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Since TL.net has been going crazy for mechanical keyboards lately - basically draining keyboardco.com´s entire stock of Filcos after it was revealed that the GSL1 winner Fruitdealer was using one - i figured we might as well keep feeding the hype.
I got a Filco with Cherry browns a while back, but for those still on the fence, there's a new (mechanical) competitor:
![[image loading]](http://zowiegear.com/images/stories/flash_key.jpg)
"The keyboard is a vital piece of equipment, especially for Starcraft. It needs to be very durable and responsive, as you need to reach a higher APM in this type of game than any other games", says Young Ho 'Flash' Lee and continues, "I have been using the ZOWIE CELERITAS for about 4 months and the RTR technology has allowed me to improve my APM. I suggested to make the left windows key function as ctrl and I am happy to see that ZOWIE has listened. This will help many gamers to avoid annoying mistakes."
Read more about RTR technology (which is only usable through the PS/2 interface, so forget about getting used to it if you ever want to bring it to a LAN like MLG) and all its other features and find some more pics over at the official announcement page.
Edit: to add some opinion - i think it's looking like a solid keyboard. The mirror finish on the Black Widow was what made me decide against it (gets dirty very fast) and this keyboard still has the added functionality of media keys etc. It also has Cherry Browns which i prefer to blues for gaming, but this is of course purely personal preference. Full NKRO is, although never actually utilized, also a good mark of quality i was missing from the Widow. I bought my Filco a couple of months back now but if i was to decide today, this would probably be an option i'd strongly consider. It's cheaper than a Majestouch with more functionality. The RTR is imo just a gimmick which has been included for "duck jumping" in CS but i suppose it might help some Zergs make drones faster. The ability to make the left windows key an extra Ctrl key without macroing it a decent 'extra' though, i can see that potentially being useful.
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sounds hella cool, unfortunately, the keyboards aren't for sale till december; however, will be a decent christmas gift i suppose.
I would assume when talking to my friends about gifts we got it would go some like this:
Person A: what did u get for christmas?
Me: a baller keyboard made by [the company mentioned above] it has all these cool technologies etc. How about you?
Person A: wow a keyboard, that sux bro. I got a sweater, at least i'll use it.
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With an actual response-time of only 0,2 seconds, the ZOWIE CELERITAS has the fastest response-time of any mechanical keyboard currently on the market...For your information, the definition of a "normal response-time" for a keyboard is 0,5 seconds.
0.2 and 0.5 seconds? That can't possibly be right. That would limit typing speed to 50 WPM or 20 WPM respectively.
Ability to change the "Windows"-key to "Ctrl"
Cool feature, but being able to remap caps-lock would be even cooler.
RTR seems to just increase the keyboard repeat rate...? Which you could just turn up in software anyway?
Full Anti-Ghosting
They mean NKRO and anti-blocking (ghosting is something different), but good nonetheless and is better than the Black Widow in this regard.
18K Gold Plated mechanical switches
I hear it's Cherry MX. Not sure which ones.
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On November 15 2010 11:08 CaptainFwiffo wrote:
18K Gold Plated mechanical switches
I hear it's Cherry MX. Not sure which ones.
According to this post:
http://www.overclock.net/keyboards/491752-mechanical-keyboard-guide-666.html#post10524192
I got some more information on the Zowie Celeritas.
* Cherry MX Brown switches
* Keycaps are made out of ABS
* it has 2 modes Normal Mode (Zowie logo turns Blue) and Game Mode (Zowie Logo turns Red).
* Full NKRO (PS/2)
- it's supposedly browns.
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In the first thread they said they were Cherry MX Brown's. I was looking at this, but I don't know if it would just be better to get a cheaper Majestouch with Brown switches. The Zowie gear board has some nice extra features, but I don't know how many of them are actually useful as far as starcraft goes.
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Ugh I hate keyboards with those extra large enter keys. Still it looks like a decent keyboard but I'll stick with my Das until I see actual reviews from people who aren't sponsored by the company 
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@Fwiffo I think they're actually talking about the time it takes for the key to "repeat" -- so the time it takes when you're holding the key down until it starts to register it as extra presses (e.g., you hold down "g" and get "g" and then, after a second or so, you get "ggggggggg").
I have to admit, Moon looks freaking hilarious in those pictures. You have the SpawN guy who just looks like your stereotypical cool dude, Flash who looks like a pretty normal guy and then Moon. Moon, just standing there looking ridiculous. XD
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I bet i'd see my apm increase with a paycheck too.
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Looks nice! But I rather buy a different keyboard that works the same but looks worst and cost less !
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United States4126 Posts
Until I see Flash actually using it in a live game, not going to buy into this advertising :/
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by the way an anoither mechanical one witch brown and an another over 115€ 
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On November 15 2010 11:52 motus wrote:Ugh I hate keyboards with those extra large enter keys. Still it looks like a decent keyboard but I'll stick with my Das until I see actual reviews from people who aren't sponsored by the company
Me too, but some people like the large enter because it's harder to miss. It seems they made the right shift smaller to make room for the backslash; a lot of keyboards with the large enter make the backspace smaller which is a mortal sin.
It looks like one of the players is holding a version with some sort of euro layout with a vertical enter too.
On November 15 2010 11:57 Char711 wrote:
@Fwiffo I think they're actually talking about the time it takes for the key to "repeat" -- so the time it takes when you're holding the key down until it starts to register it as extra presses (e.g., you hold down "g" and get "g" and then, after a second or so, you get "ggggggggg").
Again, that's something configurable in software/OS. It's not something the keyboard controller normally even does. The keyboard just transmits which keys are down, the repeat and delay until repeat is entirely done by the OS.
If it's just a "built-in" repeat rate, like you'd have in an NES advantage or some other old-skool third-party console controller, it's a pretty lame feature. I expect it's actually just some kind of snake oil
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@Fwiffo I agree, definitely a snake oil type of thing. That's just, honestly, the only possible thing I could think of. And really the only one that I could think of being even semi-useful.
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Will wait for geekhack reviews... my Cherry Blue board is actually pretty fine, although a tad noisy. So I wanna also check out browns :-)
Typing feel is great btw once you have gotten rid of the heavy keypress habit.
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You can't bring a ps/2 to USB converter to events?
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If flash says it's good ... then I'll most definately buy it :p
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On November 15 2010 23:34 Blimp wrote:
You can't bring a ps/2 to USB converter to events?
this doesnt work for things that need ps2 to function- i.e. n-key rollover
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On November 16 2010 00:34 vicariouscheese wrote:Show nested quote +On November 15 2010 23:34 Blimp wrote:
You can't bring a ps/2 to USB converter to events? this doesnt work for things that need ps2 to function- i.e. n-key rollover
It's just as well that a Starcraft keyboard doesn't need n-key rollover to function!
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EPT
