(Noise level -- Not bad but a little noisy. Most business people find it to be distracting when they hear the keyboard clicking at the other end of the phone. It makes them feel that the person isn't paying attention, even if they are paying attention and taking notes on the PC. I am still in search of a quiet keyboard with the MS shape. I haven't listened to the Addsso and Cirque yet. )
Competing products: Addesso and Cirque.
Avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome and other wrist injuries:
(Many lawyers are afraid to wear one because of fear that it makes them look like a telephone operator. If you fall into that category, pretend you are a pilot!)
I still prefer a real mouse to the touch pad, track ball or track point. (John Tredennick and a number of others love a track ball and hate a mouse, by the way.) Unless I'm on an airplane, I use an external mouse with my laptop.
I hate noisy systems. Worse, in a law office, lawyers hate noisy systems. In the secretarial areas, a little noise isn't disruptive. But the worst case scenario is a lawyer's office next to the wall or in a corner, because the noise gets reflected back at the lawyer. A lawyer's office is a place of contemplation, and it must not sound like a highway.
There are two ways to solve this problem:
- Get a laptop computer. They are quiet.
- Get a system with a whisper-quiet disk drive and power supply/fan. Some of Gateway's are quiet, and Acer's Aspire is quiet. If you are building your own, or upgrading your existing system, get a power supply from PC Power and Cooling, Inc. I understand that they do it by using longer blades on the fans.