Recently I decided to buy a gaming keyboard, my current one is a cheap one I brought from a office supply store, the problem is there are so many of them, I don't know which one to buy, so I figured I'd consult you fine Gentlemen and Ladies as to what a good one is, so feel free to recommend one to me
Comes down to your budget and what your after.
I myself have a Logitech G11, which I got for £25. Truly fantastic keyboard, lovely design with lots of buttons for useful things (like volume, WMP pause/next track for in-game music listening, and Macro buttons/Logitech Macro software). I highly recommend it as an entry point.
Then there's the opposite end... I hear lots about mechanical keyboards, and the summary is - they are expensive, but last forever? In which case, everyone rants and raves about Razer, whom make supposedly the best mechanical gaming keyboards. Expect to shell out over £100 easily. Honestly, at that range, I don't hear anybody mention another keyboard maker.
Otherwise, I have heard little in terms of other recommendations. Expect to be shelling out a lot of money for a gaming keyboard, when in reality a good quality lower priced one will do the job just fine. I have friends who still use their first Dell keyboard, as it is so reliable. They are some of the best players I know in BF3. Just goes to show how little difference it makes.
I had a Logitech G15 once. My final verdict was that the LCD screen is awesome but you don't miss it when it's gone - and the keyboard itself was not well made (the tab key was fairly sticky out of the box and only got worse. I should have taken it back.) I won't buy another one.
I have a Microsoft Sidewinder keyboard now and it's good enough. It has backlit keys (an absolute must for me), six macro buttons along the left side, and the key action is good for a membrane keyboard. Only big complaint is that the ink rubbed off my A, S, and Shift buttons in a very short period of time.
I have never liked Logitech's software (SetPoint). I think Microsoft's is better but I usually don't install keyboard or mouse control panels anyway, as they usually offer more annoyance than features.
Don't get the Razor Blackwidow, poor build quality and a fingerprint magnet. Hard to recommend anything when we don't know what your budget is. One thing I would say is try to test out a mechanical keyboard first, if it feels like your kind of thing, then you're immediately looking at spending more than £70.
I've got through a lot of keyboards in my time, experimenting with and often breaking all sorts of things.
Both the zBoard and the Saitek Cyborg II were big disappointments.
I've now got a Razer Lycosa. It's ridiculously priced, has a small collection of pointless features, however, it does have nice key action and most importantly, very few key combinations that don't work together. I never have any issue with trying to crouch, walk, move diagonally and change weapon at the same time, which was frequently an issue with other keyboards I tried.
Thanks for your suggestions so far, I am shooting for under 100 USD, I can't really justfy paying that much for one. hope that helps
Avoid Razer products like you would a mouthful of rancid dog's blood. I've bought many of their ridiculously overpriced products over the years and the latest failure is the Lycosa keyboard I bought a month ago. It seems to enjoy randomly preventing any input until its unplugged and put back in.
Back on my 'old' Saitek II Eclipse which has just the right balance of sturdyness, robustness and features (backlight, quick volume control) for me.
Microsoft tend to do decent input hardware. Get yourself to a PC World (or whatever similar shop you have in the US) and play around with the keyboards they have on display. Find one you like.
Then leave and order it online from elsewhere.
Send it back.Originally Posted by FuriKuri!
I'm amazed how many people buy duff computer parts and just go out and buy new ones.
The message is more "100% of the Razer products I've bought (several) have been defective or manifested problems within only a few months" rather than "I'm too dumb to exchange defective products".
A one off is one thing but repeated failures deserve to be highlighted - and for all the bluster and LEDs their products just suck. Even just getting it out the box surprised me with how cheap and nasty the build quality really is.
I miss my LCD when I am using a different keyboard. Ventrilo info, Music, and stopwatch are the most used things I use on it. Also cpu/ram use is nice.
Have had and use 1st and 2nd Gen G15 keyboard. Works great for me. Do not use the programmable macro keys much but have a few times.
I've been using a Logitech G15 and Zboard Fang together (yes, I have a metric fuckton of desk space) for something like nine years now. I love them both but the G15 is starting to show its age and may need to be replaced soon.
The Medallion of the Imperial Psychopath, a Napoleon: Total War AAR
For the Emperor!, a Total War: Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai AAR
I have a Microsoft Sidewinder X4, which so far is doing well. My main reason for getting it though was that I wanted a backlit keyboard and unlike the capatious desk space Fumarole had available, it had to be small enough to fit on the pull out keyboard shelf under my desktop. So anything wider than 52cm was too big for my desk, which effectivly ruled out many of the gaming keyboards. Consequently if I have a complaint it is that it just feels a little bit too small and cramped together and I'm forever hitting the wrong keys, especially Caps Lock (stuck right next to the A with no gap), as I haven't quite got used to it yet. All in all though a decent enough keyboard but I'd recommend something larger if your desk can accomodate it.
The closest thing that's available in 90% of the US now is Best Buy, which is a general electronics store. They spread their evil seed across the nation, killing off all of the native PC stores that used to be in nearly every town in the US. Now they're starting to go bankrupt and are closing stores because of online purchasing and their own predatory pricing scheme, so most towns won't have ANY PC stores in the near future. Ain't capitalism and corporate personhood status grand?
I've been eyeing the X4 for the exact same reasons and have been wondering how people feel about it. I didn't want any of those "compact" keyboards made by every shade of known and unknown manufacturer of keyboards around the world, so it's been really tough finding something that meets my needs.
I've seen the X4 for a good price on NewEgg's Shell Shocker page once, which is the only time it's been within my hobo-level budget. Unfortunate, I'd already ordered another board from a company in Hong Kong that never got delivered. They won't return my emails anymore and though I paid for it through PayPal, they are somehow unable to help with dispute resolution because of the company's status. Ugh, but at least I'm only out $24.
Simply a brilliant signature, so I'm stealing it like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Yoink!
I'll chuck in another recommendation for the G15. It nice and comfortable to use and if you've never used backlit keyboards before you'll never want to go back having tried one.
I can't say I use many of the fancy features but honestly the ability to have the time on the little screen and the volume controls mean I wouldnt want to use anything else.
I recently upgraded my Saitek eclipse to an MS X6 very solid and smooth i have no complaints at all with it. For the price it is excellent value.
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