Holiday Buyer's Guide 2006, Part 4: Gifts for Non-Geeks

Logitech G-15 Gaming Keyboard

Logitech G-15 Gaming Keyboard

One of the best Christmas movie scenes is from A Christmas Story. A father gives his son, clad in a pink bunny suit, a Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle on Christmas morning. We hope you don't know anybody that owns a pink bunny suit, but we do think any gamer would jump around in joy after receiving the Logitech G-15 Gaming Keyboard. And best of all, and you won't have to worry about anyone (literally) shooting their eyes out.

The G-15 has 18 programmable "G-Keys" for macros, and a built-in folding LCD panel that provides system information and backlit keys. The LCD screen has four original program settings. The "LCD-Clock" provides the time and date as well as an alert to any new messages in your inbox. The "Media Display" shows the current song playing in iTunes, which you can skip, stop, or pause with nearby buttons. Another option allows the user to view CPU and RAM usage percentages, and finally, there is a countdown timer included as the fourth application.

The keyboard LCD comes with support for a host of games, which allows you to view game stats or set macros quickly and easily from a drop down menu of actions. If the LCD screen doesn't support a certain game or lacks other utilities, you can also find a few user-created apps on the internet.

The "G-Keys" are programmable macro keys position to the left of the standard keys. Although there are 18 keys, you can actually program each one three times, as there are three "M" buttons to program each of the 18 keys. To record keystrokes, simply click the Macro Record button (labeled "MR" on the keyboard) and begin recording. When you are done, click the MR button again and your macro is saved.

Logitech did a fantastic job designing a keyboard with gamers in mind; it also has two USB ports and cable guides underneath, so headphone and microphone cords won't get tangled. There's even a button to turn off the system keys so that you don't accidentally strike one and minimize your game. The Logitech G-15 also has a host of other options; we feel it is certainly one of the best gaming keyboards on the market, and will please any gamer.