Anatomy of a Keyboard
Input devices have a key role in the computing landscape, so the guts of them must be pretty cool to look at. Naturally, this means getting our scalpels out for another dissection of the anatomy of hardware.
Input devices have a key role in the computing landscape, so the guts of them must be pretty cool to look at. Naturally, this means getting our scalpels out for another dissection of the anatomy of hardware.
The Das Keyboard 4Q, as the name implies, combines the proven hardware design of the Das Keyboard 4 we know and love, while adding the smarts of the 5Q as well as per-key RGB backlighting. Are the new IoT features useful enough to make the 4Q a better buy than the 5Q or even the standard Das 4? Let's find out.
If you're a PC gamer, you're likely familiar with the likes of Razer, Corsair, and Logitech who offer gaming keyboards and other related solutions. But if you're a true computer enthusiast, let alone a mechanical keyboard enthusiast, then you enter into a different territory of high quality niche players. Das Keyboard is arguably the most renowned brand within this group.
The Wooting one is, to my knowledge, the world's first true tenkeyless, analog mechanical keyboard. It features pressure-sensitive keys that are specifically designed to give PC gamers the same benefits console gamers have access to. You can move at any speed you'd like, which is particularly useful for racing games, first-person shooters and stealth titles.
Earlier we covered in detail the required components for building your own keyboard and hopefully made the whole project feel a bit less daunting. Today we will go over the assembly process, so you can turn your pile of parts into a functioning board.
In the world of mechanical keyboards, big brand names like Corsair, Razer, HyperX, etc., take the bulk of the limelight. But what if I told you that every part of a keyboard can be customized? This goes far beyond the aesthetics, so if you're not one for making compromises, it may be time to build your own.
Mechanical keyboards have long been all the rage for gamers, but they're still a long way off becoming ubiquitous due to their premium price point. The Logitech G413 is a full-sized mechanical gaming-oriented keyboard, but at $90 it undercuts most of its competition while packing in largely the same feature set.
We recently received mechanical gaming keyboards from Creative and Razer, the Sound BlasterX Vanguard K08 and BlackWidow Chroma V2. To flesh this out into a true three-way battle, we're comparing them against Corsair's K70 RGB Rapidfire, which we rated as the best for gaming in our Best Keyboards article last year. Let's see if this still holds true.