- 103 Normal Keys
- 9 Function Keys
- USB Wired
- OCZ
- Black
Optimus Budgetus
09/05/2009
This review is from: OCZ Sabre Black 103 Normal Keys 9 Function Keys USB Wired Standard OLED Gaming Keyboard
Pros:
(purchased elsewhere) This is a good, solid keyboard. It has a good heft to it, and the most important function of any keyboard (the regular keys) it gets right. The keys have good weighting, are quiet, and are at a proper angle for my style of typing.
There is also a unique layout for the Home/Del/Ins/End cluster that works extremely well, and the 128mb flash drive built into the keyboard (which is where the driver software installers are at) is a handy idea.
Oh yeah, the OLED keys! The OLEDs are a sharp, crisp 64x64 pixel amber layout, with thick clear plastic key bodies. They have a firm, springy feel which is very satisfying. Any 64x64 BMP works fine, though you may want to convert to black-and-white yourself if you want to control how dithering works (remember, this is not a greyscale OLED, the pixels are either on or off).
The geek-cred of this keyboard is well-nigh infinite.
Cons:
There are several shortfalls and limitations. Firstly, installation on WinVista64 SP1 was a real pain, giving unhelpful "Error 1722". This is a permissions-related issue; you must turn User Account Control (UAC) off while installing; running the installer as Administrator is insufficient. This will require a reboot. You also need Microsoft .NET version 3.5 SP1 installed (get it at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ab99342f-5d1a-413d-8319-81da479ab0d7&displaylang=en), and this fact is not flagged by the installer. Once installed, you can turn UAC back on and you're fine. I'm sure this will be fixed in future releases. The manager software is clunky and not well-documented, but can be figured out. The manager software needs to be active for the OLEDs to work; minimize it to tray instead of closing. The OLEDs auto-turn-off after a few minutes (no doubt to extend their life and prevent burn-in; OLEDs aren't durable), but hitting one of the OLEDs will wake it back up
Overall Review:
Note that the main keyboard is NOT backlit.
A keyboard this expensive really should have a couple of USB ports built in. A keyboard of this type and expense should also have media controls (volume, playback-controls) and a brightness control for the glowy-blue-lights at the end.
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- Lance R.
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Owned For:
1 day to 1 week
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