FragTek
New member
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
Initial Impression:
When I first got the keyboard in and got it out of it's shipping box I wasn't surprised to see the usual flashy Logitech packaging
(Something I like, hehe). The box is colorful and shows its features well. It's also boxed up very well in the retail packaging to prevent it from getting damaged during freight shipment / stock movement. This is great as it prevents a lot of returns and damaged products which may be prevented with packaging of this caliber.
Once I yanked her out of the box I was surprised at how sturdy the keyboard itself is. The build quality is absolutely fantastic and doesn't fall short in any catagory. It's overall weight is is pretty heavy and solid, it doesn't move around on your desk when you're typing which is always a plus. The built-in LCD folds in nicely for transport to avoid being bashed off off accident, smooth move Logi.
Overall I was very impressed with this board before even having a chance to get it plugged in.
Features & Functions:
This keyboard has enough extra features to keep you busy for a week straight just discovering em all! I know I had a blast playing with everything this keyboard could do. Obviously the LCD is the most fun thing to play around with but the board does also boast a few other features that are certainly worthwhile.
Let's talk about the keys before we get in to anything else. This board fairly closely mimicks that of the key tension on the Eclipse, but has a slightly different feel (for the better mind you). They key surface has a nice texture and the key weight is that of what an uber-gamer expects from a keyboard The key return is very sharp and allows you to click away at high speeds. One of the greatest features are the backlit keys. There are a few other boards on the market with backlit keys but this board takes the cake for brightness and clarity. You get 3 backlight options: No backlight, low, and high. The only dissapointing part I can find about this board is the regulation between the high & low backlight settings. When you flip between the two you can just BARELY notice the difference in brightness. That however is such a tiny factor that I probably wouldn't even score against it for that unless I was being 100% technical. Every key on the board has a backlight, this includes the F & G keys, the media control / LCD control keys, the numpad, and the misc. function keys. Logitech has built in 18 programmable "G" keys on the left side of this keyboard including 3 alt buttons for a total of 54 programmable macro keys! WOW! The included software lets you program the keys to do virtually anything for you, and also lets you record new macro's on the fly with the use of the "Macro Record" button next to the alt buttons.
This keyboard is the first of it's kind. It includes a decent sized LCD panel at the top of the board which can be programmed to display literally anything via the use of special LCD software and the included LCD software bundled with the keyboard. The buttons directly below the LCD screen are used to control what the screen is currently displaying and also lets you interact with the display depending on the display plugin you currently have active. Just for a quick mention, the LCD is backlit the same color as the keys are for easy viewing at night. Currently there are a number of programs that can utilize the LCD screen for a variety of different tasks. Programmers can also easily create new LCD plugins for whatever current games / trends. The most common plugins / displays are currently FRAPS, WinAmp, Bandwidth, CPU/Mem Usage, Game Server Stats, IRC, and TeamSpeak. There's even an entire forum dedicated to the software development of this keyboard (www.g15forums.com) where many of the previously mentioned plugins can be downloaded. Here's a short vid I took of the LCD: http://www.fragtek.com/vids/G15_mpeg.mpeg
To sum up the other features this board offers shouldn't take long as their are only two more that I can think of. The first being the gaming/windows toggle switch. This toggle switch allows you to lock the keyboard from accepting keystrokes on the Windows key or any other key that would minimize your game accidentally resulting in your death. I've found that I only bother hitting this switch if I'm playing in a match or somewhere that it really matters if my game gets minimized. Definately a handy feature to eliminate clumsiness Last but not least are the built-in USB ports. The keyboard features 2 x USB 1.1 ports on the top/back with cable channels molded in to the underside of the board for clean cable routing to your accessories. Obviously the major drawback is that the ports are only USB 1.1 and are not powered. I don't use either of mine for the record.
Conclusion:
This board is the hands down winner... No other keyboard can even come close to the exceptional quality and functionality of this board if you're a gamer or even just a computer enthusiast. The LCD provides thousands of possibilities for any scenario, the keys are perfect, the backlighting is gorgeous, the G keys I could no longer live without. I must say if you're on the market for a new keyboard this should be the one. Some of you may not like the fact that it's a wired keyboard, but get over it
You're never going to see a wireless backlit keyboard with an LCD screen. The price point is also perfect for the amount of options this baby offers, worth every penny.
I give this board a 9 out of 10!
Initial Impression:
When I first got the keyboard in and got it out of it's shipping box I wasn't surprised to see the usual flashy Logitech packaging
(Something I like, hehe). The box is colorful and shows its features well. It's also boxed up very well in the retail packaging to prevent it from getting damaged during freight shipment / stock movement. This is great as it prevents a lot of returns and damaged products which may be prevented with packaging of this caliber.Once I yanked her out of the box I was surprised at how sturdy the keyboard itself is. The build quality is absolutely fantastic and doesn't fall short in any catagory. It's overall weight is is pretty heavy and solid, it doesn't move around on your desk when you're typing which is always a plus. The built-in LCD folds in nicely for transport to avoid being bashed off off accident, smooth move Logi.
Overall I was very impressed with this board before even having a chance to get it plugged in.
Features & Functions:
This keyboard has enough extra features to keep you busy for a week straight just discovering em all! I know I had a blast playing with everything this keyboard could do. Obviously the LCD is the most fun thing to play around with but the board does also boast a few other features that are certainly worthwhile.
Let's talk about the keys before we get in to anything else. This board fairly closely mimicks that of the key tension on the Eclipse, but has a slightly different feel (for the better mind you). They key surface has a nice texture and the key weight is that of what an uber-gamer expects from a keyboard
The key return is very sharp and allows you to click away at high speeds. One of the greatest features are the backlit keys. There are a few other boards on the market with backlit keys but this board takes the cake for brightness and clarity. You get 3 backlight options: No backlight, low, and high. The only dissapointing part I can find about this board is the regulation between the high & low backlight settings. When you flip between the two you can just BARELY notice the difference in brightness. That however is such a tiny factor that I probably wouldn't even score against it for that unless I was being 100% technical. Every key on the board has a backlight, this includes the F & G keys, the media control / LCD control keys, the numpad, and the misc. function keys. Logitech has built in 18 programmable "G" keys on the left side of this keyboard including 3 alt buttons for a total of 54 programmable macro keys! WOW! The included software lets you program the keys to do virtually anything for you, and also lets you record new macro's on the fly with the use of the "Macro Record" button next to the alt buttons.
This keyboard is the first of it's kind. It includes a decent sized LCD panel at the top of the board which can be programmed to display literally anything via the use of special LCD software and the included LCD software bundled with the keyboard. The buttons directly below the LCD screen are used to control what the screen is currently displaying and also lets you interact with the display depending on the display plugin you currently have active. Just for a quick mention, the LCD is backlit the same color as the keys are for easy viewing at night. Currently there are a number of programs that can utilize the LCD screen for a variety of different tasks. Programmers can also easily create new LCD plugins for whatever current games / trends. The most common plugins / displays are currently FRAPS, WinAmp, Bandwidth, CPU/Mem Usage, Game Server Stats, IRC, and TeamSpeak. There's even an entire forum dedicated to the software development of this keyboard (www.g15forums.com) where many of the previously mentioned plugins can be downloaded. Here's a short vid I took of the LCD: http://www.fragtek.com/vids/G15_mpeg.mpeg
To sum up the other features this board offers shouldn't take long as their are only two more that I can think of. The first being the gaming/windows toggle switch. This toggle switch allows you to lock the keyboard from accepting keystrokes on the Windows key or any other key that would minimize your game accidentally resulting in your death. I've found that I only bother hitting this switch if I'm playing in a match or somewhere that it really matters if my game gets minimized. Definately a handy feature to eliminate clumsiness
Last but not least are the built-in USB ports. The keyboard features 2 x USB 1.1 ports on the top/back with cable channels molded in to the underside of the board for clean cable routing to your accessories. Obviously the major drawback is that the ports are only USB 1.1 and are not powered. I don't use either of mine for the record.Conclusion:
This board is the hands down winner... No other keyboard can even come close to the exceptional quality and functionality of this board if you're a gamer or even just a computer enthusiast. The LCD provides thousands of possibilities for any scenario, the keys are perfect, the backlighting is gorgeous, the G keys I could no longer live without. I must say if you're on the market for a new keyboard this should be the one. Some of you may not like the fact that it's a wired keyboard, but get over it
You're never going to see a wireless backlit keyboard with an LCD screen. The price point is also perfect for the amount of options this baby offers, worth every penny.I give this board a 9 out of 10!
I need to win the lottery
