Michael Crider
Microsoft’s Surface line of tablets has made a name for itself, and plenty of people love its kickstand-with-fold-out-keyboard form factor. So much so that “Surface-style” is now the nomenclature for that really awkward string of dashes I just used. But it doesn’t work well in every situation, like typing on your lap. Brydge’s latest keyboards fix that problem.
The Brydge 12.3 Pro+ keyboard for the Surface Pro is more or less the same design they’ve used on keyboards for the iPad and Google’s Pixel Slate: a top-quality typing deck and touchpad, plus a tough hinge that attaches to the bottom of the tablet with some silicone clips. It connects over standard Bluetooth and allows the user to fold out the Surface like a standard laptop. They even come with backlighting.
The keyboards are being made for the Surface Pro 4, 5, 6, and the latest 7, plus the Surface Go and Surface Go 2 (the 10.5 Go+ model). All the are designed to match the Surface’s size and styling.
In addition, Brydge is making a stand-alone desktop keyboard and a touchpad. the W-Type keyboard is a conventional scissor-switch style (a la ThinkPad laptop keyboards) with a laptop layout for the main area. It’s similar in design to the C-Type keyboard for Chrome OS, but uses a tenkey area as well. The W-Touch touchpad is similar in design to Apple’s Magic Trackpad, with a large 5.5 x 3.3-inch clickable surface area and multi-touch gestures. The W keyboard and touchpad are “designed for Surface,” but should work on any Windows machine with Bluetooth.
The Surface Pro tablet keyboards cost $150, with the smaller Surface Go keyboards going for $130. Both should be available for ordering on august 17th. The W-Touch touchpad will be $100 and the W-Type desktop keyboard will be a very reasonable $60, available in September.
