Today’s keyboard review is by Lucy Brooks, a German, French and Spanish to English translator and managing director of eCPD Webinars. Lucy is reporting on her favourite keyboard, the Perixx Periboard-512B. Might it be the perfect keyboard for you too?

1. Keyboard make, model and price:

Perixx PERIBOARD-512B Ergonomic Split Keyboard – wired USB interface. UK English layout. £34.99 in the above link.

2. Description:

I was fed up with purchasing keyboard after keyboard from Microsoft where the letters rubbed off after only a few months. I tried painting them (messy), buying little stickers (ugly), and working blind (although I am a touch typist, I do need to look at them occasionally, if only to orientate myself). In August 2014 I purchased the PERIBOARD-512B from Perixx. I can now safely say, more than two years later, that the letters are still as bright as the day the keyboard arrived. Not only that, it is ergonomic! That is my number one specification. I have used ergonomic keyboards for twenty years and simply cannot use a conventional keyboard any more – at least not on a desktop PC, where I spend most of my working day.

It’s not heavy but neither is it lightweight, so it doesn’t move around when I am full flow. It doesn’t need batteries, but it does take up a USB slot.

Well constructed, it has a satisfying mechanical feel about it, but gentle too.

It is 48 cm wide and 25 deep. It stands 3 cm off the desk.* Some may consider this to be rather large, but I have always worked on a largish desk, and it really is not a problem for me. It has two “legs” at the back that can be used to change the tilt of the keyboard so that it slopes towards me. I find this the most comfortable setting.

* My measurements – may not be totally reliable.

3. My last keyboard was…

Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000, which I put up with for far too long.

4. Why I changed to the Periboard 512B:

I was searching for any ergonomic keyboard but the one I had before. Until I started to search around, I had never heard of Perixx. They are in Germany it seems, and maybe it’s that “Made in Germany” tag that is the reason why it has passed my time test.

5. What I love about my keyboard:

Well you’ve guessed it. After two years I can still see the letters, but it’s also very neat, yet solid, and it has a click to the keys which I like, having learned to type on a manual typewriter all those years ago; I do like a nice click. It has several multimedia hotkeys, but I don’t often use them.

6. What I dislike about this keyboard:

It took me a while to get used to a different layout for the Home and End, Page Up and Down and the insert/delete keys. They were in a different order than I had been used to. The clicking can be distracting to others but I work alone, so that’s not really an issue.

7. Other comments:

A keyboard is such an important part of my life. I have never tried to use dictation software. But then I don’t have RSI either, and I think that’s because I have used ergonomic keyboards for many years now. I am very happy with my Perixx!

Lucy Brooks has been translating professionally for 25 years, and informally for a lot longer than that! More recently she has been producing online CPD for translators and interpreters and much of her day is spent on that. But she still works closely with a number of her long-standing translation clients, and maintains her Chartered Linguist status.

Over to you

If you use the Perixx Periboard-512B keyboard, like or dislike it, or have any questions about it, please leave a comment below.

Would you like to write about another keyboard or browse some other reviews? Check out this introductory post to the Keyboard Corner!