 |
|
Follow Us:     |
| A member of the Funky Media Group | |||||
|
| Review: Steelseries 6G V2 Gaming Keyboard |
 |
 |
| Posted by Dexter K. | ||||||||
| Sunday, 10 July 2011 21:03 | ||||||||
Page 1 of 5
Introduction These days people usually overlook some parts of their fancy new gaming rig, a keyboard often being the number one overlooked portion of a new build. Revolutionary designs for keyboards dont exaclty pop up all the time. The old saying "if it isn't broken..." holds true to the basic keyboard design. Sure there are fancy things thrown in there like backlit keys, LCD screens, and macro buttons. But does that really matter for most people? Not really. Steelseries has taken that if it isn't broken formula, but tweaked it a bit. This particular keyboard, the "6G V2 gaming keyboard" gives a basic design look of a $10 keyboard you can buy at any big retail store but packs some cool stuff under the hood. Read more ahead ... When I first got this keyboard I was very excited. You must be wondering why I would be excited about a no-frills keyboard that looks like the one you would get with a Dell or HP desktop. The real reason is whats under the keys. Most modern keyboards use what is called a dome cap, where there is a pad and a rubber dome that presses the pad when a key is pressed down. This relays a signal to the computer that a key has been pressed. While dome caps are nice and all, if you really want to type faster and more efficient mechanical keys are where its at.
Mechanical keys are great because they are more accurate than dome caps due to needing to be pressed down in order to register a pressed key. They also allow for greater tolarances for presses at the same time (you can press more buttons at the same time on a mechanical keyboard than on a dome cap keyboard), which can be a life saver if you play macro-intensive games that require you to press quite a few buttons at the same time.
One thing I must say about this keyboard, if you are looking for a feature packed keyboard with 3.5mm audio jacks, usb ports, lights, and all of that jazz look elsewhere. This keyboard is about as basic as it gets. You can connect it by USB, or PS/2 (PS/2 allows for more key presses/ second as well the ability to free up resources that are otherwise used up by USB), there are no lights exccept for the basic number lock, caps lock, and scroll buttons on the upper right hand side that is basic for all keyboards. That isn't to say that it is an extremely basic keyboard, it does have a function button and combination F-keys and multimedia keys so you can change your volume, music tracks, etc. The real goodies are under the hood. If you have ever used one of those oldschool IBM keyboards that click loudly when typing, this keyboard is much like that. While not quite as loud, it does have mechanical switches that give a louder than usual typing experience. In particular this unit uses MX Black switches that are a bit softer than other mechanical switches which is said to be good for gaming, but not necessarily better for typing. Lets see if that holds true in this review.
I must say, visually speaking if you are looking for a black keyboard, this is a great choice. The white letters on the keys visually pop off the black background which is a very nice contrast. The white LEDs that are on the keyboard are a very nice change from the colors that most other companies uses these days. I would say though, that if steelseries were to make a backlit version of this keyboard they should do it in white. It would look very good on the jet black chasis. Shall we take a look at what Steelseries has to say about their product?
Similar Products:
|
