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Active: 1605 users

Looking for a keyboard

Blogs > Sejanus
Post a Reply
Sejanus
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Lithuania550 Posts
April 11 2012 18:56 GMT
#1
Hey guys, past few weeks I was looking for a keyboard and I don't seem to find the one I like. What makes it even more difficult is that it will not be very easy for me to test use them before buying, i.e. I may find a way to test one or two models but I certainly won't find a place with all of different Razer, Logitech, Microsoft, etc. keyboards lined up for my testing.

I figured maybe you would have any suggestions. It may very well be that my criteria is too narrow and the keyboard like that doesn't even exist So feel free to suggest the closest match you know in the worst case.

So here is what I'm looking for:

A must:
* First things first, StarCraft is not the main concern but is somewhat important nevertheless. It's enough for me if it's an adequate keyboard for RTS, don't need nothing pro-level. I.e. I used to have Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse and it was damn near impossible to play War3 with it (while very good for most of other purposes).
* Backlit and I wanna be able to adjust the brightness. I do need it. Not a red color. Also I want to still see labels when lighting is turned off.
* Mechanical. Brown or Black switches would be nice.
* CTRL is in the left-most bottom-most corner, period. Or the layout is such that it's near impossible to confuse CTRL button with some silly macro key without looking.
* Audio controls, i.e. standard forward, backward, stop, play, pause, maybe sound.
* No silly kitsch ok. Looking at you, alien face on Alienware keyboards.

Nice to have but not decisive factors
* Backlit blue or green color or shades thereof. Or the option to choose colors.
* Price matters, up to $100 is prefered, but I'd shell out something up to $150 is the product is really good.


Keyboards I already considered (or still considering)

* Microsoft SideWinder X6. I really, really liked it from reviews but: red color lighting and a macro key where the CTRL should be. Those are basically the biggest two dealbreakers for me. Otherwise seems to be pretty close to what I am looking for.
* Razer Lycosa. I really like the design, maybe the best looking keyboard I've seen, and the lighting color is very nice, but (1) you can hardly see the key labels without lighting; (2) you cannot adjust the brightness; (3) I've read some pretty bad reviews on how the keys sometimes doesnt even work and so on.
* Razer Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth is what I'd very likely may buy if I won't find anything better. What I didn't like about it was ofcourse the damn CTRL is not where it's supposed to be. F keys doubling as audio controls ain't cool either but not a dealbreaker. Otherwise I pretty much like everything about this keyboard. Stealth is for brown switches and I don't really know the differences between Ultimate and other Blackwidows (I will certainly look into it).
* Alienware stuff. Closed all reviews the moment I saw an alien head. I may consider buying it for my 5 years old children, tho... once I have them )
* Saitek Cyborg... I don't know, I just didn't like it. It's design is like washed down Alienware, nearly usable but not really.

So that's pretty much it... Sorry for lots of text, I just figured it may help you to help me Thank you in advance!

Friends don't let friends massacre civilians
Ettick
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United States2434 Posts
April 11 2012 18:58 GMT
#2
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=260143 check out this thread if you haven't already
Silidons
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States2813 Posts
April 11 2012 19:37 GMT
#3
i don't think you can pay <$100 for a mechanical backlit keyboard with media controls.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon Bonaparte
itsjustatank
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Hong Kong9176 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-04-11 19:50:59
April 11 2012 19:46 GMT
#4
Look for the Ducky Shine; seems like it would meet most of your requirements.

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:21007

Edit: The Q-Pad MK-80 looks good for your uses too.
Photographer"nosotros estamos backamos" - setsuko
Beaza
Profile Joined March 2011
Germany203 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-04-11 19:56:04
April 11 2012 19:53 GMT
#5
Steelseries 6gv2 has everything u need. I have it too and its very good.
oops it doesnt have backlit. But why do you need Backlit if you dont want kitsch O__o ?
Sejanus
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Lithuania550 Posts
April 11 2012 20:23 GMT
#6
On April 12 2012 04:46 itsjustatank wrote:
Look for the Ducky Shine; seems like it would meet most of your requirements.

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:21007

Edit: The Q-Pad MK-80 looks good for your uses too.


Thank you, at the first glance they really look good. I will definitely do more research on them!
Friends don't let friends massacre civilians
tymt
Profile Joined October 2010
Sweden293 Posts
April 11 2012 21:49 GMT
#7
On April 12 2012 04:46 itsjustatank wrote:
Look for the Ducky Shine; seems like it would meet most of your requirements.

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:21007

Edit: The Q-Pad MK-80 looks good for your uses too.

Yea the Q-pad seems to suit you perfectly
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