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Zboard Gaming Keyboard Conclusion
Submitted by admin on Sun, 06/17/2007 - 17:57.
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Performance
Testing for many hours with the ZBoard gives one solid impression - it has a very solid feel with a nice tactile response to the keys. The keyboard has a bit more weight to it than a normal keyboard, and also has rubber feet on the bottom to keep it from sliding away from you on slick surfaces. There are two support legs on the back that can be extended to raise the back of the keyboard and this makes it easier for me to play games and to type. It can also lay flat if that is preferred and it still hugs the surface it lays on. Using the standard key pad for typing, this keyboard really is nice and the built-in special function buttons on the base make it a great addition for any media center PC as well.
The gaming pad also has a great and very responsive tactile feel to the keys. The large movement keys make it easy to play first person shooters with great ease of movement. I did find, however, that the placement of the crouch key is not exactly the same place as the CTRL key on a standard keyboard and it took me more time than normal to find it while playing CounterStrike: Source. It also took me longer to buy weapons at the start of each round than with my standard keyboard because the "buy" keys are in totally new positions, and the standard letter keys used to enter the "buy" menu are also in new places. I guess after a few weeks of playing with the keyboard I would get used to it but I think I may buy the specific keypad for CounterStrike: Source if I continue to play it with this keyboard. Even so, I did manage to get one of my all time high scores in CounterStrike: Source using the keyboard so I guess that I just need to get used to it.
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The media buttons are part of the main board and not located directly on the keypad, although the standard keypad does have shortcut keys for help, search, web browser, favorites and such by using the Bar Lock key to switch from F1 through F-12unction keys to these special function keys. The media buttons on the main board allow you to open Media Player, My Documents, Calculator, your text editor of choice, your email program, web browser, search, the Ideazon web site and keyboard settings. The buttons are all programmable as well to use as you want, so I can change them to launch just about any program I have. On the top left are the media player controls, these allow you to play your music and videos from media player with the touch of a button. You can also control the volume from here.
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| Zboard with gaming pad | Side view | Zboard |
The ZBoard does come with software that enables the media buttons and allows you to configure the board and program the special function keys. The Zboard will work with the standard keypad without the software as a standard 101/102 key keyboard; and it will work with the game pad too as a standard keyboard, but you will need the software to configure the control keys for games. You also need the software in order to use some of the special function keys (like the bar lock key) and to program the function keys to launch the programs you want to assign to them.
Zboard Gaming Keyboard
Pros: Custom keypads allow endless flexibility, easily switched on the fly without turning off the PC, many special function controls.
Cons: Gaming keypad has more of a learning curve than regular keyboards, pricier than regular keyboards, requires software to fully utilize the features.
The Verdict: The Zboard does a great job with bringing a new concept, and a lot of new gaming possibilities, to the otherwise bland keyboard.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
