11 KiB
| layout | title | created | disqus_url | categories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| post | Lenovo mini wireless keyboard N5901 | 1262907150 | /node/136 | [gadgets review] |
If you are looking for real keyboard replacement, this is not for you, but if you are looking for small keyboard for your media center, hear this out. You might not aware of this product since it’s way too underrated. In fact, I was looking for a good deal on diNovo mini, but I have yet to find cheap/affordable one. $99 for this little keyboard is still way too much, at least for me.
However, with the release of Lenovo nettop, they bundled mini wireless keyboard with that set too. Fortunately, they also have the little keyboard for sale separately for $59.99 regularly. I was just lucky to have $30 off coupon along with it. What you don’t get out of this comparing to Logitech diNovo mini is Windows Media Center thing—WMC dedicated button and stuffs. This keyboard is more like traditional keyboard with a small set of multimedia control such as volume up/down, mute, play/pause, reverse, forward, but it’s one-third the price; that sounds good to me.
Design & Build Quality
From unboxing experience, it was very pleasant. Since I don’t care about how good packaging is, I almost thought of it as way to waste material on packaging. Honestly I just don’t expect this much.
It looks awesome and is solid in hand, no flex at all. A mouse ball is really nice. I have nothing but pleasant here.
Here is battery compartment and also receiver silo. At first, I couldn’t even figure out where receiver was too. It’s pretty neat, no tag, no description at all. Although, these days, nano receiver is like common thing, I just expected to have some sort of "name” on it to be able to distinguish between mouse, bluetooth, keyboard or whatever it is—w/o name, it’s more like cheap china made stuff.
Usage
Installation is nothing, but plug-and-play in a matter of couple seconds. Windows, any version, will detect as a HID-compliant device which means no extra driver needed, and it guarantees to work with any computer. For Mac and Linux, I think it should be fine, but some special buttons might not do the trick w/o configuration.
It might not have a layout like standard keyboard, but I think it covers most of it, especially if you are using it as a remote for WMC. I have yet to find difficulty using it although I miss WMC button a lot. In dark condition, there is no backlight. So it might be a bit awkward, but when you dim the light, you are not likely pick this over WMC remote anyway.
The orange button on top left is Windows Explorer; I wish this is customized button, but it’s not.
Basically you can control mouse with one hand, but for keyboard it’s more like 2-hand job (or 2-thumb job.) I find easy to control by only right hand in WMC because most of the time, we need only arrow keys, enter, and backspace. It’s using radio frequency transmission, so you don’t have to point to receiver like infrared remote. That’s pretty neat in my opinion.
Battery life
I couldn't answer this question just yet, but when it dies for the first time, I'll let you know. As far as power button goes, turning on/off has almost no lag at all. If you turn off when you don’t use for more than a day. I think battery life should be pretty reasonable long.
Summary - Lenovo mini wireless keyboard review (N5901 review)
It’s small, light, and solid device. My verdict is “buy it” with $30 you just can’t go wrong with this. At full price, I wish it had a WMC button since you'll have logitech diNovo mini as an alternative for a bit more.
Pros:
- small little wireless keyboard
- nice looking
- good build quality
- considering it as a remote, RF is a plus.
Cons:
- no Windows media center button
- awkward to use in dark room