great and have a lot of storage compartments for additional HP laptop computer accessories. This specific model is made by Targus and supports laptop sizes up to 17”. It costs just under $50, so it’s one of the cheapest shock-resistant computer cases around. Next on the popularity list is the HP 11.6” Mini Sleeve that addresses a completely different type of user.

These little laptop cases offer protection mostly against scratches and dust, shock protection is not really an option at such small dimensions. People who buy netbooks (laptops with screens smaller than 12”) usually want maximum portability, and less safety. It wouldn’t make sense to put a small laptop in a thick protective case. At a $25 price it may be the best choice for HP mini laptops.

The best and most ergonomic laptop case is the backpack. The most popular backpack, SwissGear 17″ Pegasus Backpack is unfortunately in sixth place on HP’s popularity list, so a conclusion would be that people don’t really care about health when it comes to one of the most visible accessories.

It costs $80, but it’s worth every cent, because not only does it divide the laptop’s weight equally on you shoulders, but it also frees up your hands to walk more naturally and to do more important things than holding a bag. At home at at the office the most important accessory for laptops is the standard keyboard and mouse, that make it possible to increase productivity compared to the laptop’s miniature input devices.

This original HP Wireless Multimedia Keyboard and Mouse cost $60. The most important features include multimedia controls on the keyboard, fast scrolling rubber mouse wheel and extended battery life. They keyboard works for up to a year on two AA batteries while the batteries in the mouse have to be changed every 6 months. Compared to early wireless accessories that needed recharging (or replacement batteries) after every 1-2 weeks, these are very close to perfect. Another laptop accessory that is worth investing in is a good docking station.

It costs $100 and it comes in handy when you have a lot of accessories at home that you don’t take with you, just the laptop. If this is the case you just disconnect the laptop from the docking port, and you’re ready to go. As you can see it supports all kinds of accessories including one monitor, analog and digital audio input/output jacks and most importantly it also has a power adapter, so you don’t have to take out the charger from the bag, you may use it only for travel. Although HP brand monitors are a bit more expensive than less-known brands, today we’re looking at only HP products.

It’s important to choose a monitor with the highest possible resolution, while size doesn’t really matter when it comes to productivity. This $212 21.5″ monitor is ideal for programs, games and any FullHD content.

It has a unique rugged design, with an attached USB cable, so you’ll never lose it. Thanks to advances made in hard disk durability, this little portable hard drive is both drop and spill resistant. Many people don’t realize it, but the standard mechanical hard disk is one of the most advanced computer component with an average life of 10 years, while other components die or become obsolete after a couple of years. Another portable storage device that has a 10 times smaller capacity costs $64 at Walmart:

USB Flash drives have come a long way in the last few years. I still remember taking pictures with my old HP PhotoSmart 120 digital camera on 16MB and 32MB flash memory cards.

Today they are already working on breaking the 1TB barrier with SSDs (solid state drives), flash memory cards and USB flash drives. It looks like HP ignored Apple’s idea to make mice with touchpad surfaces, so it made a very cool wireless keyboard and mouse set:

The HP Wireless Elite Desktop Keyboard and Mouse (FQ481AA) kit costs only $54. Both devices connect to the same USB wireless receiver. This suggests that only one-way communication takes place between the keyboard (or mouse) and the USB wireless receiver. It shouldn’t be a problem, most keyboard functions don’ require feedback, although I can name one situation that may cause some confusion. When you are using two keyboards, one is wired and the other one this HP wireless keyboard, and you press Caps Lock for example on the wireless keyboard. The caps lock LEDs on both keyboard light up, but if you press the Caps Lock button on the wired keyboard no information is transmitted to the wireless keyboard, so it’s caps lock light stays turned off. Another useful input device is the Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch Medium Tablet at a $170 price:

It connects to a USB port and serves as both touchpad and drawing tablet. Connected to any desktop or laptop helps the user in almost all kinds of creative work like photo editing or 3D modeling.