logitech keyboard lcd screen manufacturer

You can’t save the princess with skill alone. The peripheral manufacturer Logitech would like to aid you in your online quests with the help of its new G19 keyboard for gaming.

The G19’s standout feature is a tilting color GamePanel LCD screen, 320 by 240 pixels, which can be used to display gaming information for more than 60 games, including Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft, as well as nongaming details like VoIP data, maps and videos.

The keyboard houses 12 fully programmable G-keys (three macros per key) and has multikey input functionality, which means you can bang on up to five keys simultaneously.

Item condition: Manufacturer refurbishedThis is a manufacturer refurbished product. Keyboard comes in non retail packaging. Satisfaction guaranteed! Product IdentifiersModel G19SMPN 920-004985Key FeaturesKeyboard Type GamingInterface USBTechnical FeaturesConnectivity Technology WiredLogitech G19s Gaming KeyboardSettle for nothing short of everything. Harness the power of greater intelligence with a keyboard for gamers who don’t know what it means to have too much information. A GamePanel color screen feeds you a steady flow of vital intel. Programmable G-keys simplify complex actions. Take your game to higher levels with advanced technology to light your way forward. 1. GamePanel LCD requires software that supports Logitech GamePanel technology. Visit www. logitech. com/gamepanel 2. G-key programming requires Logitech Gaming Software available at www. logitech. com/downloads

In software, it"s said that everything grows until it can read mail. In hardware, the corresponding dictum is that everything grows until it has an LED screen. Accordingly, Logitech has taken its high-end G15 gaming keyboard and added an attractive, if superfluous, display."The Logitech G15 keyboard offers an integrated LCD screen which can be customized to view vital in-game information, system status, CPU memory available or data from other applications without interrupting game play. The G15 keyboard offers PC gamers a tactical advantage with six programmable G-keys - and three mode keys - to create useful macros on the fly that play-back with a single key press."

The keyboard is $100 and available immediately. Availability of in-game support, however, is a bit cloudy. But really, it"s the glowing red, KITT-like awesomeness on sale, not actual utility.

Anyone who has paid attention to what Logitech has provided in keyboards over the years has always had an eye on their boards that come with an LCD screen. I remember when they first came out - even the idea of being able to see what the PC was doing, live right on your keyboard, always seemed like a great concept, even if the LCD technology then wasn"t exactly great. As the years went by, many users started developing add on applications to allow things like VOIP servers to show information, AID64 always had an app, as well as just about anything any gamer would think they could possibly need.

The one thing that had been holding back this whole idea with me was that the LCD screens were so limited. You could make bmp, logos and add them, or have information displayed on what looked like a large 1980"s wrist watch, but I was looking for something a little more. Well, technology has finally caught up with the designers, and let me say, the capabilities of the screen on the new G series keyboards from Logitech are really top notch. In the age of phones being capable of high definition video playback, it was just a matter of time before the LCD on these keyboards would be something to blow your mind.

Not only are you getting a proven gaming keyboard from a manufacturer that is in every store, and I would guess in almost every home, you are getting all of the perks that come along with the G series from Logitech. The one thing that sets the new Logitech G19s gaming keyboard apart from others in the G series that I have reviewed before is the LCD screen. It"s capable of displaying images, playing movies, updating RSS or POP3 email accounts, showing PC usage, and even a pizza timer and stopwatch to make sure your lap times are good and that you don"t burn dinner, all at the same time.

If this sort of tech all packed into a keyboard hasn"t piqued your interest in the slightest, you better check for a pulse, the Logitech G19s that we are about to see is just that cool.

The specifications given from Logitech are minimal at best. They cover the part number of the G19s, being 920-004985, but I found no issues with searching by its G19s naming. It then moves on to the limited three year warranty and then jumps right into the Windows compatibilities, the fact you need a free Hi-Speed USB port (USB 2.0+), and that you will need access to the Internet to obtain the drivers. On the right side it covers what you will find inside the box, and those are the keyboard, a palm rest, user documentation and the AC power adapter.

What they don"t tell you about the G19s is more of the important bits that I think buyers would want to know. Things like that it is made mostly of plastic, and has some accent components made of aluminum, or even the fact that the top of this keyboard is surrounded with metallic blue to dress up the keyboard a bit. They also don"t say a word about the rubber dome switches, or the fact that it offers wire management trails under the keyboard. The do not mention that this keyboard offers anti-ghosting with the 6-key rollover. The last thing I think should have been covered besides a mention of the obvious, the 50mm by 38mm LCD screen, is that the G19s also has a pair of pass-through USB 2.0 ports on the back.

What is going to freak a lot of potential buyers out right away is the pricing of the G19s. I know technology isn"t cheap, nor is the time you have to pay the programmers to make the LCD screen this functional. Currently it seems that even for the G510 the cost bottoms out to enter the G series at around $100, just to give a bit of perspective before I drop the bomb on you. I see listings at a few locations, as well as the ability to by direct from Logitech, but all of the pricing is set the same to a $199.99 price tag, when stock is ready to ship on May 7.

Already, I know $200 for a rubber dome switch keyboard is going to be hard for many to swallow, but hang tight as we delve deeper into what the G19s offers, before we make any final decisions.

All black is what Logitech colors the exterior of the packaging with. This allows for the naming to pop off the background on the left, and also is a nice backdrop for the split image of the keyboard.

The long thin edge the box was just propped up on has only the naming on one end and an image of the G19s with the screen working and the keys backlit.

Both of the smaller ends of the box look like this in the image above. Just like with all the other panels, you have the manufacturer and keyboard naming, but on the ends there is a QR code box if you want to get more information on this at the point of purchase.

On the back of the packaging, this is where you get introduced to the features of the G19s keyboard. They point out the game mode switch, macro keys, custom colors of the back lighting, and of course the LCD screen at the top of the keyboard.

Cutting a pair of anti-tamper stickers on the side, you can then open the box to see the bold blue used to surround the keyboard inside. As an added layer of protection, Logitech simply surrounds the board with a plastic liner to keep dust and scratches off the various plastic surfaces.

Fresh out of the box, there are quite a few things to notice. You get a good assortment of G-keys, there is a large adjustable angle LCD at the top, there is a nice blue surround on the keys, a full set of multimedia keys, and some styling that makes this board look really good at a glance.

On the left side of the keyboard, with white painted accents surrounding the right side of them, Logitech offers 12 G-keys for adding macros to your gaming sessions.

At the top edge of this keyboard you will find the M-keys for the three profiles and the MR-key for on the fly macro recording. There is the Game Mode switch followed by a D-pad, menu key, back button, and settings button for the LCD screen.

Moving further to the right at the top of the keyboard you run into the stylishly shaped LCD screen and its housing. Anything past the edges of the screen blends in nicely with the black behind the clear plastic covering.

Finishing off what is found on the top of the keyboard, we are now running into the right edge. Here we should cover the lighting button that controls both the LCD and the backlighting. As you pass the key lock LEDs, you run into the set of multi-media keys and the volume scroll wheel.

The 74 keys on the left two-thirds of the keyboard covers the F-keys and the QWERTY layout of the keycaps that are hovering over rubber dome switches. You will notice that the WASD keys will be easier to find since their grey color stands out well against the other black keys.

Looking at the G19s from the side, you can see that the front edge of the keyboard is taller than the back of the keyboard, and leaves the key caps falling away from the rows in front of them.

In the back of the keyboard near where the dual cable comes out of the G19s, there are a pair of USB 2.0 ports to plug in your mouse and headset all right here so you have access to them, maybe even a great place to use a thumb drive, so you don"t have to reach to the PC.

From the back of the screen, you can see the LCD panel pivots on the aluminum bar, which runs from one side of the keyboard to the other here. With the G in the aluminum badge under the right ALT key, this aluminum carries the idea into a more finished look, and less of just a badge in aluminum.

Once you flip the supports out at the back of the keyboard, you do get a bit of a better look at the keys, as far as your fingertips are concerned. Now the keys in successive rows are higher than the previous rows, so along with an ergonomic angle now, you fingers will feel like they reach less in this position.

The two meter, thick rubber cable that came out of the back of the G19s is bundled up in this image. At the ends of this dual cable there is a jack for AC power, along with the USB 2.0 connection, with a tag on it showing to install the drivers prior to connecting the keyboard.

This is the other half of the AC power plug. Here is the US plug ended Nalin power adapter to give the keyboard enough power for the LCD screen as well as helping to power the pair of pass-through USB 2.0 ports on the back.

On the underside of the keyboard you can see that Logitech offers plenty of cable management. There are two ways to enter the trails at the back of the board - they can cross to the center, and then be run through the various trails near the front edge.

At the back of the keyboard, if you wish to increase the angle of the keyboard, you can flip out the plastic feet that offer no rubber padding to grip onto the desk.

The front edge of the keyboard, near where the palm rest is to clip in, you do get a pair of rubber pads to keep the keyboard from sliding around on the desk.

Grabbing the palm rest that was shipped under the keyboard and clipping it into the keyboard shows that it not only clips in, but also has tabs to help support it. There are also three additional rubber pads to keep the keyboard in place since most of the weight will be here anyways.

When the software is installed and loaded up, you are dropped into the home screen. Here the G-keys, M-keys, and the LCD screen flashes to show you can click from here to jump to those programming sections, or you can use the tabs at the bottom.

The LCD tab allows you to browse through a list of default applications that can be run, and you can download custom ones and they will then show in this list to allow users to turn them on and off from the menu on the keyboards screen.

The lighting tab is pretty self-explanatory, here you can set the three profiles to various colors. You can either spin the wheel at the top, you can use an RGB code with the sliders, or even pick from one of the 22 preset color choices. This set the backlighting of everything on the board, but the M-keys and LCD controls, they remain amber no matter what color is chosen for the other keys.

The tab with an icon of a memory IC is the way that the G series allows users to store and swap profiles for various games. So, basically if you fill the three profiles with various game settings, if you change games, you can go here and drag in the appropriate profile and drop it in the onboard memory of the keyboard.

If you click on the gear at the bottom it will bring up a settings window. Here you can allow or turn off various features, check the software version of the keyboard, and you can also change some settings on how the profile selection works.

If you need some advanced help when trying to set things up, you can click on the "?" icon. Here you can look up just about everything that may be a question you need answered, while trying to figure out how to get images or videos playing on the LCD.

When the G19s is first plugged in, the LCD screen will show the above pair of logos, along with the Logitech name for about three seconds, as the system boots up.

Since the drivers are in prior to booting the keyboard, the first thing that shows up is that same list of applications you saw in the software, just displayed on the screen so that you can use the D-pad and cycle through the options.

The video feed stems from the Videos section of the C drive by default, at the time I took the images, I didn"t have any in that folder, but I was able to play episodes of Tron Uprising as well as Big Bang Theory, and they looked really good while playing on the small LCD screen.

The last of the apps that come on the keyboard is the performance graphs. With the dual-core system I plugged into for images, I get two CPU graphs above the single memory usage bar. As I went to my i7 rig, I only get one CPU graph for all four cores and HT.

Everything about the G19s is better than average on most of the features and outstanding with some. There are a couple, maybe a few reasons, that I wouldn"t find myself using this keyboard on a regular basis. After quite a bit of writing on this keyboard, the keys are laborious to use, even compared to my Cherry MX Green switches, it just wasn"t very pleasurable to use long term, as a typist first and gamer second. There is just an odd feeling to these keys, and I could almost hear my fingertips cry a little with every keystroke. The second thing I didn"t care for was the limited brightness of the backlighting of the keys. When using something like white or light blue, the room has to be pitch black to tell the difference between what appears to be light glowing from under them. The last thing that was sort of a pain was all of the cabling used with the G19s. The thick cable is hard to stay bent and out of the way, and you always need to consider the location of an extra power outlet at your desk to make everything work.

With my personal gripes out of the way, let us now move to the positives. Even if a bit dim, there is a fully customizable backlighting for the keys. There are plenty of G-keys to get you into trouble remembering what they all do. The keyboard offers three profiles, has onboard memory, and via the software, everything is pretty easy to use and figure out with just a few seconds of use. The bottom line with this keyboard is that to get basically the same without the LCD is going to cost you near $100 for a Logitech solution in the same G series. I realize technology is going to cost those who want access to it first, and with the G19s, what it offers including the LCD screen, the pricing is justified at $199.99, even if based on rubber dome switches.

I really do wish that Logitech will take this concept and design one step further, and I would go right out to a store and buy my own with my hard earned cash. Everything about the G19s is so high-end, not only with the basic features and software, but to actually be able to play movies, set timers, tap into YouTube for game tutorials. The only thing missing from this design to sell me on it whole heartedly is if it were to be based off the G710+, and I think in today"s market, a mechanical version is justified even if it were to cost a bit more.

I am really torn at the end of all of this. The features like the LCD screen, 6-key rollover, backlighting, multi-media keys, all of it I really like, and the software ease just adds to that. It is just that my fingers are still complaining as I finish this, and I don"t think this keyboard will spend much more time on my desk than it already has. I would imagine this is a perfect solution for those with deep pockets who haven"t been blessed by mechanical keyboards in the past, but to spend this sort of money, it is almost ludicrous that a $200 keyboard doesn"t include them.

Logitech will release new keyboard which has LCD screen for gamers on February 10th in Japan. The LCD screen shows status like scores, time, and how many bullets are left. And also, it shows CPU and memory useage. When you listen the music from Windows Media Player, screen shows the title of the songs and time. When you don"t use it, you can close the LCD panel. There are 18 keys which you can customise on the left part of the keyboard. This keyboard has built in USB Hub(2 ports).

The keyboard everyone in the world drooled over for months and months is out there on the market. It’s got its own LCD screen, it looks slick as hell, and it costs a mint. You know you wantit, but should you really buy it?

The G19 is probably the second most anticipated keyboard of all time, after the infamous Optimus Maximus. The inclusion of a separate full-color LCD screen (an update to its predecessor, the G15) was like geek candy, but the question secretly on everybody’s mind was “is it actually going to be useful?” And as it turns out… not really. Let’s explore that right off the bat so you don’t have to read the rest of this review.

The screen itself is good. It’s 320×240, nice and sharp, and color is vibrant. It’s basically like your average mid-range cell phone screen. Viewing angle is pretty dismal, but you’re usually right in front of it and it swivels vertically anyway. So what’s on it?

Well, the screen has a few basic “channels.” YouTube, RSS Feed, song display, “my videos,” a clock, a performance monitor, a picture viewer, and a timer. Of these, the performance monitor is really the only useful one, because I can’t think of a reason you’d want or need to navigate YouTube or your pictures and videos via this tiny screen. The onlysituation I can think you’d do it is while in a full-screen app or game that doesn’t minimize or alt-tab well. The RSS reader is adequate, but only displays one story at a time. You’d really have to try hard to make use of this thing.

Where’s my bandwidth monitor for uTorrent? Where’s my ammo readout in Counter-Strike or my mini-map in Assassin’s Creed? Of course, it’s on the game and app developers to make that happen, but it’s on Logitech to press them on it. If Logitech is going to roll something like this out, they needed to roll out big or customers are going to see that they’re paying for a fantasy device.

Lastly, the LCD screen is not some self-contained little thing. It runs a bunch of processes in the background all the time, and on XP at least also had an item (or two) in the taskbar all the damn time. Come on, that’s unforgivable.

So unfortunately, that’s the G19’s primary selling point, and it’s not very convincing. Maybe in a year there will be more support for it, or a touchscreen, or what have you, but at the moment it’s just not worth it. But what about the rest of the keyboard?

The G19 is, aside from the screen, a very competent keyboard. The keys are big, well-spaced, and have a pleasant resistance to them. They seem to project further from the base than other keyboards, but I have been using the very flat Lycosa for months, so that could just be a bad comparator. The backlighting is the best I’ve seen, and covers the entire rainbow; you can set colors to profiles so you know which you’re in. All illumination turns off with the touch of a button so you don’t have to fiddle with anything if you want a blackout while you watch a movie.

Like the G19’s predecessor, the G15, you’ve got macro keys on the left side and a hard profile switcher — work, play, movie editing, or what have you. Plus, like most gaming keyboards, it detects games you start and will automatically launch a macro/key profile. The macro editor worked well and I use it for blogging shortcuts (inserting image code, signatures, etc) and that sort of thing. I’m not a big macro user but if you are I think you’d enjoy this. The macro keys themselves (G1-G12) are easily available and organized into little blocks of four, excellent for finding without looking (the F-keys are also blocked, thank god).

The other features on the keyboard include a (thank you Jesus) Windows key disabler and the usual media controls. The media buttons worked perfectly for me, although it would have been nice to have them be able to launch the player instead of just control it. The big mute button and volume wheel are responsive and feel good.

So what we’ve got here is a failure to launch. The LCD screen has a lot of potential but is only used for mundane tasks which have no real reason to be on there, or at least don’t justify the cost. Other than that, it’s a great keyboard. I enjoy typing on it, the macros are handy and responsive, and everything works perfectly well. It’s just not worth dropping $200 on because it has a screen. Logitech makes great keyboards, and you’d be better off going with another one, at least until this one has adequate support from the community and industry.

Last month, Logitech sent over a brand new, fairly expensive mouse and keyboard combination that the company is marketing to gamers. If purchased together, at full MSRP, the G19s and G602 (review here) would cost the average consumer a whopping $280. And that"s before tax and/or shipping. But is the recently-refreshed combination really worth all that cash?

The Logitech G19s is easily the most feature-packed keyboard that"s ever entered my home, thanks to its built-in LCD screen and programmable macro buttons; however, the average customer isn’t likely to find a convincing reason to spend $200 for Logitech"s latest refresh of the G19s gaming keyboard.

That’s not to say that the device isn’t equipped with its fair share of bells and whistles but, while the G19s certainly isn’t running low on style or panache, it feels like Logitech skipped out on pretty much every major feature I’d expect to see in a keyboard with such a steep price.

Where are the mechanical switches? Why would I want powered-USB ports, as opposed to a wireless device, when the G19s doesn’t even include the headphone jack needed to plug in a headset? And why does the keyboard rely on an application that slows down my CPU boot and shutdown times?

Enough with the rhetorical questions, though. Let’s dig into the Logitech G19s bit-by-bit and see what consumers should expect from a brand new unit, what we liked about the company’s latest gaming keyboard and the various reasons why we still aren’t quite sold on the Logitech G19s.

Just as you might expect, the Logitech G19s has all the usual buttons you"d expect to find on a QWERTY, Windows-ready keyboard. The device also includes the usual suite of media keys, plus a rolling input for volume control , along with a handful of buttons mean to select/toggle various features and functions of the Logitech G19s.

Each input on the keyboard is coated in a UV-protective coating, to keep the keys from fading after a few weeks/months of heavy usage, and the folks at Logitech thoughtfully decided to make both the arrow and WASD keys a lighter shade of gray. It may not seem like much but, between those and the LCD backlighting behind every key, you shouldn"t ever really have an issue getting your hands lined up properly on the G19s.

The Logitech G19s also features a full-color LCD panel built directly into the device, which can be used to display everything from game stats to the headlines from your favorite RSS feeds. It can even play your favorite YouTube videos, provided they aren’t locked to the browser; however, the frame rate does take a pretty significant dive.

Less exciting features include a pair of powered USB ports can be found on the upper-edge of the keyboard and molding on the bottom of the G19s that is intended to help you manage the wires from your headphones and/or mouse. Assuming you haven"t spent close to a $100 on the G602 wireless gaming mouse that Logitech is hoping consumers will pair with the G19s and/or several hundred dollars on one of the many wireless gaming headsets currently available to PC gamers.

While I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the distinctive clicking sound produced by many of the world’s top mechanical keyboards, I’ll admit to being pleasantly surprised by just how little noise the G19s has created since showing up at my apartment last month. Not pleased enough to overlook the lack of mechanical switches under the keys, but we"ll dive into that later.

The keyboard’s UV coated keys may take a bit more force to register an input but they also feel like they’ll continue to hold up under the hours and hours of daily usage that they’ve seen in the last few weeks. The backlit keys also make it easy to see what I’m doing, regardless of the current light level in my home office.

The programmable keys that line the left side of the keyboard are also handy for certain games and other tasks; especially if you’re playing an MMO or other game where macro inputs are both more efficient and (sometimes) the difference between life and death/rage quits. I also find them surprisingly useful in my day-to-day life, though I suppose not everyone is slapping the same footer paragraph onto a handful of new articles each business day.

Best of all, each of the twelve keys can be programmed three times, toggled via a set of keys in the upper-left corner of the device, and the ability to alter the backlight behind your keys makes it easy to remember which macro configuration is currently enabled. Advanced coders will also be happy to know an emulator for the Logitech G19s" built-in LCD screen comes bundled with the software, making it a bit easier to program and test your own applets for the device.

That’s how much Logitech wants customers to pay for the Logitech G19s. Two hundred dollars for a new keyboard that, while certainly pleasing to the eye, seems to value outward appearance more than usefulness or general functionality. I mean, it doesn’t even include mechanical inputs.

There are at least two different Das keyboards for significantly less, and I bet the Control and Alt buttons on those don"t start to wear out after just one month"s worth of usage. I wish I could say the same for the Logitech G19s.

I think it’s also worth pointing out that just about everything that currently sets the G19s apart from other keyboards are features that require you to take your eyes off your monitor. I don’t know about you guys, but taking my eyes off my screen is the last thing I want to do in the middle of a game; much less reflex-focused games like Call of Duty, Dota 2 or League of Legends.

While the keyboard’s YouTube applet quickly became a personal favorite – if only because it gave me a chance to say, “Hey, look what this thing can do…” whenever friends come over – there’s no discernible way to alter the button combination that queues the videos. It’s an all-or-nothing setting that either plays any/every YouTube URL that hits your clipboard, or the keyboard ignores any/all attempts to push video to the G19s’ 2-inch screen.

The Logitech G19s is great but, at the end of the day, I just cannot envision spending two hundred dollars on it. Then again, I don’t play games for a living – well, at least not competitively --so it’s always possible that I just don’t understand why a particular feature of the G19s makes the device worth its current price. I’ll also admit to being a bit of a penny-pincher when building/outfitting my computers.

Watching Curren$y videos on the keyboard’s diminutive LCD screen is entertaining once or twice, but not something I’d ever do outside of the rare occasions when I can show the feature to a friend that’s yet to see the new toy on my desk. The same can be said for just about every other applet currently available for the G19s.

I mean, nobody really needs anything more than the $10-$20 keyboard/mouse combo that used to come standard with any new computer, but the whole idea is that it’s fun to pack a few extra features into an otherwise boring device that many of us use on a daily basis.

DISCLAIMER: As mentioned at the top of this post, the Logitech G19s review you just read is based on time spent with a keyboard provided to me (free-of-charge) by a representative of the popular peripheral manufacturer; however, Logitech did not retain any say in the contents of this review.

Have you had a chance to spend any time with the latest iteration of the Logitech G19s? Disagree with our analysis of the popular peripheral manufacturer’s latest premium gaming keyboard? Think you’ve discovered something (like a new applet) that would change our mind about the Logitech G19s?

I"m considering the possibility of my friend (although he"s being kind of a d♥♥♥ lately & hard to get a hold of) modding the screen from my G19s (the one that is wearing out & I"m attempting to replace) into an external USB case so that the screen can still be used, if not the keyboard itself; the only reason I even considered this was because he"s been known to put backlit, high-definition screens into old handheld game systems, so he"s pretty smart when it comes to this, but it might require leaving the entire board for the keyboard in one piece (if anything, I suppose I could keep the old keyboard connected to the computer for the screen only & use another keyboard that isn"t having the sticking problems)... Of course I still have to use old software/drivers regardless, seeing as Logitech still can"t seem to fix the issue... And just FYI, the G19 also has the capability to play videos (even online videos & live streams) & picture shows on it, however I"ve never used it for that purpose (it was always used for informational purposes in my case). There were a number of functions that were also available, however I didn"t particularly want those running while running games or streams of those games, using more processing power/bandwidth than is necessary.

When Logitech rolled out the original G15 gaming keyboard it was revolutionary for many gamers. We felt so too when we reviewed it in 2005. Not everyone felt that way though with a huge footprint and gobs of macros that many gamers didn’t need the original Logitech G15 caught some flack. The company has redesigned the G15 for a smaller, sleeker look. Did Logitech improve on something close to perfection for many gamers, or geld the stallion that was the original G15? Read on to find out.

As soon as you lay eyes on the new Logitech G15 you see the family resemblance to the old G15. The new G15 has the same colors of silver and black on the keyboard and familiar layout that is smaller and svelter than the original. If you were one of the many gamers that found the original G15 to be too bulky, the new G15 will impress.

The new Logitech G15 measures in at about 19.5-inches long by 10.5-inches wide, which makes it about 2-inches narrower than the original G15. You might think that 2-inches hardly makes a difference, but it means that the vast majority of users will be able to get the new G15 into the keyboard tray on their desk and may even still have room for their mouse as well. The old G15 simply wouldn’t fit into many keyboard trays.

The original Logitech G15 used blue backlighting that was a bit dim, even on high for my tastes. The new G15 gaming keyboard uses an orange backlight that is adjustable to high, low and off. The orange color is more attractive to my eye than the blue and is brighter and more uniform than the original G15. Another change to the new G15 from the old one is in the LCD display.

The LCD display on the new Logitech G15 keyboard is fixed in place, fatter and more rounded than the original flip-down LCD on the G15. The LCD change gives the entire keyboard a different, more organic look. You still get the same functionality with the new G15’s GamePanel LCD that the old version offered. By default the LCD can display system statistics like core usage on the CPU and will show all four cores on a quad-core CPU and shows RAM usage. Other built-in features are a stopwatch, and a clock with calendar.

Several games are compatible with the LCD screen like Battlefield 2142 and some applications like Ventrilo are as well. In Battlefield you can get information about the game on the LCD like armor left and ammo, Ventrilo allows you to see who is talking. I still have the same issues with the LCD now as I did on the original G15, who wants to take their eyes off the screen during a hectic game to look at the keyboard LCD when the same information is typically listed on the in game HUD.

The keys on the new Logitech G15 keyboard include all of what you would expect to find on a current gaming keyboard with media control keys arrayed around the LCD display that include forward, back, stop, play/pause, and volume up/down. On the flat portion of the keyboard to the right of the LCD is a large dedicated mute button that is easy to find and hit if you need to mute your game quickly for a phone call. To the immediate right of the mute button is the control for the brightness of the backlighting.

On the opposite side of the keyboard, you find a large gaming button that is used to disable the Windows key during game sessions, keeping you from accidentally closing your game window. To the left of that button is the large key dedicated to recording macros on the fly. Next to the MR (macro record) button are the three buttons for the different macro profiles labeled M1, M2, and M3. Directly below the macro profile buttons on the far left of the keyboard are the six macro buttons that provide a total of 18 available macro programming options. The remainder of the standard QWERTY keyboard keys is present and accounted for as is a full number pad.

Typing feel on the new Logitech G15 is identical to that of the old G15, which is a good thing, I liked the typing feel of the original. The keys offer a nice tactile feel and an audible click when pressed without feeling spongy. That isn’t to say that either G15 version has the best typing feel available. I found the scissor keys on the Razer Tarantula to be fantastic and very much enjoyed typing on the Microsoft Reclusa, which I used as my daily keyboard for a number of months. However, the new G15 would come in a solid third place for all time typing feel on a gaming keyboard for me.

I use a keyboard much more heavily than most users not only gaming, but by putting about 10 hours of typing per day during the week as well. I found that on the original Logitech G15 and on the Reclusa that the key tops wore quickly to the point of the letters being illegible. Logitech changed the method they used for printing the keys onto the original G15 key tops when they started to wear prematurely.

I would assume that the new Logitech G15 uses the more durable key tops like the replacement unit I got. Judging by the look and feel of the key tops, Logitech did use the more durable keys on the new G15. To improve comfort Logitech uses a removable wrist rest on the new G15 that is a black plastic with a slight texture to it. While the wrist rest on the G15 isn’t padded, it is still quite comfortable.

Unlike some users, I don’t travel to LAN parties, so I have never had a problem with breaking the wrist rest pins that secure the rest to the keyboard. However, if you do take your G15 on the road frequently, beware that the little pins that keep the wrist rest attached to the keyboard do look a bit thin to me.

On the back of the Logitech G15’s LCD are a pair of USB 1.1 ports that will not support high speeds for flash drives and won’t support USB gadgets requiring higher power. Logitech provided trenches on the underside of the G15 to route cables from behind the keyboard to the front without upsetting the keyboards balance. This is a very nice touch.

I mentioned the ability to record macros on the fly previously to the 18 possible macro keys. To record the macro all you need to do in game is hit the MR button and instructions appear on the LCD screen telling you to select a G key from the left. Once you hit the key you want to bind the macro to you hit the keys or sequence of keys that compose your macro. Once done you hit MR again to stop recording and your macro is ready to use. When not gaming, you can also record macros within the Logitech G15 software using the macro manager area of the software.

You can choose a name and have it display on the LCD if you desire and record an unlimited number of keystrokes per macro. In testing I made up a macro with over 50 characters and the G15 never flinched. You can also use the software to assign profiles of macros to specific game titles. For instance you can set up a profile for Command and Conquer that will launch when the game is started. You can also set up other macros for games and applications as you desire.

Some gamers that are heavy users of macros will complain about the new G15 losing over half of the macro spots that the original version had. However, Logitech said that the main complaint they received about the original G15, next to the size, was that there were too many macros. Most gamers simply don’t use that many macros. The natural thing for Logitech to do to shave size from the G15 was to shed the extra G keys that many gamers didn’t use anyway.

In the end the new Logitech G15 gamer keyboard is much friendlier and still a very capable gaming keyboard that the vast majority of gamers will be much happier with than the original. The smaller footprint more than makes up for the missing G keys in my opinion and the software is as easy to use as it always was. I much prefer the new LCD over the original screen on the G15 that flipped up and down for no reason.