ExpertLayman
Member
After a few more hours of messing around I found answers and ways around to minor grievances. So here is an amended review. Please accept this review and not previous submitted review. Thanks.
I bought the Sidewinder X6 and I've been using it for a few hours and would like to share a Ludditde review so expect newbie mistakes. (This is my first review ever)
The keyboard comes in very nice packaging which had me stumped for about a min before I figured that there is transparent tape on the sides. Once opened, I was taken aback when I took out the keyboard and felt the cold, quality metallic frame. The casing gives some nice weight to the keyboard and steadiness on the table. It is made from quality material and overall the keyboard is of a high standard. One of the reasons I bought the keyboard is due to the fact I broke one of the legs from my current Microsoft Keyboard while I was having a fit of rage due to windows not behaving itself, so I was slightly disappointed when I found out that it didn't have tilting option but I should have guessed as the keyboard has detachable num-pad.
Aesthetics and Basic Layout
The layout of the F and ESC keys are not conventional, which in my view is very bad. To get the first F1 key you have to stretch your finger a little bit further from the WASD keys; in time one will get use to it but really one shouldn't have to. The top keys (ESC, F# etc) are thin and wide. They made the F keys wide enough so all 12 keys will take up the same amount of space as main key section. This is mainly done for aesthetic as the ESC key instead of being above ¬ is now above the side macro keys.
The num-pad section is removable and can go either left or default right side and is held in place by strong magnets. It has normal keys plus on calculator key which by default launches calculator. It is a shame it only works when it is connected to the main base, but you get what you paid for. Moving it to closer to the WASD keys will make them default macro keys for many users as most of us are accustomed to the num-pad. At least this will be the case for me when gaming.
The Back-light and Volume are adjusted by two wheels shown in the image. The back-lighting is top notch, allowing you to comfortably use keyboard in total darkness. The main keys have bright red back-lights while the 6 Macro keys (S1/S7-S6/S12) and switcher have a weaker orange back-lighting. It would have been nicer if the S Macro keys had a brighter back-light.
Macros and Software
The software, IntelliType Pro (ITP), is a major let down, which wasn't really a surprise. Microsoft makes good hardware just bad software it seems. As soon as you install it you will notice the response time of volume control is much slower, this can easily be corrected by disabling Volume Status. Second thing, you can delete macros without a confirmation dialog. And finally there is no way to share application profiles or back them up through the application.
You have six main macro keys, labelled form S1-S6. These are doubled by a switch below them which alters them to S7-S12. The switcher key is small and flat to the surface, which makes accidental switching impossible but also quick switching.
All the keys in the num-pad section are macro-able which adds another 18 macro keys (S13-S30). And here we have another silly design by Microsoft; the only way to enable these macro keys is through checking a box in ITP. Once enabled you don't have access to the normal functions of num-pad. There isn't a quick key that allows you to enable/disable num-pad macro. This isn't a big issue but it just would have made things nice on default profile. (UPDATE: It seems it's a registry setting so a workaround is plausible).
Other macro-able keys include the Media Player Controls (play, prev, next and volume)
One final Macro Key is main bank switcher which switches between 3 banks. So a total of 90 macros keys which go up to 102 if you include the Media Player Controls keys.
Other keys include Macro Recorder, Cruise Control and ITP quick launcher.
The inability to share profiles with multiple applications or the ability to copy application profiles is a minor disappointment with ITP. However, this can be easily worked around if you go through ITP registry settings.
No profiles or macros are stored within the keyboard. Should you wish to play it on other PC you need to export required Registry and the relevant macro files.
Other Extra Features
The Keyboard has no extra features by this I mean no USB ports or place to plug-in your headphones.
Summary
To sum it up the keyboard is a great keyboard made that screams quality. The software is somewhat lacking but workarounds are there. The number of Macro keys is enough I think for most people. One issue is the quick enabling/disabling of the num-pad section from being a num-pad to macro-pad, however a little application that parses through all ITP registry profiles with the press of a hotkey should fix that ^^.
Would I recommend this keyboard, at around from £40 I don't think you can get a better quality keyboard, and I doubt any higher priced keyboards can beat it as a typing keyboard. Microsoft really does make great hardware, shame about the software.
