Review: Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard

Posted by Adam Aragon in Featured, Gaming, Reviews | 0 comments

Winter drags on, and it seems like all there is to do lately is stay in and play video games. Wait, is that a downside? Well if you’re happy about all the gaming you can get done during the cold months, you’ll probably appreciate the new Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard.

Wow, kitchen sink doesn’t even begin to describe it. There are gaming keyboards, and then there’s this…

Let’s go over it’s features so I can tell you what it all means to you.

Features

• Tiltable Color GamePanel LCD
• Custom Color Backlighting
• 12 fully-programmable G-keys
• Two high-speed USB 2.0 ports
• Multi-Key Input
• Game/Desktop Mode
• Intelligent cable management
• Media controls
• Public Software Development Kit
• Onboard memory

 

Yeah… Seriously. We just covered the G9X Laser Mouse and it looks like the perfect ultimate gaming companion could very well be the G19 Gaming Keyboard. Here’s our breakdown of the features

Color GamePanel LCD – it’s a freaking computer! It has it’s own onboard mini-linux controlled computer to power the gamepanel LCD. The advantages of this is that running all manner of ridiculous things on your gamepanel don’t affect your CPU usage or gameplay. Including streaming YouTube videos. we’ll go more in depth on this. needless to say it’s not a necessity but it’s pretty damn cool.

Custom Color Backlighting means that you can change the color that lights all the keys on the keyboard or turn them off entirely. A handy memory function lets you slot up 3 different backlight colors at the press of a button. You can always go in and custom tweak it though if you’re OCD about LED lighting on your LCD keyboard (acronyms are fun).

12 Fully Programmable G keys is essentially a set of 12 ‘extra’ keys on the keyboard that can be set to a variety of intricate (or simple) macros to help you with your MMO or RTS gaming where you might need a complicated series of inputs instantly available. We have some less than stellar thoughts about placement, but we’ll get to that.

Two high Speed USB ports. This thing is so burly it has it’s own power and therefore it’s own powered USB hub of course. I’m not entirely sure but I think it might wash your car as well.

Multi-Key Input means you can get up to FIVE keys at a time and it will register and function – this is more of a feature for people that do some intricate gaming I’m sure, but it’s nice to know.

Game / Desktop Mode – this lovely stroke of genius toggle switch allows you to simply disable the ‘windows’ keys on your keyboard so you won’t accidentally jump out of your game and into the windows desktop at the worst possible moment (been there haven’t ya?)

Intelligent cable management are a series of grooves along the underside of the keyboard that allow you to route the cables from your mouse/peripherals under the keyboard for cleaner cable management.

Media Controls while these are present on most keyboards in this day and age, it’s a particluarly simple and clean implementation of basic media controls that’s just about perfect.

Public Software Development Kit allows you to interact with and get regular updates for the GamePanel on your keyboard to increase it’s functionality with certain games and to run certain apps.

Onboard memory allows you to save your settings and profiles so you can jump to another system and take all your hard earned macros and settings with you. Probably a boon for the avid LAN gamer.

Whew.. that’s a lot. Logitech took your requests for more functionality and the ultimate gaming keyboard seriously.

Real World Usage

When all is said and done, this may have a metric ton of features. But the first thing we’re interested in. Does it work? Does it let you play games better? We’re happy to report that besides all the bells and whistles there’s a very competent and comfortable keyboard underneath there waiting to accept your every input with aplomb. In day to day usage and in the midst of hardcore gaming this keyboard does it’s job and it’s many features are integrated so well that you just don’t think of them much. As it should be.

That being said we’d like to go over our Likes and Dislikes for this because with so many features there’s definitely some ups and downs.

Likes

1. The feel of the keyboard is a bit soft for fast touch typing, however it is more friendly for the finger slamming gameplay that it’s likely to get.
2. The volume knob is sexy and responsive, and the media controls are simple and out of the way, THANK YOU for doing it right Logitech
3. The GamePanel is surprisingly cool and useful it comes with a lot of useful little apps but in particular it’s triggered for certain games. For example “Borderlands” supports the mini-screen and shows you amusing animations along with info like experience to next level and current money on the panel. It’s actually quite useful and makes it into the Nintendo DS of keyboards.
4. USB ports having more USB is always good
5. Gaming/Desktop mode – did I mention this is brilliant, simply toggle it to turn off the windows keys while you are gaming, no more accidental desktop switches.

Dislikes

1. The G-Keys I don’t mind the keyboard having macro keys, or even a dozen of them. But they are in the wrong place. While they’re easy to hit during a gaming session it makes regular typing extremely frustrating. A lot of touch typists feel the extreme left side of the keyboard and start typing. Imagine your hand wandering down to hold “CTRL” for example but instead the bottom left button is G6 which triggers several random commands that make it look like your computer is freaking out. It takes away the ability to hit several keys without looking and I hit them quite a bit by accident. One of my only major gripes
2. Cable management… There are grooves under they keyboard but I don’t know what they’re made for. We tried it with Logitech’s own G9X Laser Mouse and the cord just falls out. The grooves might work better if they keyboard is flat against the desk but this seems a halfhearted attempt at best and we couldn’t get the damn cord to stay in there. Maybe some peripherals fit these grooves perfectly but ours don’t.
3. Key Lighting – I actually like the key lighting but the lighting placement is a bit off so SOME of the key isn’t illuminated with the color you selected. It’s only a minor detail, but the kind of thing that should be addressed in a 200 dollar keyboard.

Summation

One thing we’ve glossed over a little in this review is the GamePanel. It’s actually pretty exciting. When I first saw it I rolled my eyes and thought ‘whatever’ and figured it would be relegated to a clock (PS they need a digital clock option, who the heck uses analog clocks anymore). It’s the tech behind it that’s a little exciting. To avoid putting further stress on your system they basically made the panel into it’s own little powered Linux computer that ties in seamless with your system. The advantage to that is that showing additional data, youtube videos, movies, RSS feeds etc on that tiny screen doesn’t eat into your precious cycles for gaming. It also does a great job of autodetecting and automatically engaging when needed. We fired up Borderlands with NO idea that it was actively supported by the G19 keyboard so when the screen below showed a dancing claptrap during the loading screen and suddenly became useful, we were genuinely blown away. I hope more companies adopt this platform and put more useful information down there.

What I first thought was a gimmick turned out to be pretty useful and one of the most exciting features. The counterpoint here is the GKey Placement. I don’t know if you’re like me, but I’m very picky about my keyboards. I have to be able type fast and all day on them. Because of the macrokeys forming a huge double row on the left of the keyboard they accidentally get hit a lot and when I’m trying to place my hands by feel on the keyboard I inevitably miss. Sure it means just looking down for a half a second. But just like driving, you want a console you can work by feel if need be. It’s not a dealbreak because so much more awesome comes with the package but it’s one of the more annoying adjustments.

This keyboard rocks, it rocks pretty hard. It will impress your friends, perform stupendously in a gaming scenario. Allow you to make macros on the fly and execute them. Preload tons of macros for games that are installed on your system and do it all automatically and seamlessly. Logitech has come a long way, both with software, hardware and some of their interface choices. Despite doing a thousand things, this keyboard is a joy to work on and with and has a ton of little well thought out easter eggs that you’ll discover almost daily.

Most of all it’s comfortable, sturdy, cool looking and lets you game like a rockstar for hours on end. So I’m going to chalk this up a to a resounding win for Logitech. I’d recommend it for any serious / regular gamer, although the price tag is going to sting ( 200 retail ) – it’s the price you pay to be the coolest kid on the block.

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