It looks more solid than it is, essentially - it doesn’t have the vigor of a SteelSeries or the finish of a Razer, it feels less like performance hardware than either, but you can’t argue with the functionality.Īnother issue is that there are no little “feet” to prop up the keyboard. Not good, but it doesn’t happen when you just touch a key normally. The center of the keyboard tends to give under pressure, so it bends inward. One thing that I didn’t cover in the video (when the camera ran out of power, the clip I had shot of this disappeared) is that it’s not quite as solid as it looks. The detachable bit comes off and goes back on without any trouble, although if they could have made it wireless and recharge via the connection, that would have been even more excellent. The macro keys work well and the profiles are easy to switch between, although I’m not much of a profile-and-macro guy. I’ll leave most of the details for the video to explain, but in general this thing accomplishes what it sets out to do.
I was pumped to check out their new keyboard, and while it’s not exactly suited to my style of play, I can see it being very useful for a lot of gamers out there. Their flashy, chunky game gear is functional and actually different - witness the X5 mouse, big enough for a Kodiak, and its upcoming big brother the X8, which looks even bigger. The rebirth of the Sidewinder brand is, I think a good thing for Microsoft.