Items tagged with Keyboard
As enthusiasts, we're often most enamored by the latest and greatest graphics cards, processors, and storage technology in our endeavors to squeeze as much performance from our systems as possible. However, it is the human interface devices -- like our keyboards, mice, and monitors -- that can have the most significant impact on our user experience. A high-quality keyboard and mouse, for example, can make you more productive, reduce fatigue, and even improve your gaming chops. So, when EVGA offered up their upcoming X20 and X15 gaming mice and Z12 RGB keyboard, we were eager to take a look. After daily driving the peripherals for over a week, it is safe to say that EVGA's latest offerings are...
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Apple is widely rumored to launch a new 16-inch MacBook Pro later this year. It will serve as the flagship of Apple's professional notebook lineup and will likely start at around the $3,000 price point compared to a $2,399 for the 15-inch MacBook Pro. Now, the ever-reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is indicating that the new 16-inch MacBook Pro will adopt a scissor mechanism for the keyboard to replace the oft-maligned butterfly design employed on the current MacBook Air and MacBook Pro families. Not only is the new keyboard mechanism expected to provide longer key travel (something that has been missing from Apple's keyboard once it first shifted to the butterfly mechanism in the...
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Apple just can’t seem to get it right when it comes to the keyboards on its MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro family of laptops. Even though the company is currently on the third-generation of its “butterfly key” keyboard design, customers are still complaining of premature failures. With that being said, the process of replacing a defective keyboard is not a simple one, and requires removing the whole top panel of the notebook (which includes the integrated battery). Not only is it time extensive – currently requiring a few business days for the machine to be shipped off-site, repaired, and then sent back – but it is an expensive repair (for Apple) as it’s...
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Lenovo has gone official with the gear that it is unveiling at CES 2019 and a bunch of the stuff is aimed directly at gamers. The first two items are gaming notebooks including the Lenovo Legion Y740 and the Legion Y540. The Y740 is offered in 15-inch and 17-inch flavors with either an Intel 8th Gen Core i7-8750H processor or an Intel Core i5-8300H. Both versions run Windows 10 Home and pack an "Unannounced NVIDIA GPU." Storage is up to 512GB PCIe SSD, or a 512GB SATA SSD, or 2TB HDD; the 17-inch machine is Intel Optane ready. The audio system includes Dolby designed speakers and Dolby Atmos sound with the 17-inch version featuring a subwoofer. Power for the machine comes from a 57Wh battery...
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At CES MSI announced a bundle of new PCs and tech components targeted at gamers. Among these new products are two desktop PCs, a case, a mechanical keyboard, and a graphics card. "MSI is devoted to gaming and our lineup reaffirms our position as an industry leader endorsed by gamers and eSports teams worldwide," said Charles Chiang, MSI's new global CEO. "We are honored to be recognized by the CES awards panel and will continue to push boundaries to achieve extreme performance, superior design, and maximum reliability." Both of the new gaming desktops announced by MSI are described as using a compact form factor, though it's unclear if these will be micro-ATX or mini-ITX systems. One of the cases...
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ASUS is on hand at CES 2019, and it has unveiled a slew of new gaming gear that runs the gamut from keyboards to all-in-one CPU coolers, GeForce RTX 2060 graphics cards, and routers. ASUS has three new GeForce RTX 2060 graphics cards including the ROG Strix RTX 2060, ASUS Dual RTX 2060, and Turbo RTX 2060. The Strix RTX 2060 has Aura Sync RGB lighting with "almost limitless color customization" and is aimed "showpiece builds" according to ASUS. It has three patented Wing-blade fans for increased cooling efficiency and better overclocking. The card also features a unique metal brace to reduce tension on the PCB and FanConenct II headers to allow hybrid fan control. ASUS' Dual RTX 2060 is...
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Last month we talked about mouse and keyboard support coming to the Xbox One. Microsoft made its intentions very clear when it announced that support for the mouse and keyboard would be implemented at the hardware level, but game developers could choose whether to add support in each game. Almost exactly a month later, Xbox Insiders in the Beta Ring can try out the controls. The caveat about mouse and keyboard support is that it has limited capability at this point; only Warframe offers support at this time. Microsoft is a bit confusing in its announcement stating that it has "enabled mouse support in the build" and then asking Beta Ring members to, "Please check out the Quest in the Xbox Insider...
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PC gamers trying to make the crossover to gaming on consoles have long wanted full mouse and keyboard support for the Xbox One. Microsoft has mulled support for the preferred PC gaming input method for years, and reports in June claimed that Microsoft held a conference with Razer detailing the Turret keyboard and mouse. Microsoft and Razer have now made that partnership official with Microsoft announcing that it will be enabling mouse and keyboard support on the Xbox One for select Xbox Insiders in the coming weeks. Microsoft notes that with support for the mouse and keyboard at the platform level, devs will be able to add mouse and keyboard support to their games if they want to. Microsoft...
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Smart TV owners know that using the menus and performing searches using the normal remote control that comes with a TV can be a challenge. On-screen keyboards have never been the easiest things to use when you can only enter a single character at a time. Voice controlled remotes can help substantially, but there are times where you don’t want to talk to your TV, such as late-night binging sessions when others are home and asleep. Logitech has a new product that should help you navigate your smart TV menu and perform your searches in near silence, however, called the Logitech K600 TV Keyboard with Integrated Touchpad and D-Pad. Logitech says that the keys are silent, comfortable to...
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Back in June Apple finally admitted that the keyboards on some of its MacBooks were failing prematurely and opened a program to replace those failing keyboards. The version of the MacBook keyboard that folks going through that replacement program have been getting is the version from 2017 that has slightly different markings on it. Recently, the updated 2018 MacBook launched and with the launch of those updated machines came another generation of keyboard. This new third-gen keyboard was found in a recent teardown to have a soft silicone membrane under the keys to prevent dust and debris from getting inside the butterfly mechanism of the keyboard. If material got inside the mechanism it caused...
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Many of today's gamers tend to prefer keyboards with mechanical switches for their superior feedback and response. With that in mind, Razer has unveiled a new flagship gaming keyboard called the Huntsman Elite that uses an all-new type of switch dubbed Opto-Mechanical. The switches promise faster performance without giving up that tactile feel that gamers like so much. The switches combine mechanical switches with an infrared light beam inside that can tell when the switch is actuated. The result is a switch with 1.5mm actuation point that is 30% faster than a traditional mechanical switch. Razer promises that the new Opto-Mechanical Switch has the same actuate and reset points found in...
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If you are the sort of PC gamer that likes blingy and clicky keyboards, you will like the new Logitech G512 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. The new keyboard is the first product from Logitech that comes with the new GX Blue mechanical switches. Logitech promises that these key switches have the sort of click you can feel and hear. The G512 is built on the same design of the G413 and G513 keyboards. The new G512 can be ordered with one of three different switches inside including the existing Tactile and Linear switches along with the new GX Blue. The Tactile switch offers what Logitech calls “discernable” actuation for gamers while the Linear version gives a smooth keystroke. “We’re...
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Earlier this week, we reported on the ongoing sage of Apple's 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pros, which are outfitted with its second-generation butterfly keyboards. The butterfly key mechanism allowed Apple to design its thinnest MacBook Pros to date, but it has come at the expensive of a subpar typing experience for many users and increased key failures that require the entire keyboard to be replaced. A new Change.org petition is calling on Apple to voluntarily recall all 2016 MacBook Pros. Petitioner Matthew Taylor says that recalling millions of MacBook Pros is probably a logistical nightmare and would be costly, but "it’s the right thing to do". Taylor goes on to detail his...
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Many PC users are quite particular about their keyboards. It's how we communicate with the world and get things done, and a crappy keyboard can be a deal-breaker for many people. Apple has often been considered to produce some of the best keyboards in the business, but that changed with the arrival of the 2015 MacBook with its butterfly key mechanism. People quickly complained about the shallow key travel which made it feel like they were typing on a barely-moving rigid surface. To make matters worse, the short key travel meant that tiny specs of dust or crumbs were enough to make keys stop functioning completely. Apple upset an even larger portion of its customer base when it brought that butterfly...
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There are plenty of rivalries in gaming; we have PS4 vs. Xbox One, PC vs. console, and mouse/keyboard vs. gamepad. Ask a bunch of PC gamers why they dislike console gaming and odds are many of them will say they hate gamepads and prefer the mouse and keyboard combination. So why not use a mouse and keyboard on a console like the Xbox One? Some feel that the mouse and keyboard players would have an unfair advantage over the gamepad players. Microsoft has said in the past that an official mouse and keyboard might come for the Xbox One, but so far, the only way to get PC controls on the console is using a workaround that requires an adapter. Microsoft says that it is aware of this workaround and...
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If you can't resist a good GIF, then why not make your own? There are different ways of doing that, and one of the easiest is to download Google's custom Gboard keyboard app. With a recent update to the iOS version, it's even easier to make your own GIF with Gboard, as Google has moved the the GIF creation button to the top-right corner of the keyboard, where it now sits in plain sight. Previous to this update, some users might not have known the feature existed. It is sort of new, with Google having rolled out the ability to create GIFs in September. When it first arrived, Google buried the GIF creation button underneath the emoji button, which users had to long-press to access. That is still...
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We've all been there; you are trying to get your game on or work at your computer and it seems as if all the crumbs fly right in the gaps between your keyboard or you spill a drink trying to get a sip in before you respawn. The problem with most keyboards is that once you get them wet or get lots of debris inside, they tend to not work well. Razer has upgraded its BlackWidow Ultimate mechanical keyboard and this version is now water and dust resistant. The BlackWidow Ultimate has an IP54 rating for protecting against water spillage and dust particles. That means you don’t have to sweat the spills that would have probably ruined your old keyboard. The keyboard also features backlit keys with green...
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There are plenty of backlit keyboards out there today and most of them are pretty much the same when it comes to lighting. You get lights around the keys and some light that glows through the keytop letters and that's it. However, a new keyboard has turned up on Kickstarter, and it's called the Curve Full-keyLit Scenario-Driven Keyboard, which is admittedly a mouthful of a name. The Curve is notable for having hexagonal keys with backlighting that glows through the entire keytop. If you tend to work in a dark room, we can only assume this keyboard and its bright lights might be a bit much. The "scenario driven" part of the keyboard comes into play because the smart backlighting can illuminate...
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ESports is becoming a big business in the gaming world, and players are looking for every possible edge to become the next megastar. Buying the most expensive peripherals isn’t going to automatically make you a better player (you're going to need some natural talent for starters), but obtaining quality hardware could help to improve your gaming experience. Enter Logitech, one of the most successful peripheral makers ever, and a huge supporter of eSports worldwide. It's been no stranger to releasing gaming-targeted peripherals that promise to make you a better player, and its latest extension of that looks awesome: a tenkeyless Logitech G Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, using the company's...
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Well wouldn't you know it, Apple's been working on a one-handed keyboard for iPhone devices dating back to iOS 8, but it remains unfinished and of course unreleased. You can "unacknowledged" to the list of adjectives, at least officially. Unofficially, we know it exists because there's a video of the one-handed keyboard in action that developer Steve Troughton-Smith posted to Twitter. Steve said he discovered the one-handed keyboard code while "poking around in UIKit for markup stuff." After making the discovery, Steve hacked the iOS Simulator, software Apple provides to developers for simulating iOS on Mac systems, to demonstrate the plank in action. While the keyboard code exists in iOS 10,...
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It appears that Apple is bound and determined to improve the keyboard on its MacBook Pro system in some way, shape, or form. Exactly how remains to be seen. We've heard rumors of Apple swapping out the top row of Function keys for touch sensitive control that display icons based on the app a person is using, but that might not be all it has up its sleeve. A newly published patent application from Apple describes a MacBook keyboard that would allow users to adjust the sensitivity of the keys. Apple correctly surmises in its patent application that "certain users may prefer certain keyboards (and/or keys) to have specific electromechanical properties," further noting that some users might have...
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Why wield multiple keyboards for different devices when you can have one that works with them all? That's the idea behind Logitech's K780 Multi-Device Wireless Keyboard (just K780 from here on out), a fully-equipped PC plank with a 10-key pad that also works on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, all connected at the same time. Simultaneous connections on a keyboard can be a bit tricky. To prevent what you're typing on your PC from appearing on your iPad and Galaxy S7 handset (or whatever tablet and phone you're rocking), there are three Easy-Switch buttons that let you toggle between three connected gadgets. And the neat thing about this is there's a lip on the back of the K780 to...
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