When you have that perfect keyboard and they stop making it… ugh.
Love my Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 Keyboard. The soft palm rest, the way the keys feel, layout etc…
I have one at work (hardly use it anymore) one at home and a spare at home. I was looking around because I know the time will come when these will wear out. There’s nothing like them. Sad. I’ll just have to deal or spend waay too much on an ebay new old stock, perhaps some used ones in really good condition but that’s just kicking the can down the road.
You are not alone. I have three. I know I had one more that I salvaged the key caps from Just In Case, but I don’t recall what went wrong with it that it was discarded. The main problem I have with them is the letters wearing off the key caps. I think I started a thread here, long about, speculating on how that could be minimized. I wondered if clear nail polish would help. I once raised enough of a stink about that with Microsoft that they send me a “replacement”, which was not a 4000 but whatever they are selling now instead. I still use two of the old ones. I bought some white paint in a pen to see if the keys can be renewed that way, but I need to farm out the actual lettering as my hands are not steady enough.
I saw that one in Used: Very Good condition is listed on Amazon for $109.99, sold by a third party.
I have one at work (hardly use it anymore)…
Get one of what Microsoft sells now, 60 bucks or so, and swap it for the 4000 at work, relocating that one to home.
Do you use the part that raises the front (toward user) edge? For years I didn’t, then finally gave it a serious test. What a fool I had been, it made it so much easier to type (for me at least).