I have a Logitech G15 keyboard that I bought quite a few years ago. It worked well and still is holding up okay. I never really used the macro keys on it, just once or twice. The keyboard did finally start failing in that it would connect and disconnect randomly from the USB on the computer. I had to uninstall the drivers and then the keyboard was fine. All in all, it's a good keyboard but I think I will be looking for something a little cheaper and maybe different when it finally dies just a little too much. Hope this helps some.
Uhh...I have a shitty Kensington mouse and a Dell keyboard that I got for a combined total of $3 at the local government surplus store, and a $10 set of headphones from Big Lots. IThey've sufficed for the last six months, and if they die, well shit, I'm out $13. Bummer.
Dear lord how did I miss a thread talking about sweet gear? Keyboad: Das Keyboard Ultimate via PS2 for n-key rollover (blank and oh so clicky ) Mouse: Logitech G500 on Razer Scrab Mat Headset: Sennheiser PC350 One of my favorite resources about keyboards is this: http://www.overclock.net/t/491752/mechanical-keyboard-guide
I looked at the G15 and could not find any details about the keyswitches. (That is the case with all Logitech keyboards sadly.) But the big turn off for myself was the fact that there are more than one model of the same "Logitech G15 keyboard" and none of them are on Newegg.com where I buy everything I can if possible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logitech_G15 http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-967599-0403-G15-Gaming-Keyboard/dp/B000AY0HTU One model on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G15-Gaming-Keyboard-Black/dp/B000UHE8YM/ref=dp_ob_title_ce One more and clearly different model G15 keyboard on Amazon.com I am sure it is a great keyboard, but I would be really pissed if I paid good money and got the wrong one because they did not appropriately differentiate the names.
Thank you deek. I have had that bookmarked for two years now. I considered a Das keyboard, but I would probably go insane trying to game on a keyboard with Buckling Springs keyswitches. (Not just the noise, but you cannot easily double or triple tap a key.) Is it really as loud as the old IBM model M keyboards were? (They sounded like a rat trap springing every keystroke.)
Fine, I'll bite. - Keyboard: Das Keyboard (the quiet edition, whatever they call it.) I had a Razer Black Widow but the clicking made David want to kill me. Prior to that I was using this old Keytronics thing that is... well, still pretty good but I have to figure out how to wash it, or something. Plus, I think I may keep that for my house, as it's actually part of my home computer and not the Gaslamp computer. Not that I have my home computer set up; right now I'm mainly rocking a Macbook Pro back at home. - Mouse: Logitech M570 wireless trackball. I hate that it's wireless, but I hate their unihand wired trackball more. Trackballs are meant to be moved with your thumb, not your fingers, damnit. (Also no scroll wheel? Whatever.) - Headphones: Sennheiser PC350.
http://www.daskeyboard.com/model-s-ultimate-silent/ Or... http://www.daskeyboard.com/model-s-professional-silent/ The only real difference is the keycaps. Professional has letters on the keycaps, while Ultimate is blank. *Edit* Would you be willing to join me and whomever we can dig up to petition Logitech to make the M570 available as a corded model again? (My first post here explains that I too was pushed over to this wireless thing that I love, but I still hate it for being wireless.) *Edited again* You know, Browns are the middle ground between black/red and the clicky cherry keyswitches. And since Das has the browns, would you say it is gameworthy? I know Buckling Springs would not be, but if they are light enough, the tactile feel could easily be ignored. (Ideally I would only use a LED backlit keyboard, but it seems Das may be the best I can manage if the Browns do not kill it off in my picky eyes.)
Das Keyboard have no key symbols? :O or are they just lit? Also, no media keys I've become addicted to those. So incredibly useful for music.
100% Blank. You do still get a light for Num, Scroll, & Caps Lock. You need more than one key, space bar, for music?
I made keybindings for all the media functions I use. Like CTRL+ALT+Home to pause and unpause whatever I am playing in Winamp. It took a day or two to get accustomed to, but it works. And absolutely nothing aggravates me more than accidentally hitting a media key while gaming and having all manner of nonsense start seemingly of its own accord in the background.
I'd put it as an "average" keyboard. Its extra features just aren't used enough to really justify the high price, and if you have the newer model, you have less physical macro keys - not like I used them, anyway. Never managed to successfully use the USB ports on the back, now that I think about it. Only useful features it really has are a CPU/RAM monitor, a mute button and a Windows key lock, which I absolutely adore. On top of that, it's hell to clean. And it's loud when used for typing. And it gets dirty really, really quickly and the dirt really, really shows on it.
What can those of you using Das Keyboards tell me about the build quality? They cost five time as much as my current keyboard that I have used for two or more years now. So I need to know that I can count on it to last. I rarely get out, and even less frequently happen to go to a store that would have any keyboards out of the packaging for potential customers to play with, so I have no reliable information besides what you could contribute. If you hold the keyboard with one hand from one side, does it creek like it is straining under its own weight? Cheap keyboards like mine do. Do the keycaps look dirty from contact to oils from your skin? Mine is a middle ground in this regard. You can at a glance see that it was used, but it does not require me to baby it to keep it from looking awful. (Ascetics is a secondary, if not tertiary concern.) Do any keys happen to stick or feel different from being used for a while? Membrane keyboards like mine do this regularly. You just get used to it. How about the cord? Do you think it is long enough and made well? Does it bunch up or coil by itself? (Braided can mean more than one thing, most manufacturers use the cheaper implied meaning: They have a braided fabric over the plastic sleeve covering cheap wires. *Real* braided cords are braided metal inside whatever sleeve they use. You can literally feel the difference in most cases.) How about the awful "Windows key"? Can it be disabled easily via a switch or toggle? Or must you either remove the keycap or use a registry editor to bind the key to do nothing at all? I know I am crazy. I hope I am not bothering you by asking. But I would much prefer spending some saved money on a quality keyboard than to buy several cheaper ones in the time that one good one would last. So mechanical is a must. I was leaning heavily towards Cherry Blacks or Reds, but now I am considering Browns too. I *Really* wish Das keyboards had some backlit versions too. But they started with no option whatsoever for anything but clicky, tactile switches with no lettering whatsoever and only seemed to add the option for gaming switches reluctantly. The same for the lettering on the keycaps. They had well over a year that they would not even discuss the option of lettering on their keyboards. /sigh I know I cannot at this time get everything I want. But really, there is a market waiting to be exploited for anyone making a backlit keyboard with your choice of switches and a quality build. Good night everyone. (It is morning, so I should get some *Coffee-Free* time.)
OmniNegro - I have the first G15 keyboard you referenced in your post. As far as the key switches go, I'm not sure what they are but I think there may be springs under the keys what with the way they spring back when I'm typing on it. As Althea said, I don't use the extra features very much at all. Only the volume control gets used very much. I would be willing to sign a petition to get the M570 trackball made into a corded trackball as that definitely reminds me of the 5 button Microsoft trackball I used to love so long ago. Althea - Yeah, for the features that I use on the keyboard, I did spend too much money. But it did still have staying power and I am still using it now. Just not sure how much longer I will be able to use it. I haven't used the USB ports much either as they are only v1.1 and are therefore slow. I don't actually use the windows key lock. It's extremely rare for me to accidentally press it. As for getting dirty, yeah it does. But the tops of the keys that have the letters on them tend to stay fairly clean and it's only on the sides of the keys that really get dirty. One other thing I have noticed is that the grey color on the plastic face of the keyboard rubs off over time. While it is louder than many modern keyboards, it is quite a bit quieter than the old keyboards that sounded like a chunk every time you pressed a key. I should know, I grew up with the keyboards from the late 70's and early 80's.
The build quality is VERY solid. They are designed for forceful typers and take it with stride. You could easily bludgeon someone to death with one and not break it. Not at all On my work das keyboard which has letters they do dull a bit but not enough that you lose sense the lettering completely. In the image below you can see my ASDF are dull compared to QWER Never. The cord is logger than most but thick enough that it never really gets in knots They have windows keys on the models I have. You'd have to disable it based on the OS you use.
Thank you deek. That puts Das keyboards Professional Silent at the top of my list of potentials. And thank you LionsDen too. I honestly have no idea how would be best to make a petition. Anyone have the needed knowledge? (I would think that an open letter with a number of digital signatures would be enough to get Logitech interested in making wired trackballs again.)
I have never done a petition, but I googled "create an online petition" and this was one of the top 3 results. http://www.petitiononline.com/ You would probably need to post something somewhere to point to your petition page and let people know that it is there. Once you have 5 or 10 thousand signatures, send a link to Logitech and see what they say. That would be my guess anyway. There may be better and/or more popular petition sites out there but I don't know where.
I use the Logitech g15 and I do actually use the macro keys mostly for programming (though rarely for gaming) as I have them set up with various templated code blocks (if statements, loops, switch, function, and so forth). If I remember rightly from when I cleaned it last the keys are the tactile rubber contacts most cheaper keyboards use.
No problem. If you want me to take a picture of what the keyboard looks like without keycaps I can do that too.
Hey guys what's going on in he-- *reads thread* Wow. I, uh... I've actually been using the same keyboard that came with my (decade-old) computer for years. The cord died a while back but I took it apart and swapped in a cord from another keyboard, and everything's working fine. It's got a bit of dirt in various hard-to-clean areas, and the paint's starting to come off (actually, the S, D, N, and M keys have lost their paint completely, and W, K, L, and Delete are trying very hard to join their club), but this puppy's served me very well for years. Doesn't hurt that it has strong tactile feedback whilst using rubber for the actual grid thingy. It's got some extra buttons too, but I only ever use the "Calculator" button because it's the only one that's more convenient than using the start menu or a keyboard shortcut. (Why did they even bother having cut, copy and paste as their own buttons?) My mouse is just a standard inexpensive wired laser mouse with a scroll wheel and two buttons on the side that map to back and forward in my browser.
Really, the main reasons to get a more pricy mouse and keyboard are these: For keyboards, 10$ keyboards that come with computers generally don't support as many simultaneous keys, so sometimes they can get locked up when you're gaming. Beyond that, there IS a delay reduction but unless you're doing twitch gaming you won't notice it. Also media keys but I think standard keyboards have those nowadays even. For mice it's a little more advantageous; DPI settings let you set your mouse speed like you want it, much higher than cheap mice, so you can have your cursor move through the whole screen with just a flick of the wrist instead of an arm sweep on the mousepad. Usually they have additional buttons that you can set as well. Like I have two of mine set to pageup and pagedown, so I use them while gaming but also while browsing the web, saves me from scrolling. Generally they're more ergonomic as well, depending on the model. That's about it, personally.
