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(More customer reviews)This is my favorite keyboard ever, and it's hard to believe it's so inexpensive.
First, it reclaims the small keyboard footprint size that disappeared in the 1980's when IBM change the standard layout to add redundant cusoring keys. (I've always hated that. Only full-time accountants need separate cursor keys and numeric keypad at the same time; most people will find it much easier to use their numeric keypad for cusoring mode instead.) The WK-730 still gives you those separate cursoring keys, but tucks them neatly into places that don't add to keyboard size. And despite the small footprint, the F-keys row is still separated above the numbers row and has skinny separators between groups (F1-F4, F5-F8, F9-F12, etc.) to make it easy to avoid hitting the wrong key by mistake.
Secondly, the Enter(return) and Backspace keys are full-size (i.e., large Enter, and wide Bkspc), making them much easier to accurately punch when not looking or in dark rooms. The Shift and NumLock keys on the left are also the wide-style, which I appreciate.
There's no non-ergonomic 'wristrest' to press your carpel tunnel, and the outer perimeter edge is pretty small so it doesn't enlarge the footprint unnecessarily.
(Those are my top criteria for a keyboard and they are very hard to find, the closest alternative being a Datadesk Technologies Lil'BigBoard which was a little odd in some ways and has old noisy clicky-style keys that I no longer prefer.)
The Zippy WK-730 also has a very nice quiet key feel (regular laptop-style style, not silent chicklet/island style). The keytops of the F-keys row of keys have a very slight (and very good looking) convex curve, while the rest of the keytops are very slightly concave like you'd normally expect. There's a few silver-bar multimedia keys (Home, Email, Search, Folder, Media) for those who like them, but they are unobtrusive if you don't.
The left-side Alt key is in the normal spot, but I was used to having it a little further to the right when I do Alt-Tab to switch between windows, so I used software (not included) to reconfigure the |/ key next to it as another Alt key so I don't miss. There's another |\ key just to the left of the cursoring numeric keypad's End (1) key, so I don't need the one on the left; you could reconfigure either one for something else if you prefer.
The one sacrifice to get this great layout and footprint is that there is no "ScrollLock" key, but I'm not sure anyone uses that anyway. It might be possible to reconfigure one of the two |\ keys as ScrollLock using software (not included) if you need it. (FYI, ioGear KVM's default to using ScrollLock to toggle between PC's sharing a single keyboard and this happens before any PC would see the keystrokes, but ioGear's KVM's can be reconfigured to use Ctrl>Ctrl>Enter instead of ScrollLock>ScrollLock>Enter.)
There's a slight concave curve to the overall keyboard from front to back, intended to make the back keys a little easier to reach. This felt unusual at first, but was easy to get used to within a couple of days. The thin orange rubber 'bumpers' on the sides look unusual at first, too, but I've gotten used to them and now like this as a decorative touch.
There's also flip-down feet at the back that raise the back a little if you like. (FWIW, I like a high angle, so I cut slits in a pair of small foam blocks cut from an angled Monroe calculator foam stand/pad and slip the feet into the slits; this works great without being visible from above. Most people will prefer the normal angle offered by the flip-down feet.)
FWIW, I find the front angled lip of the keys is great for adding tiny little sticky-labels from my Brother P-touch for special functions I tend to forget. (E.g., Apple Mac 'Cmd' & 'Opt' labels on the 'Windows' & 'Alt' keys when I'm using with Mac OS X instead of Windows, or other special Ctrl-combos for particular applications. I recommend gold on black label tape, very tiny letters, and a steady hand to trim it down to the skinny height to fit the lip.)
The first one of these I ordered was defective, with n-m-,-.-/ occasionally not responding to keypresses, and the seller promptly let me exchange it. Since then I've bought 4 more for extras, spares, and gifts; only the first was defective, so it must have just been an isolated random defect.
A wireless version would be nice, but I won't quibble. I did try the backlit EL-730, but didn't like some differences it had and a whine emitted by the lighting in two units I received (see my review of that) and I came back to this WK-730 as my favorite.
Bottom line: 5+ stars
PS - I wonder whether the WK-730's current $12 (vs. $40 MSRP) price is just a temporary promotional price to get the word out or means it might be discontinued soon. It'd be a shame if it were discontinued.
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