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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Wednesday, 30 January 2019 00:32
Back at the beginning of 2018 at CES one of the big keyboard announcements was the RGB Cherry MX Low Profile switches that take a lot of the functionality of the traditional MX mechanical switch and put it in a lower profile form factor. Corsair was the first to market in the middle of 2018, but Cooler Master has been showing off their SK series of keyboards for a while now. I actually haven’t been covering much in the mechanical keyboard market simply because it felt like all everyone was doing is bringing out the same keyboard with RGB as its main feature for a while now. But the SK keyboards from Cooler Master have had my interest for a while now. Embracing the low profile theme they have gone beyond just tossing the new switches on a regular design. Well the SK630 and SK650 came in a few weeks ago and I’ve been playing with them. Today I can finally talk a little about my experience with them and with the MX Low Profile switches.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Wednesday, 16 January 2019 18:20
A few years ago Cooler Master made a big push, slowly redoing their entire mouse lineup switching most of them over to their MM then numbers naming scheme. This also included a new exterior finish for mice like the Spawn/Xornet shaped MM520 and the Alcor shaped MM530, new sensors, and switches as well. They covered all of the main mouse shapes that you might be looking for at that time, but today they are finally jumping into the MMO mouse market. Their new MM830 has the same PBT finish as the previous mice, an Avago PMW3360 sensor, and Omron switches. But the big change in addition to its shape is the D-pad buttons that are tucked away on the left side. So today I’m going to check out the new mouse and see what it is all about.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Friday, 14 September 2018 19:42
So most of you who are looking at mechanical keyboards have heard the name Cherry. They are the name brand in mechanical switches, coming out with their MX switch back in the 80’s. It was later used with other brands especially in recent years with the push back into mechanical keyboards. Recently there have been a lot of other switches from companies making clones and a few new designs as well, but Cherry is the classic go-to. Well, it might be a surprise for some of you that Cherry also makes keyboards as well, not just the switches used in them. I’ve covered a few like the MX Board 6.0 and the MX Board 3.0. Well, they also came out with the MX Board 5.0, sporting their Cherry MX Silent Reds. I loved the 3.0 and the 6.0, so I’m curious what sets this one apart.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Thursday, 05 July 2018 20:55
So the big trend recently in mechanical keyboards has been optical switches. You have even seen companies like Razer jumping on just this past week. I’ve had a few in the office testing like the Bloody B975 that I reviewed a few weeks ago. But there is one keyboard that is taking a different approach. Its called the Wooting One. It’s an optical keyboard as ell and its been out for a while. They actually have their Kickstarter live right now for the full sized Wooting Two. Anyhow, I have been testing the TKL sized Wooting One for a while now. It uses Flaretech optical switches and with those, they are able to offer a full analog input experience. What that means is where other keyboard switches are just on or off, these are like a gas pedal and can detect input through the entire range. For most things, you will use them in a normal way, but in some games, you can use them to get a better control. So today I’m going to check out what the whole Wooting experience is all about and see how their keyboard stands out.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:36
So a while back a company by the name of Gearbest reached out to me about covering some of their products. I initially passed but after looking around I did come across a few keyboards that I was interested in checking out. Typically, some of the weird and cool stuff is imported from China and Gearbest just happens to be a China based company. So after talking to them, they sent over the Motospeed CK61, a small 60% keyboard with a really cheap price as well. Some of you may know I have a weird thing for 60% boards, mostly because at LANs and sometimes around my office there isn’t much desktop space available and these little guys sometimes work perfectly. Anyhow, I’ve been playing around with this board in between testing a few other keyboards and today I wanted to talk about it.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Friday, 08 June 2018 20:58
For anyone who has been reading LanOC for a while now, you have probably seen me trying to find the perfect wireless headset. This is because I right with cables on my desk and really wireless options are hit and miss with most being miss. For wireless mice, I had mostly just given up. Sure wireless tech has improved and lag for my nonskilled self has been not at all noticeable. But frankly I just always forget to plug in my mouse or even turn it off. The best part about being wired is that you don’t have to think about it at all. So when Logitech introduced their PowerPlay Wireless Charging system I have been wanting to try it out for a while now. Well, they sent over the PowerPlay mat/mouse pad as well as both the G903 and G703 mice that support it. Has it lived up to what I expected? Well, you will have to read the rest of the review to find out, I’m not giving it all away just yet.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Friday, 18 May 2018 21:47
So when it comes to peripherals most people think of their keyboard and mouse, maybe their headset. But with some things, especially your mouse, you need other hardware to get the best possible performance. Wrist Rests for keyboards add to comfort and can help prevent long-term issues and well mouse pads are needed most of the time for your mouse to work or at least work well. So it's no surprise that keyboard and mouse manufacturers would get into the market. Cooler Master has sold wrist rests with some of their keyboards and they have had a few different mouse pads. Well, today they are introducing new lineups of both and I’m going to take a quick look at them.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Tuesday, 15 May 2018 15:21
So our first mechanical keyboard review goes all the way back to 2008 and from them it really hasn’t stopped, not to mention all of the keyboards I personally have picked up over the years. What I’m getting at is that I’ve had the chance to check out a lot of keyboards but up until now they have always had some variation on a Cherry MX switch or other popular switch types like Topres’ so you would forgive me for being a little excited about optical keyswitches hitting the market. Well, it just so happens that I’ve had a few come in recently and for more than a month I’ve been switching between them. Today I’m going to dive into the first, the Bloody B975 Light Strike Optical Keyboard. The brand name might be a surprise but some of the guys behind a few of my favorite keyboards have been working with Bloody so I’m interested in seeing where things go with them. For now, though, let's see what the B975 is all about.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Tuesday, 29 August 2017 18:00
So for people who get really excited about meticulously picking out each and every component and part for their new PC you might know exactly what you want for a mouse and keyboard. But for a lot of people, especially with the popularity of things like PC Part Picker that help just about anyone pick out their components, you just want something simple and that you know is going to work. For a while now Cooler Master has actually been producing these combo packs that get you a mouse and keyboard at a decent price. Well with the recent introduction of their new mice they are following that up with their MasterSet MS120. This gets you both a mouse and a keyboard, but what exactly do each of them have going on? Today I’m going to check them out and find out.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Tuesday, 22 August 2017 18:13
It must be that time of year, everyone is introducing their new and updated mice. It just so happens that I haven’t had a Cooler Master mouse in the office for a while now. Well, they are introducing two new mice today, the MasterMouse MM520 and the MasterMouse MM530. I went ahead and had them include the MasterMouse Pro L as well so we could take a look at the whole range. They all are similar in that they are all 3360 sensor based with Omron 20 million click switches, so they already have a few things going for them. Let's see what else they have going on.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Tuesday, 01 August 2017 00:07
It has been seven and a half years from when I first saw the SteelSeries Xai at CES. A few months after that I had one in hand to review and from that point on I have been using a variation of that design, mostly Sensei’s on my main computer and/or other computers. It was never perfect, even back then I mentioned the sensor having a few issues but the overall shape and balance was great, so great in fact that it has spawned multiple mice from other vendors trying to capture that same design. But for a few years now the Sensei has been feeling dated with so many other mice getting great optical sensors so you can imagine my happiness when I found out that SteelSeries was introducing a new Sensei along with a new Rival, both with their new TrueMove3 optical sensor. Now after seeing some images of the design I was a little worried that they had messed with the shape and it might lose what made it so special. This is a huge moment for SteelSeries and given how particular about the mice I use when not testing, they will have to get this one just right for it to replace my old Sensei. So let’s see what the big deal is and then put them both to the test.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Monday, 17 July 2017 13:03
Like Corsair and a lot of other SSD and Memory brands, HyperX in the last few years especially have jumped in completely into the peripheral market. It makes sense, SSDs and Memory are commodities so the margins are small and they are able to expand their gaming brands to an area where people can get their eyes and hands directly on your products. HyperX with their Cloud headsets has really done well and recently they even got into the mechanical keyboard market. I hadn’t had the chance to check what they had going on out yet though so when I heard they were introducing a new keyboard I was all in. So today I’m going to check out the HyperX Alloy Elite, their top of the line mechanical keyboard, and see if HyperX is doing as well here as they have been with their headsets.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Monday, 10 July 2017 12:56
When it comes to mechanical keyboards, a lot of the different designs tend to blend together because they all follow the same trends and styling. Don’t get me wrong, typically the keyboards that stray from the clean styles and RGB lighting that just about every keyboard has looks horrible. AZIO did a good job a while back with their MK Retro, I took a look at it last November. I had a few concerns but overall I loved the design but I felt like a design like this needed a little better construction to fit the classic look. Well AZIO is back at it again and they sent over a new keyboard that they are calling the Retro Classic. The model they sent over is an early production model and I will be checking out the retail sample once they get to that point, but today I’m going to look in on production and see how the new keyboard looks. I know it has backlighting and higher end materials but let's see what else.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Tuesday, 13 June 2017 19:06
When it comes to keyboards, just about everyone makes them but only a few companies have been able to really get things rolling. Cooler Master is one of those companies, they bridge the gap between the high-end expensive enthusiast brands and gaming products with simple keyboards at decent prices from a brand most people know. Over the years more often than not I personally have been using them on my own computer and that is with a huge stack of other keyboards available to use. So any time Cooler Master introduces a new model they have earned my attention. They reached out a few months ago about an upcoming keyboard, well really a new variation on their current lineup, the Masterkeys PBT. They sent out the S model, or what most call their TKL version. Today I’m going to check it out.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Friday, 12 May 2017 20:17
Just last week Corsair introduced their latest gaming mouse, the Glaive RGB. We were originally going to cover it at launch but our sample was a little late coming in and I still needed time to test it out. Well, today that waits is over. The Glaive packs in all of the normal features of a modern mouse including RGB, rubber grips, and a DPI higher than anyone would ever have any use for. What caught my eye though were the swappable thumb grips. So today I’m going to take a closer look at the shape and features of the Glaive RGB then check out how well it has performed for me so far.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Wednesday, 10 May 2017 19:52
All the way back in 2015 I had the chance to take a look at the Castor mouse from Mionix and I loved it. It had a great shape, used a quality sensor and switches and was a big step forward in the market. Over the last few years the Castor has continued to be a great mouse for Mionix and recently they announced a few new variations on the Castor that keep the same features I loved with the original. The new models are just recolors but in the world of matching everything to fit your personality or style, it is cool to see a company not just using RGB for colors. I reached out to Mionix and today I’m going to take a quick look at the new color options, especially the “Castor Frosting” model that they sent over to check out.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Friday, 07 April 2017 10:40
Back in 2012 Rosewill introduced their RK-9000 mechanical keyboards and while they didn’t look fancy or have a lot of the features that a lot of the other boards had, they were extremely popular. They were popular because they were inexpensive mostly, but people also really liked the simple styling. Rosewill went on to bring out a few other variations including models with backlighting but they recently caught my eye with a new RK-9300 model that was still simple but brought along with it a floating key design. I thought it might be a good time to break up all of the RGB gaming keyboards with Rosewill’s new board so today I’m going to take a look and see what it’s all about.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Friday, 17 March 2017 12:48
So I recently had the chance to check out the G533 wireless headset from Logitech and I was impressed with its performance. While testing it, I have also been checking out Logitech’s newest wireless gaming mouse, the G900 Chaos Spectrum. While some people may prefer to stay wired for performance reasons, the gap between wired and wireless is getting smaller. With that, there are a lot more people looking at wireless devices for the added convenience. For me, I’ve been using wireless headsets for my Coms for a while now just because it is easier than getting tangled in the cord. The G900 has a great optical sensor and it shares a lot of features with Logitech’s mice so I’m excited to put it to the test today and see what it is all about.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Monday, 13 February 2017 10:28
Just about everyone has jumped into the mechanical keyboard market at this point but rarely do you see companies take their time in tweaking and tuning their products like I have seen with EpicGear. All the way back in 2015 I took a look at their Dezimator X, a pre-release keyboard that they were considering sending to the USB market. Well, my review wasn’t the most promising. They took that information along with a lot of feedback from the mechanical communities and Massdrop and designed a new keyboard. Well the EpicGear DeFiant was released and it has a whole list of customization options, well they have been working on a new set based around the DeFiant with a carrying case and some of the customization options, today I’m going to check it out and see how things have changed.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Monday, 23 January 2017 08:33
This year at CES Corsair introduced their new K95 Platinum RGB. Some of you may remember that the original K95 from Corsairs first line of RGB keyboards. It was based on the K90 that I reviewed all the way back in 2012 as part of the launch of their Vengeance lineup, so it was due for a refresh. Well the new K95 Platinum RGB brings back the macro keys in a smaller amount and then adds features like RGB lighting and the new light edge that is also RGB. They also brought back the USB passthrough port after a lot of people requested it. So today I’m going to check out the new keyboard and see if it is as exciting as Corsair has made it out to be.
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