Critics regularly rail against the QWERTY key layout's ergonomic problems, but QWERTY keyboards remain popular. Only a few manufacturers buck the trend by offering alternative layouts, and even then, most of them offer existing layouts, such as the Dvorak layout. Enter the PLUM keyboard, which sports a unique keyboard layout. According to PLUM, the Linux-, Mac-, and Windows-compatible keyboard breaks the workload in almost evenly between your hands (53per cent for the left hand, 47 percent for the right hand).

Although the keyboard is very small (about two thirds as long as my standard IBM board), it has full-size keys. The board includes a CAPS LED most standard keys, including a row of number keys, but it doesn't have a number pad. PLUM rearranged the letter keys, placing the most common keys directly under your fingertips, so your fingers will spend less time stretching or curling to reach keys that stand on other rows. As a result, the home row forms the words "READ ON THIS," and the letters in the top row read "PLUM" instead of "QWERTY." PLUM also moved the ENTER button to the bottom of the board. You'll use your right thumb to press the short SPACE bar and your left thumb to press the ENTER button.

The PLUM has a USB connector and doesn't require drivers, so you can plug it into your computer and start typing right away, and it has standard adjustable keyboard legs that let you raise the keyboard toward you. The keys are sturdy and responsive, and they aren't loud. My wrists and fingers usually ache after I type on a new keyboard layout, but I used PLUM for hours without feeling so much as a tingle.

I like the PLUM's layout, but I don't like its price or its training material. The $139 keyboard includes a well-written tutorial, but it lacks typing tutorial software, which means you'll have to dig up a copyholder and follow the print exercises. The print tutorial lets you calculate your typing speed, but unlike software, it can't identify weaknesses and it doesn't have typing games. PLUM plans to offer a typing tutorial application in 2004. The PLUM includes a 90-day warranty.

by Joshua Gulick

PLUM Keyboard
$139
PLUM
703-507-2211
www.plum.bz