If you ask a gun enthusiast why he needs that M4 SOPMOD to hunt squirrel, you’re asking the wrong question. It’s not that the average squirrel in the Adirondacks is on PCP and likely to require two magazines to put down; it’s that the M4 SOPMOD is a fine and uniquely crafted weapon regardless of whether it ever sees action worthy of its true potential. So, please, don’t ask us why you’d want to spend $200 on a keyboard with up to 36 macros available across 12 programmable macro keys (recordable on the fly from the keyboard itself), customizable keyboard backlighting, and even a 320x240 color display. If you’re a gamer, understand that you’re buying more power than you may ever need, but absolutely should have.
The key action is cush and quiet (preferred by most gamers and characteristic of Logitech’s boards), and the plastic is smooth yet never slippery beneath sweaty digits. The keyboard itself includes a hardware switch to disable the Windows key, and both macro and function keys are slightly elevated for easier nailing. We appreciate the slightly larger than usual Mute button below the media control keys to the upper right, and love the barrel-style volume control (if only it were reprogrammable for use as a scrubber or dial).
The 2.5-inch tiltable LCD is surprisingly crisp and bright—certainly good enough for movies and recorded TV and whatever else you’ve got in your My Videos folder. The bundled applications for the LCD (including an image viewer, RSS feed and POP3 displays, and CPU utilization monitor) work right out of the box and—unlike your second monitor—independently from the OS. They’re also navigable from the keyboard itself, so you don’t have to Alt-Tab out of a game to fast-forward through a TV show or read the story behind a headline, for instance. Of course, games may also use the auxiliary display (and the ones that do, do so automatically—nice), but this support must be provided by the developer, and the list of games remains fairly modest. Sure, it’s easy to think of the display as a superfluous and expensive feature, but once you’ve passed a few moments during a long jaunt or loading screen by reading email or watching YouTube, a keyboard without an auxiliary screen seems like a pet with one eye; still lovable, but a bit sad.
So much attention was paid to detail (macros, for example, can record up to five simultaneous key presses, and the keyboard still works if you don’t plug in the power adapter for the display) that it’s strange that the G19 lacks adjustable risers, or headphone/mic jacks next to the dual USB 2.0 ports. But those are annoying but manageable deficits in an otherwise precise and beautifully executed slab of overkill.
Tough, comfy keyboard with a fine aux display.
No headphone/mic jacks; costs crazy bucks.
Eoraptor
September 07, 2010 at 1:11pm
Seems like a VERY worthy replacement for my venerable MX3000 desktop (the mouse gave out this spring, and the keyboard has noticable grooves in the spacebar and common consonents) when I have a few hundred bucks to spare or board death mandates it.
tomramos
September 15, 2009 at 9:47am
I've been looking at a new keyboard myself, specifically for gaming since thats what my Windows rig is built for. I currently use a MS Natural 4000. There are only 2 things I wish a manufacturer would put in their gamer keyboard 1) Backlighting and 2) Curved Ergonomic shape. I find these features individually but not together. This logitech keyboard has great specs but I'd compare it more to having a magazine fed hunting rifle than a M4 SOPMOD
FattSlice
September 15, 2009 at 12:28am
How can someone be so blind to knock a keyboard because it doesn't have a crappy audio jack? No one with any respect for audio quality is going to use some cheap jack soldered into a keyboard.
mesiah
September 14, 2009 at 10:09pm
Has logitech finally gotten smart and given the macro keys their own button ID? Yes, its all fine and dandy that I can use the buttons to create on the fly complex macros for things, but for some games I just want extra buttons on my keyboard to bind to actions. Lets take WoW for example. You can't just bind a hotbar button to a macro key on the G15, instead you have to first bind your G15 macro key to some combination of button presses, then bind your hot bar button to that combination of macro keys. But if you happen to press that combination of keys on the keyboard, you will trigger your hot button by accident. I don't know why logitech doesn't give the option of mapping the macro keys to aliases, say.... KB1-KB36 right out of the box. especially for the price they charge for these damned things. Has anyone else found an easier way around this problem? Maybe I am making it harder than it needs to be :D
AntiHero
September 14, 2009 at 2:46pm
Logitech makes another keyboard that's insanely priced at first, and has too many gadgets.
I don't like Microsoft, I associate with it.
std error
September 14, 2009 at 1:14pm
What about the load the extra software puts on the system?
How many extra processes does it need to run?
How much memory will it eat up?
Those questions which are never answered in reviews is the reason I keep sticking to PS2 keyboards.
LordPyro
September 14, 2009 at 1:19pm
Lets just say if you are worried about the processes and memory usage of a keyboard, you don't have a computer good enough to need this keyboard.
std error
September 14, 2009 at 1:34pm
I have a i7 at 3.67ghz and 6gb of ram. But I still like to keep windows as light as possible, which is why I only have games on it. I use my laptop for everything else.
mesiah
September 14, 2009 at 9:39pm
Worrying about the additional load this keyboard and its software places on an i7 system is like worrying about a single piece of gravel in the bed of a dump truck. It's going to be pretty much invisible.
killerxx7
September 14, 2009 at 1:10pm
i would rather spend a little more and get a real keyboard,forget about membrain you want a clicky board .
nekollx
September 14, 2009 at 1:20pm
membrain? Looks like chicklets to me.
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Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
nekollx
September 14, 2009 at 12:40pm
I know i'm going to get smacked for this buuuut...
Can it play Crysis? (or any game)
I dunno Puzzle Quest on the LCD might be fun....
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Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
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