Keyboard combo for the compulsively clean, obsessively sterile
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Jan 6th 2007 at 3:24AM }
Logitech has released the perfect companion piece for that plastic bubble you just scored on eBay. It's a keyboard and mouse combo, dubbed the MX 3200 Laser, and it's coated with AgION, a compound used most commonly in hospitals to prohibit the growth of microorganisms.Our guess it that the 3200 will cater primarily to mysophobes, but it might also be a worthwhile purchase for those paranoid of their runny-nosed tots or greasy-haired coworkers -- oh wait, that is a mysophobe. Anyways, Logitech's latest sure beats spraying Lysol all over the desktop.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Angus @ Jan 6th 2007 3:36AM
PERFECT!
Honestly, keyboardsd are generally dirtier than your average toilet seat. Gross.
Fireflock @ Jan 6th 2007 3:43AM
I have been using this mouse/keyboard combo for a few weeks now. It's really comfortable and the keys are surprisingly quiet. Glad to know I'm uh...safe though. :)
saunderez @ Jan 6th 2007 3:55AM
Great keyboard/mouse - not new though - got mine about 3 months ago here in Australia.
Joshua @ Jan 6th 2007 4:29AM
good to know that compulsive masturbaters have a new product now...
Rasty @ Jan 6th 2007 5:53AM
Nice, but why do Logitech and generally keyboard manufacturers have to screw every other keyboard they come out with by messing around with the keys layout?
Just look at the DEL/HOME keys group on this one!
And why such a small Enter key?
Despite its best efforts, I'm sorry but this keyboard still stinks.
Unbalanced @ Jan 6th 2007 7:31AM
Logitech Keyboards generally look pretty but are a pain to use sometimes. I personally have a similar keyboard (MX 5000). Like Rasty said above, the key layouts can be a pain to use sometimes. They've completely removed the scroll lock (yes I know it's sorta obselete) and shoved the insert key way above the Home/Delete key grouping. On top of that, the drivers and software for the keyboard are attrocious. My Keyboard disconnects, lags or pings out at the absolute worst times. The bluetooth stack constantly crashes too. I just wish they'd fine tune the software before releasing anymore hardware. And I won't even mention the kind of frustration I'm engulfed in when Windows crashes. That's a whole new can of worms. I'm not sure whether to recommend these keyboards. On one hand, when they are actually working, they look and feel great. On the otherhand, when problems arise (and they almost always do), worlds collide and you end up with a lot more gray hairs.
Knoxximus @ Jan 6th 2007 10:06AM
*fap-fap-fap-fap-fap!*
Oh crap! Oh, but that's right! My new keyboard has AgION on it, so it's cool.
otakucode @ Jan 6th 2007 11:40AM
Thank you James Ransom-Wiley. Thank you for using the proper word, mysophobes, and didn't use the stupid made-up "germophobe" non-word created by Seinfeld.
...Jan... @ Jan 6th 2007 12:02PM
Hmm...am I enough of a germiphobe to buy this? Well, I was planning on washing my hands after I'm done typing this. Guess spraying the keyboard at the end of the day with Lysol isn't enough.
Angelo @ Jan 6th 2007 10:27PM
I can see these being useful in public places like net cafes. Not so sure about personal use, though.
James @ Jan 6th 2007 2:32PM
This is news? I've had this keyboard/mouse combo since early October, nothing has changed...
Anyway, anyone who has this keyboard, have you noticed problems with keys repeating or not registering? For example the "-" key won't register quite frequently, and the "/" key will often make 5 or 6 characters even though I press it once. I'm not sure if it's a physical keyboard problem, something with the wireless, or a driver issue. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed anything like this.
On the plus side, the batteries last a very long time. Just replaced the mouse batteries because it started complaining, and replaced the keyboard ones trying to debug the above problem, but it said they were fine and it didn't hurt or help so I guess they would last a long long time.
Roger @ Jan 7th 2007 3:45PM
Sure, yeah, it's great for the OCD crowd, but the real target might be public computers, no? Think how nasty the keyboards were at the last library you went to -- or at your school's public computers. Ugh.
Xizer @ Jan 6th 2007 4:17PM
@8
In a related story, languages and cultures evolve over time to incorporate new words as the people use them. 'germophobe' happens to make more sense than 'mysophobe' because it incorporates the word 'germ' which people know. Thusly, we are witnessing an addition of a word to English. Don't worry, it's happened thousands of times before. Who knew?
murc @ Jan 7th 2007 2:49AM
Its looks nice. And theres certainly nothing wrong with it kicking bacteria's arse in the process.
reppy @ Jan 7th 2007 10:34PM
In 20 years they'll discover that AgION-coated keyboards are the reason that so many nerds' fingers have begun to deteriorate.
Quakeulf @ Jan 8th 2007 1:57AM
I still use my keyboard from 1995. :p
On another note, CNN had a report on keyboards being used in their offices being a lot more infected than their toilets because of the assumption that toilets were dirty from the start, thus they needed to clean them a lot better, which resulted in their toilets being so clean you could almost eat directly from the floor, while their keyboards could almost kill you.