USB - Wired
Good intel and proper gear are the keys to victory. With the Logitech G15 keyboard, you get both. Now you can easily discover on which server your friends are playing Battlefield...
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Reviews of Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard - keyboard
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What's the difference between a standard keyboard and a gaming keyboard? Well, in this case, a honking great big LCD, 18 programmable macro keys, two USB ports and a bright-LED backlight!
The Logitech G15 is marketed as a Gamers keyboard when in fact, I think it would be more accurately described as a multipurpose keyboard. I don't really call myself a huge gamer - probably only clocking about 5 hours a week - however I bought this keyboard anyway, with the impression that it would help improve my general computer experience. This keyboard has perhaps been my most useful purchase to date.
Style
Even by the small thumbnail picture, it's evident that this keyboard really is one of a kind. For starters, it appears to have twice as many buttons as a traditional keyboard, and it does! As well as the full range of characters on the standard British keyboard, there are 3 sections of 6 keys, each fully programmable and customisable (more on this later!). All of the keys on the keyboard are lit by a series of LEDS of adjustable brightness, are well positioned and comfortable to use. The keyboard comes with a detachable wrist-rest, which whilst useful, makes the whole keyboard result in using a lot of desk space - considerably more than a regular keyboard. The thing that Logitech seemed to miss from their design was rubber feet as although the keyboard has 2 small ones at the back, they are missing from the raising stands and it can make the keyboard slip around quite a bit, especially on smooth shiny surfaces. The wrist-rest has sufficient ones on, which adequately keeps the keyboard stable, but don't be surprised if you end up using blu-tac to keep the keyboard in place!
Backlight
The backlight is a feature that appears in a lot of gaming keyboards now, and is more for show than anything else. To a touch typist, backlit keys don't really offer any advantage, however, it is invaluable on the LCD screen which enables you to see the display in the dark. For someone who sits in the dark until the early hours of the morning, this really is a priceless feature.
The backlight has 3 distinct brightness settings: off, low or high. These can be changed by a button at the top of the keyboard, which toggles between these three states.
The only bad thing I can find to say about this is that I wish there was a brighter option. I know it's probably limited by what the USB port can provide, but after the first week or two, the LEDs don't seem to look as bright as they did at first.
LCD Screen
The LCD Screen is really what makes this keyboard unique. The large tiltable screen is capable of displaying numerous applications and applets, many of which are available online. Being a gamer keyboard, the primary intention of the screen was to display in-game statistics, though it works just as well for functions more beneficial to other computer users, such as displaying a clock, currently playing media or CPU and memory usage.
The LCD Screen is supported natively in numerous different games, and even more with patches. These include, but are not limited to: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, World of Warcraft, Neverwinter Nights 2 and Unreal Tournament 2004, with the list always growing. In addition to this, various applications have added support, such as the popular Xfire IM and Fraps.
As of yet, Logitech is yet to release a program to easily create your own applets, however, the screen is fully compatible with LCD studio, which is a third party application allowing you to do just that. Enthusiasts can look into their SDK which is released free of charge to help third party developers interface with the LCD.
Programmable Keys
The keyboard has 18 programmable keys - officially named 'G keys' - arranged in 3 blocks of 6 keys. Each of the keys can be programmed to perform up to 3 unique tasks: either a key macro which can be set directly from the keyboard or an action (such as opening an application) which can be set through the provided software. By arranging these functions into 3 key sets, you can unlock a possible 54 key functions which (if you can remember what each of them does!), saves a lot of time when multitasking or performing repetitive tasks.
Available on the internet is a card template to place on the keyboard, which can be downloaded and cut out to wrap around the 18 keys to identify them, which is when the 'G keys' show their full potential.
Volume Controls
Just underneath the LCD screen are full media controls including fast forward, track skip, rewind, stop, play and pause as well as a large scroll wheel for precise volume control. With the media LCD applet, this makes it perfect for changing music in-game.
Next to the volume control is a toggle switch, which on its own seems to justify the price. In essence, all it does is disable two keys on the keyboard, but what it has done is saved hours of maximizing and minimizing windows. When on, the two most rarely used, but most often mishit keys - the Windows Keys - are disabled, meaning that when your little finger accidently swipes over them on the way to the control key, you don't end up out of the action for 5 minutes wondering what just happened.
USB Ports
Logitech has equipped the G15 keyboard with two low-power USB1.1 ports at the top of the keyboard. Whilst they can't really be used to power much more than a mouse or a headset, they're really handy for easy access and they serve their purpose.
On the underside of the keyboard are a few indented grooves leading from the USB ports to the sides of the keyboard. These are designed to let you feed the cables from the USB devices through, ideally creating a tidier workspace. A good idea, but in practice they really don't offer the grip and support required, and more often than not, the cables just pop out.
Software
On the supplied CD are two pieces of software. One is the Logitech G-series Keyboard Profiler, which handles the macros associated with the programmable keys. The other is the Logitech LCD Manager, which handles what's displayed on the LCD on the keyboard. Both of these need to be running for the respective functions on the keyboard to work properly.
At the time of writing, there are software updates for both of these available on the Logitech website, offering bug fixes and additional features. Out of the box, the keyboard works with Vista - but just! If you use Vista, you'll want to get the latest software updates from the Logitech website.
Revision
Since the release of the G15 keyboard, Logitech has released a revised version of the G15, which looks to have a clearly inferior design to the original model.
To begin with, the LCD screen cannot be tilted, and from what I can tell is significantly smaller. I can only assume this is to make the keyboard more sturdy and smaller; however I'm sure this must hinder the viewing angle of the LCD.
Also in the revised model, there are only 6 'G keys' instead of the 18 on the original model, the scroll volume wheel has been replaced in favour of two buttons, and the colour scheme has been changed from blue to orange.
Availability
With the arrival of the revised model, Logitech has discontinued support for the original model meaning the only place you can probably pick one of these up is either existing stock or e-bay. I really think this is a shame as the new model looks clearly inferior to the original, and for the same price, it almost looks like a bit of a rip-off.
Conclusion
The keyboard is great, and I was really hoping that the few problems I had in it would be fixed in the revision. It seems like Logitech has taken a step back, and I sincerely hope that the community response from it will see them reverting back to the original model.If you can get your hands on the older model, by all means go for it - everyone I've recommended it to has loved it - but you might want to take a closer look at the revised model if you're really after a keyboard like this.
The keyboard seems robust, and it's certainly lasted me more than the 5 months that my old one did. I can see this staying on my desk for a good time to come!
