Hardware Keyboard head-to-head

hell. yes.

i haxxed the slider thingy in the middle to scroll up and down and that serves a use sometimes. but the other keys, yeah. useless. i want them to make a cordless version

i had a breif stint with an apple keyboard when i bought my mac initially. at first i was like OMG APPLE PERIPHERALS ARE SO WELL DESIGNED. and then it hit me that, no, they really, really aren't. the mouse especially is godawful, designed with absolutely no regard to ergonomics whatsoever and only stevie J's obsession with smooth pillshaped lines in mind, by the look of things.

 

After Going entirely wireless with my main-room system, I don't think I'll ever like another keyboard as much as my Logitech LX710. Nice and tacky coating on top for when you need to pick it up/move it about, well placed media buttons (on the sides), and just a good, comfortable size. Plus the range on it is amazing (almost 20' without any reception issues).

The laser mouse it came with is astounding as well.

 

I'll settle for nothing less than the Optimus Maximus.

 

How long are you going to wait for that piece of vaporware?

 

Pfffft, what's the point then?



The Razer one looks exactly like their Tarantula keyboard but white and with an iPod dock instead of the silly "battle dock". I'd consider the Tarantula f it wasn't so HUGE.

I'd second the question if the Enermax one hadn't omitted the Ctrl key - Killed all my interest there.

I went to Mal-Wart and picked up a cheap LED strip (6 green LEDs about 30mm apart) from the automotive section. I mounted it under my desk but over my keyboard drawer. It runs off 12V so I run power from my PC. It works great.

Soon to be accepting pre-orders If you have to ask the price you can't afford it. (I'd settle for saving the cash or buying an entire new computer)

 

get a new photographer. i cant stand these little shots of different parts of the keyboards. its like a jigsaw puzzle. i have no idea what these things look like

 

same here, they look smooth and sleek but they suck after 30 minutes of use

wow some one like expense stuff

 

the optimus is so expensive it might as well be considered vaporware even if it is released.

 

i have the tarantula and i think the keys and keyboard feel awesome also the construction is pretty nice... what i dont like is the razer symbol that doesnt stay on or off

 

I think those both suck

 

Also the Razer does look terrible in those shots, a white keyboard on a white background with too much light and hardly any contrast.

The Optimus Maximus costs $1536.

 

oh if anyone likes that enermax one, they might want to take a look at the coolermaster alloy keyboard. link to a review: (pulled off google, links to another tech site, delete if this is considered blashpemous) http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/coolermasteralloykeyboard.php

i had two for a while. aesthetics wise i can't fault it and the keys have that nice laptop thing going. mine didn't last very long though, but YMMV.

you can get it from scan for about £16. nicely moddable, the LEDs are 3mm rather than SM so i replaced them with white ones. i was sanding down my spare top panel in order to polish it, but the keyboard died before i could finish. oh well.

 

I just hate laptop keys

The best keyboard i ever had was a keyboard where the keys kinda clicked. So you would hear that you actually pressed a key.

also i wished keyboard manufactures swappen the alt and windows keys like:

[control] [alt] [win] [ space ] [win] [winmenu] [altgr] [control]


Also since i'm not the awsd type of gamer (left handed)
i play with ku-kd-kl-kr And use the:

[insert][home][pgup]
[delete][end][pgdo]

for selecting stuff.

Why change that configuration and put a large long delete key there?

i dont get it

 

The keyboard on my IBM ThinkPad is probably the best "laptop" keyboard I've ever used... the keys are so clicky and responsive, so much that it's almost like typing on a desktop keyboard.

 

Fod, how did you get the zoom wheel thing to be usable as a scroller? I always wished I could use it as that, but I couldn't figure out how to stop it being a zoom function and make it just do vertical scroll.

 

just hack the commands.xml file in the drivers somewhere. change it to 'scrollDown' or something i don't remember. i can email you mine if you want.

(all that was probably wrong, but you do change an xml file called something and replace occurrences of something with something else. google can probably fill in the specifics)

 

Pfft. I use a Saitek Eclipse at work, which gets the job done well enough, but I have to say everyday I use it I seriously consider bringing my Logitech G15 in to replace it. It really is my weapon of choice. The LCD screen is redundant a lot of the time, but at times it can be essential. Just being able to load simple text files on to it and read through walkthroughs without alt-tabbing is a lifesaver.

 

I can't imagine that being fun. I'd recommend either a second monitor or a second computer. I've got a 2nd computer (Athlon XP-M 2500+ underclocked) linked with Synergy. When properly set up this lets me run my game full screen on the primary computer and still control the second one (often displaying Guild Wiki while I'm playing Guild Wars) without having to minimise anything - I just mouse over to other screen and TADA! the same mouse & keyboard work there.

 

what text reader do you use?

I've tried a few and they all seem to have errors in them.

and kudos to Tyinsar for the Synergy link.

 

Actually I think I got it from someone else on these forums so I'm just returning the favour. (Forums )

1) Things work best if your primary game machine is host.

2) Install [Autostart] on non-host computers (this lets you access the login screen from the host keyboard & mouse (depending on your firewall))

3) One critical setting for full screen games: [check] Don't take foreground on Windows servers. (by default this was off).