[CTSLICK]

I have the Targus and use it on my Dell. I guess its bigger than other keyboards but compared to lugging a laptop its still a winner. I like it because I can work in Landscape or Portrait (assuming you provide the screen rotation software). It was also readily available from a local retailer...just in case I hated it. You've obviously read some reviews so I give you my opinions and skip the detailed stuff like repeat rates and defining function keys.

Overall the Targus is a decent solution. The keys work well and are big enough for a hunt & peck typer like me. The space bar takes a bit of getting used to. I tend to use a mixture of short cut keys (Ctrl-X, Ctrl-V etc) and screen taps when working on things. In my view, the mouse pointer is nice but not a major feature. I tend to use the mouse cursor pad as an arrow key substitute a lot more than I use it for pointing and clicking. Pressing Ctrl-left cursor pad moves the cursor one space left, Alt-Left Cursor Pad moves left one word. Also works nicely in Excel to move from cell to cell. You get the idea.

I have used it to work in Word, Excel, and PIE and have liked the results. HanDBase also worked ok although it didn't seem to want to tab out of a couple of fields. No big deal. Its not ideal for hours of work but its a nice trade off to leave the laptop at home when I know I just have some light work to do on some docs, spreadsheets or databases.

Yes, the keyboard locks at the folding hinge but I wouldn't trust it on my lap. The lock still allows some movement at the hinge and frankly it doesn't feel that sturdy. The mechanism that hold your device is a spring loaded affair and does not hold it that tightly. It would not take much wiggling to have it fall out in my opinion. Bottom line is that I would not trust my Dell to stay in the keyboard while on my lap.

It runs on CR2032 batteries. I've used it for about 20 hours without replacing the batteries it came with. Keep in mind that when the keyboard is open it is using battery power. There is no on/off switch.

The IR port is easy to align and not very picky. Its pretty forgiving about staying connected even if things are not perfectly aligned.

The driver is a bit of a pain. It does not integrate into the standard SIP pop up with Character Recognizer, Transcriber etc. Its a seperate app that you have to open to enable the keyboard. I've seen more elegant solutions from other keyboard vendors.

The driver also provides no screen rotation. You'll need something like Nyditot Virtual Display to rotate the screen to work in landscape mode. I have heard that some have used the free driver from the Pocketop keyboard just for screen rotation. I've never tried this.

Also take a look at your CF port and you IR port. If you have any CF cards that stick out the top you will need to make sure that the IR arm for the keyboard can still "see" the IR port. This was important for me since my CF bluetooth card sticks well out of my Dell. Luckily my IR port is to the left side so I can use both at the same time.

Well, thats all I have time for. If you have specific questions let me know.