HP wireless mouse and keyboard

We have 2 desktops at home and each have a HP wireless mouse and keyboard. We used to have the one when there was a receiver which has a USB and this is connected to the keyboard and mouse wirelessly. I didn't like that one very much because the wire was not very long and as it is attached with a USB port it was quite fiddly. We do have a USB port at the front of the tower but because it is in the middle and the wire is short it would sort of hang and it was annoying.


We now however have a keyboard and mouse that is connected wirelessly by a USB stick. This is much better because the stick is like a USB memory key and this is the receiver. If the USB key is not inserted into the computer then the keyboard and mouse will not work. Both have a blue button and that needs to be pressed for 3 seconds if the mouse or keyboard does not work and that will make it move again.


Both the keyboard and the mouse require AA batteries which is rather annoying as I would much prefer that they did not require batteries. I use rechargeable batteries because over the long run they save me money. The batteries in the keyboard have a longer life span of 3 months whereas the mouse batteries have a 1-2 month life span. The mouse is a laser track mouse that has a off button on the bottom which may help to conserve energy (I never use it though) and it also has a trackpad. I think it is called a trackpad which is wheel in the middle that moves pages up and down.


The keyboard is a standard QWERTY keyboard. It is easy to use and like most desktop keyboards it does make a distinctive noise when typing although it is not like the older keyboards where the keys are much deeper and the noise much louder. On the left and right sides of the keyboard there is a leaver than raises the level of the keyboard which I am sure most keyboards have. It isn't very solid and I have managed to break the left side quite easily but I don't like the keyboard up so it doesn't bother me. On the left side there are keys for help function, searching, mail, internet, hp club and to put the computer into hibernate. The keys on the right side are for movies/videos; stop, play, forward, rewind, stop and for ejecting and opening the CD drive. These keys don't work but I think they need to be activated and I haven't done this as I don't use them. The hibernate key does however work. There is also a volume key at the top which does work. These are just additional keys that are given in the HP keyboard and as my old keyboard did not have these I thought it would be useful to mention them.


This is yet another product I have from HP and it is reliable as it has never failed to work and I have had it for 4 years now. In the first year a replacement was issued because the old one was not working (the one with a wire receiver) and a USB key one was sent. I love this keyboard and mouse and I love that it is wireless because I remember the wired ones I have had before and I hated them as there just seemed to be a lot of wires everywhere. I do not know how much it costs as I was not the one who bought it but I have seen it on ebuyer for £36.00 which is really good value for money.