It’s been a few months since Microsoft opted to tragically kill off its lineup of basic peripherals. Mice, keyboards, and all other kinds of add-ons were sold by Microsoft under the Microsoft brand, and you’ve probably used at least some of them at any given point at schools or offices. It looks like the customer backlash to this move was too much, as they’re now coming back—except that they’re back under a different manufacturer.
Microsoft has partnered with Incase, a company that makes laptop sleeves, bags, and other kinds of accessories, to bring back the basic Microsoft peripherals that were discontinued back in April. Microsoft will continue making its own Surface peripherals, which are more expensive, but these basic products will be sold and manufactured by Incase instead.
They will be sold as “designed by Microsoft” products, which means that you will see both Microsoft and Incase branding on them, but otherwise, these are the same exact designs that were discontinued by the Redmond-based giant. We’ll have ergonomic keyboards, basic keyboards, ergonomic mice, basic mice, headsets, speakers, docks, and webcams. They might say “Incase” and have the Incase logo on both the box and the actual product, but they’re the same cheap-but-good peripherals we’ve known for years at heart.
Microsoft’s basic peripherals were beloved, precisely, for being basic. They provided basic functionality at extremely cheap prices, and they were also pretty reliable compared to other cheap products—I used to have a Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600 that lasted several years and endured lots of usage despite being an extremely basic keyboard with not a lot else going for it. The Microsoft Egonomic Keyboard was a favorite among many others, with companies like Logitech swooping in to capture fans of the keyboard since it was discontinued.
In addition to all the hardware that was discontinued, Incase is also releasing new peripheral designs under the Microsoft brand as well, starting with a new ergonomic keyboard. We might see more such releases down the road as well, but for now, a lot of you will probably be happy knowing that these basic peripherals are back on store shelves.
They are not available for sale just yet, but Incase says that it expects to make them available throughout the year.
Source: Incase
