CrunchGear

“..forty-frickin’-five dedicated keys to the left of your standard QWERTY keyboard…”

that’s to help speed up and balance out the carpal tunnel. that way your right one won’t hurt as much because the pain will be spread across both sides…

Hey, at least it’s somewhat ergonomic as the 40-button pad is at a slight angle compared to the rest of the keyboard. But I agree with Matt; That thing is going to be an antique in a year or so as more interactive controllers are introduced for consoles and computers. I can just see it. Bowling or playing golf in your hotel room after a long day. All without the white trash and walking. I can’t wait. Geek workout!

I’m surprised more manufacturers aren’t trying to make more interactive/attractive keyboards such as the fabled optimus keyboard, which uses OLEDs in each key.

It seems like the next step, but keyboard after keyboard, manufacturers keep on dumping out more keyboards with the same old tech with more and more keys. Yes the keyboards they’re selling are for gamers, but these companies are going to be left behind especially since they don’t have the development base that companies like Logitech do.

I have this keyboard and I like it a lot. It’s great for games like Splinter Cell and first-person shooters that have a million different key combinations. The keys themselves are labelled “run/walk”, “duck”, “use item”, etc. so it’s easy for an old timer like me (late 20s) to play these new-fangled games.

The major problem is that the delete key is integrated into the num pad so you have to hit the numlock key every time you want to use the delete key and hit it again if you want to do ten-key stuff. That’s been a major pain in the ass.

The makers of the MERC keyboard obviously do not prescribe to the less is more theory, or they would not have created yet more un-needed clutter on thier keyboard.

There is a far better keyboard from New Standard Keyboards http://www.newstandardkeyboards.com of California, which is a fully functional keyboard with just 53-keys.

The letters of the NSK are arranged alphabetically in such a way that the most common sequences are the easiest to type, and the alphabet is broken into small, familiar chunks of four or five letters that are easy to memorize. The shift keys are centralized for easy operation by the index fingers or thumbs instead of relying on the little fingers, and tactile landmarks lead the hands to an obvious home position so there is no need to look. For gamers all the essential functions are within easy reach.

But in additional to being a nice gaming keyboard the NSK combines all the features you need to make the touch typing skill quick to master. Common keyboard functions for editing, numeric data entry, etc., are all integrated onto the same keys, so the same skill can be applied to these other jobs with very little additional learning.

Right now I am choking my chicken!!