Keyboards range in their features, but overall most are pretty similar. The keyboard in this review however, is quite different to any other keyboard I have come across. It’s known as the Atech Flash Technology KB-Reader and it has a memory card reader embedded in it.
Features:
- 14 Internet/Media hot keys.
- Modern sleek design and layout.
- Mini-USB docking station for PRO-Gear SOLO.
- 3 card slots allow you to access 3 different media cards and direct file transfer between slots.
- Supports 10 flash media formats
As you can see, the keyboard has most of the standard features, but what sets it apart from other keyboards is the mini-US docking station for the Atech PRO-Gear SOLO. The PRO-Gear SOLO is a memory card reader which supports ten different formats. The formats supported are Compact Flash Type I/II, Microdrive, Multimedia, Secure Digital, Smart Media, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, and the Memory Stick MagicGate xD-Picture Card. This is basically a multimedia keyboard, with capabilities to slide in a memory card reader.
Contents:
The contents of this package include a multimedia keyboard, Pro Gear card reader, USB A-B cable, USB A to mini, setup disk, and user’s manual. The Pro Gear card reader is identical to the Pro Gear Duo, apart from the fact that you can’t dock the Pro Gear Duo into the keyboard. For more specifics on the Pro Gear please consult our review on the Atech Pro-9 & Pro-Gear Duo. The USB cables are used to link the keyboard to your computer so you can make use of the card reader. As usual, if you run into any problems you can easily consult the user’s manual.
Analysis:
When initially taking the keyboard out of its box, I was a bit weary about it since it looked rather dull and nothing extraordinary. The 14 internet keys are located in a row along the top of the keyboard, as usual making it very easy to locate the key you are searching for. At the top and located in the middle is the slot for the Pro Gear memory card reader. The slot has a little cover to prevent dust and debris from getting inside when the memory card reader isn’t in place. One problem that I noticed was that with the reader protruding from the keyboard a few inches when it is in place, I was unable to slide the keyboard back under the desk properly.
Performance:
In order to test the performance of the card reader and the keyboard, we simply tested it on one of our test beds for a few days. The keyboard aspect of it worked very well, no problems were encountered. It was very easy to get used to the layout since it was pretty much standard. To test the performance of the card reader, we simply compared the performance of reading and writing to a 16MB Sony Memory stick when the card reader was in the keyboard, and then plugged directly into the USB port. Below are the results from running SiSoftware Sandra 2004.
|
Keyboard |
USB |
Combined Index: |
444 |
441 |
32kB Files Read: |
1598 |
1564 |
32kB Files Write: |
195 |
182 |
2MB Files Read: |
30 |
30 |
2MB Files Write: |
10 |
10 |
2MB Combined Index: |
20 |
20 |
| |
operation(s)/min |
Conclusion:
As you can see from the performance, the speed between plugging the memory card reader in the keyboard and then directly into the USB port, was near identical. If you are in the market for a keyboard and memory card reader, I would recommend to you the Atech Flash Technology KB-Reader, as it’s an easy to use multimedia keyboard with the added bonus of an embedded memory card reader.
Pros:
∙ Memory card reader on keyboard
∙ Memory card reader doesn’t cut on performance
∙ Multimedia keyboard
∙ Decent in price (~$45)
Cons:
∙ Keyboard could be more feature-filled
∙ Memory card reader protrudes from the top of the keyboard
