I bought one of these for my HTPC to replace a larger wireless keyboard/trackpad combo that was getting in the way. First off, the form factor is fantastic. It fits perfectly into your hand and, when it works, makes for easy navigation of menus and the web. That said, "when it works" is the issue. I have a small media room and sit about 6 feet from the entertainment center containing my TV and HTPC, and at that range I am constantly fighting with this thing to get my commands in. The mouse pointer lags or stalls completely and key presses are missed repeatedly. If I walk over next to the computer, it works fine, but since the whole point was to control the HTPC from my easy chair, that's mission failure. Lenovo Multimedia Remote with Keyboard
I got this device for a Home Theater PC. This is clearly the purpose intended by the manufacturer. The box came with no software at all - everything is plug and play. This is a step down from Logitech which includes Setpoint software as an option (all their devices are plug and play as well) that allows further customization of the devices. This is something that is clearly missing from Lenovo. I checked their website and they do not even make the drivers available.
The unit itself is fairly attractive. The design is sleek. However, the unit does collect a lot of fingerprints especially on the handle that contains the trackball. The trackball is a tad loose in the unit and if you turn it at 90 degrees it will start to come out of it's socket. I would have appreciated a more form fit to this.
All of the keys are setup to have a uniform look to the keyboard. However, the keys themselves do not have a good tactile feel. They are all very flat and thus it is hard for you to feel if you are directly above a key or not. This is made worse by the fact that the keyboard is not back-lit and the keys themselves are printed in a gray color instead of bright white. Even with a moderate amount of ambient light, the keys are hard to see.
Also, the keys themselves have odd shapes to fill in the keyboard area. The most annoying is that the right arrow is twice the size of the three other arrow keys. Also, the backspace key is the same size as the letter keys (disappointing since you use backspace a lot in Windows Media Center).
Randomly, this includes one large orange button that brings up my computer. The manual recommends this as the best way to play DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. It is a nice addition and makes some sense. The unit also includes volume buttons and media player keys. These work great out of the box and are a welcome addition.
I also have to admit that this device is not very ergonomic. I had a slight hand cramp after light use for a couple of hours.
You have to realize that this is a first generation device when you are buying it. Functionally, everything works great. However, I don't think that they spent much if any time field testing this unit for it's intended purpose.
Compared to the competition, it is great for the price. Look for the online coupons for this one (I have seen it on DealNews 3 times in six months). I got this for $39 shipped. Although in December 2010, it was going for even less.
First, I didn't buy the Lenovo N5901 on Amazon because I found a great deal on it through Lenovo Direct. Big mistake, but we will come to that.
Summary: Very difficult to use, very poorly designed, almost non-existent documentation, and no manufacturer support. Worst new product experience ever.
The device was almost unusable for me. The trackball is very imprecise, and don't even think of trying to use this thing one-handed. Every time I got my pointer over what I want to click, tried to left click (assuming right-handed operation), I'd brush the trackball, because you have to reach over it to click. Left click with left hand and right click with right hand was the only way I could do anything. The click buttons are smooth and slippery, and not actual buttons, but rather a flexible part of the plastic body and took quite a firm press to make them work. This makes the accidental brush of the trackball more likely to happen, even when using two hands.
There is no scrolling feature at all, so off to the right side of the screen you must go for the scroll bar, or use page up/down or the poorly placed arrow keys. The page down thing sounds easy enough right, well, it isn't, and we'll come to that shortly.
No backlight, and while it is a qwerty keyboard, all your other keys are in different locations, making it unusable in low light for most everything because you can't find the @ : or / easily. I'm sure if you used it long enough you would eventually commit it to memory. In my case, I wasn't planning to use this enough to "get used to it", because I would use a real keyboard and mouse for anything significant.
See those little tiny rounded shift keys in the lower corners. Good luck pressing and holding those. I do not have overly large hands and the button itself could barely be pressed, and if I did, then good chance I'd end up pressing an adjacent key. The page up and down buttons on the left side are nice, but the page down suffers from the same abstract shape usability issue as the shift keys, although it's slightly larger size makes it less pronounced. The thing is that you actually need that page down to be easy, due to the lack of scroll function. Look carefully at where the ESC key is, and consider how often you will be accidentally pressing that key, and what most likely happens when you do. The arrow keys feel awkward, and for some reason the missing alt key on the left side of the keyboard made alt and back arrow impossible to press together, so go find your browser back button because the keyboard shortcut can't be done. I didn't realize how much I did that until I couldn't do it. Home and End keys require you to press AND HOLD the orange Fn key on the lower left, but those keys are on the upper left. How do you even do that?
I just couldn't believe how frustrating this device was to use. All these little ergonomic and usability issues add up quick. It's almost like the designer of this product never prototyped it, or perhaps I use my keyboard differently than most. I wanted this to work, but after 30 minutes I found myself wanting to throw it at the wall out of anger.
After 30 minutes of use, this thing just stops working, and an orange light came on, and no, despite really wanting to, I did not throw, drop, or otherwise physically harm the device. No mention of an orange light in the manual. Only green for good power up and sync to the dongle, and flashing red for low battery. So I assume that it must be low battery, and the batteries that came with it were crap. Install two new quality batteries, and turn it on, and the light goes orange immediately after green, but now starts flashing between red and orange. Try two more new batteries from a different pack, and the same thing happens. When the light is solid orange, the device doesn't work at all, but it works while flashing red, and there doesn't seem to be any consistency to when it will stay solid orange or flash red. So clearly a defective device, right? Well this takes me down a rabbit hole that nobody wants to experience.
There is almost no documentation with this device, and there is nothing more extensive available online either. Phone support just transfers you around to different places; laptop support, parts support, etc. and don't be surprised if one of them gives you a number for IBM support. IBM was more confused than I was when I spoke to them. After significant searching, I was able to find a web case form that actually had a drop down with this device in it. It says they will respond within 24 hours, but a week later, not even a confirmation that they have received my case. So fair enough, nobody at Lenovo can support this. It's a keyboard. It shouldn't need support, however, you can not get a return through them without a tech confirming the device is defective.
Post Sales Support will only let you return a product if the box is unopened and within the first 21 days, but at least they answer the phone and know what the product is. This was eventually how I got my RMA, but I really needed to stand my ground. Keep in mind that had you purchased this in any store or from Amazon, you would be able to return it or exchange it without any real hassle. You wouldn't need a support case or anything. It is generally considered DOA (Dead on Arrival) by almost every company I've ever dealt with, except Lenovo. I took this position with the person in post sales support, wouldn't let them off the phone (they need your permission to hang up the call), and the person kept having to go talk to a supervisor, but eventually they had to do something for me. The fact that they treated a new customer, with a serious problem with their new product, like this speaks volumes about Lenovo and/or their commitment to their customer.
To be fair, they did issue the RMA, and pay the return shipping in the end, but I do not suggest anybody try this. After working for 15 years in IT, and plenty of experience with help-desks, I knew how to work the system and ensure that something was done. It was difficult and unpleasant for me, because for the first time ever, I had to actually let myself get angry, raise my voice, and basically be a jerk. For some reason, that seemed to close the deal with them. I'll only get the refund if the product passes their QA test, but I am assuming that this should go smoothly from here on. I'll know for sure in 2 weeks.
I never saw any range or wireless interference issues, but I really didn't get to give it the test drive it would have needed to figure that out. The fact that the thing was so difficult to use may have masked any such issues, because you just assume you fat-fingered it - Media Center - Wireless Keyboard - Htpc - Trackball Mouse'
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