Genius SlimStar 8000 Wireless Desktop Combo

Apr 23rd, 2011 | By Simon

It’s great to welcome new companies into Overclockers Online and today we have our first review of a Wireless Keyboard and Mouse combo brought to you by the folks at Genius. Genius was founded in 1983 making them a veteran in the technology industry. At the end of 2010 they had a revenue of 341 million dollars, a ten percent growth over 2009. Their vision is to Create Infinite Value With a Magic Touch

While I’ve never heard of the SlimStar 8000 before let alone any of the products by Genius they are certainly not a small company. The SlimStar 8000 is their introductory model into the North American marketplace. With a successful past, I’m eager to see how well the SlimStar 8000 does.

Let’s get on with the review!

PACKAGE AND SPECIFICATIONS

The SlimStar 8000 is packaged in a slim no frills box unlike what you would get from Logitech or Microsoft. It’s not 2 feet long and 4″ thick like the competition. Instead, the box is simple and straight to the point. There’s a clear picture of the keyboard, mouse and wireless adapter on the front of the box. On the backside you get a breakdown of all the features and specifications. The first thing I saw that I really liked is the drain holes to let liquid flow through. This is going to be great for cleaning up spills and even doing a quick clean of your keyboard.

Once the package is opened up we find the keyboard and mouse to be individually wrapped in a plastic bag. The Wireless receiver is wrapped in soft foam. Also included in the package is an instruction sheet and three AAA batteries, very much appreciated.

Here’s what Genius has to say about the :

SlimStar 8000 is a brand new wireless combo from Genius that brings simplicity, fashion and elegance to your lifestyle. The anti-interference function offers reliable 2.4GHz transmission and longer operational distance. Control and convenience are at your fingertips with this comfortable full-size keyboard and 1200 dpi optical wireless mouse that provide great working efficiency and performance. The ultra-slim keycaps provide comfort when typing.

Let’s go into a little more detail starting with the keyboard. While some may think any old keyboard will do, that is certainly not the case. An improperly selected keyboard will result in poor ergonomics which can cause pain over long use. The SlimStar 8000 is exactly what the name suggests it is. It is slim. There isn’t much space between the keys and it certainly isn’t much larger than it needs to be. All of the Function keys are about half the size of your typical function button on an IBM keyboard. Two additions to the keyboard which will be great for media players are the Volume up/down and the Pause button. A lot of the times you’ll want to quickly pause a movie if someone is calling or crank up/down the volume, the hotkeys make it easy to accomplish.

On the bottom of the keyboard we have tabs to elevate the backside. Some prefer this for ergonomics, some don’t. Do what you like. Beside the left tab is where you install a single AAA battery.

What I really liked about the keyboard are the drain holes. It’s quite possible to spill something onto your keyboard and if you don’t clean it up right away it’ll start getting tacky and covered in dust and lint. It’s pretty gross and usually there’s not much you can do about the space between the base frame of the keyboard and each individual key. With the SlimStar 8000 they solved the problem by adding some drain holes. Now you can drain out the liquid. Granted this means the liquid you just spilled will be all over your desk, but that is still easier of a mess to clean up. A quick flush of the keyboard with water will further help clean up keyboard and prevent unwanted growth.

The SlimStar 8000 claims to be a pretty thin keyboard and I would agree. It’s not as thin as some of the products made by Logitech but for the price of it you can’t complain.

Moving onto the mouse, it is pretty basic. It is a two button mouse with a scroll wheel. On the bottom side of the mouse we have the battery cover, on/off switch and optical sensor.

The mouse uses two AAA batteries, included. The optical sensor glows red.

The last piece of the puzzle to make the SlimStar 8000 work is the USB wireless receiver. The size of it is pretty small but it is definitely more on the micro side than nano.

Here I have it being compared to my Logitech nano receiver.

INSTALLATION AND TESTING

The beauty with the SlimStar 8000 is the simple installation. You just plug in the USB Wireless receiver and you’re off to the races. Windows will automatically configure the combo for you. When I plugged in the receiver to my netbook and then booted up the machine, it was ready to go before my desktop was fully loaded.

The combo works like any other wireless desktop combo. It doesn’t have the fancy macro features of software to go with it. On the keyboard the keys are soft to the press. The keys push down softly but they aren’t silent. The tactile response is a bit of a muted click. In the middle of the night you certainly won’t be waking your roommates up with this keyboard. The keys depress a few millimeters so you know it has been pressed. I found the travel to be a little more than a typical netbook/laptop keyboard but less than a conventional USB keyboard. I also found that the Function keys are a hair close to the first row and because they are only a third of the size I’ve accidentally hit a 2 instead of the F2 on occasion. As I mentioned before, I do find the Pause and Volume up/down button to be fairly handy.

The mouse works but because I don’t think the SlimStar 8000 was intended for travelers I found the mouse to be on the smaller size. It could easily be a bit bigger to mold the hand more. The small size makes it a little uncomfortable to use after a few hours of use. I found my hand squished after a short period of time with applications where I needed to use the mouse a lot. What I will say is that Genius has done well with the response of the mouse. Apart from glass, I was able to use the mouse on wood, plastic, vinyl, paper and cloth surfaces without losing any traction. The SlimStar 8000 also lacks some of the side buttons that would be handy in a desktop setup.

CONCLUSION

While Genius is certainly new to Overclockers Online they’ll likely be around for quite some time. Not everyone wants to spend over $300 for a combo as a matter of fact most will be happy with a sub-$50 set that does the basics and nothing more. When I was recently looking for a keyboard and mouse desktop combo for my HTPC, I wanted to be under $30. It’s stated that the SlimStar 8000 will retail at $25 and at that price it is a deal!

The SlimStar 8000 has some great points going for it. As an HTPC combo, it is possible for a spill to happen and the drain holes will be greatly appreciated for keeping the keyboard clean and function. The slim profile makes the combo easy to conceal and the overall use is quite well. The mouse could use a bit of refinement but certainly isn’t terrible and does the job well enough.

I think if you’re looking for an extremely affordable wireless desktop combo, the $25 price tag makes this very attractive.