Logitech G15 Keyboard

Author:  Tyler Curry Date:  2006.04.24 Topic:  Peripherals Provider:  CrazyPC Manufacturer:  Logitech

Listed above are the system requirements and the package contents of the Logitech G15 keyboard.  It is pretty straight forward, you get an Installation CD with GamePanel software, a user guide, and of course the keyboard with a one year warranty.  The system requirements are reasonable considering it is a keyboard, but unfortunately those of you that are still stuck with an operating system older than XP may run into some trouble.

Taking a first glance at the keyboard, the layout is quite typical with your number pad and insert, home, page up, page down, etc. keys. Though the biggest different coming from the left side where a bunch of "G" keys reside, basically these are macro keys but we will get to that a little bit later.  We should also point out that this is a USB only keyboard, and also carries two USB slots on the upper end of the keyboard itself.  In addition, underneath the keyboard, Logitech has placed grooves to string your wires through for better organization.

Now onto the coolest features of this keyboard, the backlit LCD and backlit keys.  Yes, included is a little swivel LCD that will display information such as the date ("analog" clock, digital clock, day, month, year), performance such as RAM and CPU usage, songs currently playing, and many different type of macro functions you may use with the "G" macro buttons.  For example, when we load Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, it will display on the LCD that the game is being loaded.  As for the keys, they are all backlit with a nice blue color which can be adjusted in two different brightness settings.  Although some keys seem to be better lit than others, this is definitely a big plus and really brings out the "coolness" of this keyboard.

And as if there wasn't more, you also get a set of keys to control your volume, play, stop, next, previous, etc.  The volume circular button works all the time and proves to be very useful however as for the rest of the media related buttons, they only seem to work in Windows Media Player.  We did test them in Winamp and it was a no go.

Macros

The macro keys and the LCD are probably the most sought after features of this keyboard.  If you are unsure what exactly a macro does, it can be best put as "A single, user-defined command that is part of an application and executes a series of commands".  So again with Warcraft 3 for example, let's say I wanted to build a town hall, and then build a barracks.  Well, in situations you would have to move the mouse around and click several times in order to complete that type of scenario.  However with a macro function you could technically program one of the "G" keys to do all of this for you, thus all you would need to do is hit the G1 key and the Warcraft 3 peon would get to work and do that task.  Simple and effective.

There are 18 "G" keys and three M keys.  The M keys change the "G" key sets so to speak, so in reality you have 54 different macro buttons you can use for each program.  And along with that comes a good and quite easy to use Macro Manager program.  The Macro Manager is very effective as to what type of macros you can create.  You can set keys presses down, keys letting up, and delayed keypresses.  You can even create a macro by recording your keypresses.