Sanwa's Keyboard: Don't Worry, It's Not a Busted Laptop

Japanese peripherals manufacturer Sanwa has released a new keyboard with a built-in laptop-style touchpad. The first time I saw its pictures, I thought that it's yet another case of laptop abuse from an user that got a bluescreen too many.

No, this is just another peaceful clone of a notebook environment for those users who think it's hard to use a conventional PC keyboard after years of using the personal notebook. While many desktop PC users would attach an external mouse to their notebook to boost their productivity, hardcore laptop users would find it very difficult to have their right hand away from the keyboard.

The keyboard has a silver finish that perfectly imitates the look-and-feel of a generic notebook. The laptop-like touchpad sensor is accompanies by the two mouse buttons that are placed just below it. The touchpad is completely functional and lets the user perform miscellaneous mouse tasks directly from the keyboard.

I never considered replacing the mouse with a touchpad, and I would rather add one if I am forced to deal with a notebook PC, but it seems that there is a niche for these products, since Samsung is offering a similar product, too. Moreover, there are some situations when such an invention is welcome: imagine you have to control your home-theater PC while sitting on a couch - there's nothing much a mouse can do.

The keys are identical to those lower caps used in laptop keyboards and this can be pretty annoying for a user that needs speed and efficiency in typing. But then again, I already told you that the keyboard is to be used especially with multimedia PCs, and I strongly doubt that there are users who need proficiency while connected to the big living-room plasma screen.

The keyboard comes in three different models: the 29 cm wide SKB-TP01SV ($77) model, the 21 cm wide SKB-TP02SV ($86), and the SKB-WLTP01SV ($155), a wireless version of the SKB-TP01SV.