My New Mechanical Keyboard

 


I figured my first official blog post might as well be about my new keyboard, so brace yourself! This is going to be exciting. I've just finished setting up my office chair in an ergonomic position to try it out properly. Been trying out my touch typing skills in the last few days, and I know it's a bit of a dry topic, but I just felt a little silly writing for nothing, so I thought I might as well just use this blog for a bit of touch typing practice.

So I got the Logitech G613 Wireless Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, and I'd like to talk it up as a keyboard for typing, not gaming. Now, I know it seems like overkill, but this is a seriously comfortable keyboard. And the Romer-G tactile switches (keys) feel perfectly weighted. They spring back nicely giving your hands a kind of springy momentum as you type.

You can check out the technical specifications here:
https://www.logitechg.com/en-au/products/gaming-keyboards/g613-wireless-mechanical-gaming-keyboard.html

I had to set it up on my Linux Box and had my doubts when I first bought it as to whether it would be fully supported, and while the application to use the programmable keys only comes with Windows and Mac, it works perfectly fine as a standard keyboard in Linux Mint.

The keyboard has two wireless methods to set it up, you can pair it using Bluetooth, or you can use the USB dongle located in the battery compartment (the device takes two AA batteries). I found the Bluetooth pairing didn't work at first, but I found a post in the online Linux Mint forums by someone with the same issue and it just involves switching the device on and off. Pairing the device like this is a little bit of a pain when you have to do it every time the machine restarts, so I tried the dongle, which works like a dream. I can use the Bluetooth pairing if I ever need the spare port, which is handy.

Now I don't do much gaming, but I have been trying to encourage myself to write, and I have to say writing on this little baby feels great. The keyboard is a bit weighty, about as heavy as a brick, but this can be useful for stability, although it does make it less useful as a wireless device as it's quite heavy to lug around.

The device has a classic feel. The logo itself is reminiscent of the old Commodore 64 logo, and the keys are identical to the old 80's and 90's keyboards you would remember, with the exception that this is a much higher quality keyboard. The keys even have that old school clickety-clunk when you type.

One other unexpected advantage is the keyboards gaming mode switch, which is surprisingly useful for typing as well. All this switch does is disable the Windows key so that you don't accidentally bump it and interrupt a game. But I found I was doing the same thing while typing. I kept hitting it and the Linux Mint menu kept popping up mid-sentence. So I found this feature just as useful for typing as it would be for gaming.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my new keyboard, I highly recommend it for anyone who spends a lot of time at the keyboard, whether it be for gaming, writing, study or the office.