Read more.But how much are you prepared to pay for a smart, illuminated keyboard?
Read more.But how much are you prepared to pay for a smart, illuminated keyboard?
There's no reason to skimp on the bits you interact with (mice, keyboards & monitors) the most - especially us techies and those using PCs constantly. Indeed this is where you should spend and if needs be save on the internal hardware.
Their Illuminated keyboard (the wired predessecor to this no doubt) is stunning. Simple but fantastic. It's so good I bought another for work out of my own money. Indeed the only keyboard I've owned which can rival it is the Logitech Media Desktop 2.0. The excellent keyboard on my Dell XPS M1530 still manages to fall in a distance further back. The Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 which I've still got somewhere is very good too, but was too big for my desk at home, otherwise I'd still have that.
The Media Desktop 2.0 was £100+. The Illuminated Keyboard cost £45 or so when I bought my two, but it seems it's up to around £60 now.
I don't mind paying for the most important aspects of a PC. I'm sat behind one most of the day, so if it treats you right, it'll more than pay you back in the long run.
That said, if you don't need the wireless functionality of it, get the wired Illuminated Keyboard - it looks to be exactly the same (save for the motion sensors and automatic backlighting).
Yes and no on saving on internal hardware and spending on external. Depends on your preferences really, if you want a PC to ergonomic or aesthetically pleasing you spend more on the peripherals but if you want your games to run better you skimp on the rest and pick them up when you can. Equally well you should buy within a budget e.g. for me £150 is about what I spend on graphics cards as based on the previous generations and my gaming preferences (eye candy and resolution, etc) this represents the best performance and longevity though there may be cards with more bang for the buck.
I've bought some garbage peripherals before from companies like trust so again it's worth spending a bit more but my cut off point for a keyboard is £50 and for a mouse £30-35 as much as I would like the logitech g19 it's too expensive for a gimmick. My current mouse the sharkoon rush fireglider is a buget gaming mouse but with the quality of a mouse several times more expensive so it pays to do research.
Some things though like speakers it would be senseless to spend money if you cannot tell the difference, I'm no audiophile so I run an audigy 2 (still one of the best value and sound quality cards for the price and it's a proper hardware card unlike the x-fi xpress music) and a 2.1 phillips 50w speaker set. But 2.1 sets have zero support in games, its either surround or stereo so the bass often goes unused, that being said neighbours still have complained about moderate bass.
I'm tempted by this.
I'd like a new keyboard, to replace my classic Dell one (I like physically compact designs, but with proper keys), and a new mouse, to replace my Microsoft Tackball.
I had been looking at a MS set, Wireless 300 keyboard and Natural wireless Laser mouse. Will give the Logitech alternatives a look too.
Sick. And. Tired. Of. BLACK KEYBOARDS.
However flashy or shiny this thing is, on a broader note: Logitech and MS need to make more keyboards that are other colours. Please. Black is so very boring.
-Casimir's Blake
Psychedelic Tektoniks From The Berenices
white text on a black background is far easier to read than the other way round
Logitech is not a serious company as they want to appear. I bough from them a gamepad Rumblepad 2 and is not full compatible with Need for Speed games. I told them the problem and they simulate that dont understand what is the problem
It's usually the game which is incompatible with the controller. So long as the pad functions in Windows then really it should just work. There's little to them or their drivers to go wrong. Does it stll fail to work correctly without the Logitech drivers? If so, you have your answer as to what is incompatible with what.
Logitech's support is famously second to none.
Edit:
Hmm. I used to be of the same opinion. If, like me, you use computers at work, then come home and the PC is the centre of everything electrical in your life - internet, radio, TV, films, photography, gaming (though there's little of that now) - everything I do revolves around the PC.
At some stage you will very likely get RSI, and when you do, mild or otherwise, you'll find yourself going to extremes to minimise it. Much better to lessen the risk in the first place. The eyes are much more important than that too, as the strain is likely permanent.
If you just sit at a PC for a couple of hours a day, then it's less of a concern, but yesterday for example I was at work for 11 hours with no real breaks to speak of. While a faster PC might make my job finish quicker, or in your case increase your framerate by a few percent, it's doing me sod all good to you.
And don't get me started on people buying mice/keyboards/monitors for aesthetic purposes...
Last edited by this_is_gav; 19-08-2010 at 11:03 AM.
I also work with PCs but I tend to be working in so many different PCs doing repairs that I never really sit down and work extensively on one machine, just wander over click next on windows installations then back to another lol. Major issue for me was back pain from bending over machines as the shop was too small to really sit down and customers would constantly bother me during work. Best bet for that is to strengthen back and stretch regularly.
Ah well I figured you were talking about purely visual reasons to buy something but yes RSI is a real pain, I did see something the other day that was allegedly great to counter RSI.
http://www.3mselect.co.uk/p-424-ergo...pc-usb-sm.aspx
No idea if it is any good but could be worth a punt, I'm not sure if I get RSI but the bit of skin underneath my bone on the bottom right hand side of my right hand gets quite inflamed from my mouse mat (tried a few different ones) so ideally I'd want one that raised up the forearm so the back of my hand was in the air but no gaming peripherals really seem to cater for this.
Last edited by joel_spencer; 19-08-2010 at 05:39 PM.
I ordered the that Natural mouse for my cousin's new build and it looks horrific, and feels very odd for all of about 10 minutes, then you simply don't notice it. I only used it for a few hours while installing stuff, so I've no idea how comfortable it would be for prolonged use over months, but it felt fine for the period I was using it. I wouldn't swap my MX Revo (obviously), and certainly wouldn't be for a gamer, but it was a strong performer.
its not expensive compared to the dinovo edge, i have 3 of them i like em that much
along with the G15 and G19. they do make some nice keyboards.
I don't hold my mouse in a palm grip I use a claw grip and ergonomic mice do nothing for me.
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