GamerHome: Steelseries Zboard Limited Edition Gaming Keyboard Review

GamerHome: Could a keyboard actually help to improve your gaming experience? Or is this just something of an attractive toy? Let’s find out.

[stevenhiggster]

I personally don't feel that the keyboard makes much of a difference (certainly not enough of a difference to merit the price of some of them!), but you absolutely do need a top gaming mouse.

[bozebo]

this ^

kdb makes a very small difference.

Having very responsive switches can help when strafe-stopping in cs:s, but the bullets are 80% luck anyway in that game now :P

And sometimes some extra keys to bind macros too is good.

But that's about it.

I've had the same cheap logitech kbd (its ps/2 lol) for about 7 years and its still perfect. When it dies I will buy an awesome gaming one, but I have no reason to until then. Also, most gaming kbds have something broken about them, heres a list of things that break a kbd for me:
- Any proportions AT ALL which aren't standard (ie, gaps between arrow keys and end/ctrl/0)
- Any non-indented caps-lock keys
- Having media buttons instead of F keys
- Anything other than a totally standard UK layout (or whatever the standard in your country is)
- Mandatory wrist-rest things
- Missing the number pad or arrow keys + insert/home/page up/pause break etc.
- Just all keys must be standard basically...

That pretty much destroys 90% of all gaming keyboards for me, and about 75% of all keyboards. Why do people think they need to reinvent the wheel but make it square instead of round? The standard is the best way it can be done, any deviation from that standard is stupid. I do loads of programming so my hands are regularly carressing the arrow keys and home/end/pageup/pagedn at extremely high speeds.

The one in this review is good apart from the non-indented capslock key and they invented 3 new keys which are on the right... that would be enough to break it for me. edit: OK, so they are for SC2 and can be removed... good, but nobody who plays SC2 properly will have any hand anywhere near that side of the kbd, ever - the most optimal location for key binds is around G

Anyway, /rant...

[stevenhiggster]

Btw, PS/2 connection is way better for gaming than USB. There is no rollover problems (every key on the board can be pressed at once and register, USB is usually only 3 keys will register at once), plus PS/2 is much faster and doesn't use any CPU power, whereas USB does.
So stick with your PS/2 keyboard :-)
Steelseries actually recommend using the bundled USB to PS/2 adapter which makes you wonder why they even bother making them USB in the first place. I suppose some mobo's don't have a PS/2 connection?

[Mutley416]

i love the Razor boards...was not happy with the first Zboards that came out...hope they redeem them self's Steel Series is a great brand for gamers...