Logitech diNovo Cordless Desktop review

One thing even the most ardent PC fan has to give to Apple is its unfailing eye for a cool shape. Its computers wouldn't have been nearly as successful if they didn't look stylish enough to sit comfortably in a museum of design (which one or two actually do).

By comparison the average PC looks like a functional but very dull relic. Type a letter to your gran with a diNovo, however, and you'll feel like a Hollywood star hacking into some fictional FBI system, a finger lingering over that separate keypad might just be about to enter those launch codes.

Logitech tells us the design has won awards, and we've no reason to doubt it. The keyboard and accompanying numeric keypad have that same future-retro thing going on as products from designer Jacob Jenson (he of Bang And Olufson fame).

But while so many lifestyle accessories have a habit of proving less than practical, this one actually walks the walk, too. Typing is near effortless, thanks to keys with just the right amount of travel and a minimal amount of noise. And though the separate keypad comes across as a little gimmicky during regular desktop use, the way it isolates multimedia control does help make the PC a more family-friendly beast.

If we're getting really picky with the keyboard, we'd have liked the option to set it at a steeper angle. And the inability to angle the keypad at all is a definite oversight. But the real chink in the armour comes in the form of the mouse. It's sturdy enough, but with such a small body and only the basic three buttons on offer it seems mismatched with the rest of the bundle.

But then it does offer exemplary performance, and you can't really argue with that. Oh, and ignore that 'for Notebooks' tag on the box. Any desktop machine would be proud to interface with this beauty. Mark Ramshaw