Want a wireless, gaming friendly & COOL looking keyboard? look here!

[robbiekhan]

I've had Logitech keyboards as far back as I can remember and the only thing that I've thought to be a gift and a curse of them is that after several months of daily usage the keys will begin to become shiny and the key-throw will stiffen a tad meaning the original soft touch of each key throw loses the soft touch feel becoming more harsh.

The good thing about this though is that every year it means i can change the keyboard for a newer model and see what features it adds and have a newer model for the a similar price I paid for the previous one when it was new.


Today I replaced my S510 with the diNovo for Notebooks. Since I'm using the keyboard for such lengths of time I'd rather have the key feedback remain constant throughout a longer lifetime and the diNovo Edge was a bit too expensive for me to budget at almost £130!

This one cost £59, double the S510 (and the update to it, the S520) but it has a keystroke feel of a laptop but with a longer throw and the keys feel more heavy duty than the S510 so should last longer. It also looks much nicer than the S520 which I was going for until I saw pictures of it and decided it doesn't look as sleek as the S510 does any more.

On to the diNovo for Notebooks then...

It's not just for notebooks of course, it comes with a USB "wedge" the same as what comes with the MX Revolution mouse (also being used) and performance seems no different to the S510 even though the receiver is under the desk behind the PC instead of on the desk.

I like the built in CAPS LOCK indicator which is an orange LED on the CAPS key itself. I also like the brushed aluminium palm rest and the whole row of keys on the SPACE bar row is raised and rounded which means it's great for gaming too.

It comes with 4x AAA Duracell batteries and Logitech say this will last 3 yrs n a set which I don't have any trouble believing since I used ot get 10-12 months out of 2xAAA on the S510.

It is 17inches long, 1inch shorter than the S510 and considerably shorter in width so is more compact too.

There are afew differences between this and normal keyboards I have noticed right away.
The "Scroll Lock" key is now missing and in place is a "Clear" key which just seems to "clear" highlighted contents and text. I also found the context menu button (next to right ALT) is replaced by the FN button - I don't have a problem with this because on this KB you hold the FN button then press one of the F keys for secondary function like load MCE/WInamp etc. I also like some of the presets on these such as WinAMP and Gmail as default.

There's an Eject button now which I have not use for so will customise this along with the others when UberOptions is updated with support for this keyboard.

I'm using this on Vista64 along with a MX Revolution mouse and have noticed no interference due t them both running FastRF 2.4GHz or the receivers being close together behind the PC.

Pics:

S510 vs diNovo:

Brushed Alu palmrest:

Glossy bezel:

Power switch and LED:

The CAPS LED:

I'd give it 9 out of 10 if this was a proper review, missing the 1 point for Logitech STILL not allowing people to customise the buttons (latest Setpoint v4.7) out of the box and instead having to use 3rd party hack uBerOptions to do this.

 

[skyline889]

That's one slick looking keyboard. Do you know how it compares to the Apple Aluminum keyboard in terms of keystroke feel? I'm looking for a new keyboard and hate the key feel of my MX3200 keyboard. I like the solid, responsive, short strokes of the Apple keyboard but would prefer to not have a wired keyboard (I don't want to have to buy a BT dongle for the wireless keyboard and also need the number pad).

 

[lowteckh]

Considered this but the lack of media keys was a turn off, as was the $100 price tag.

 

[robbiekhan]

It does have media keys (play/pause, stop/eject, next/preious fast fwd and fast reverse too as well as volume and mute.

I've mapped all mine to how I like them, eject is just stop for example as I don't need it and the volume keys launch my own apps as I don't control volume from Windows.

The Keystroke feel is similar to the Apple aluminium board though the keys have a more laptop feel than the one piece feel of the Apple. I think it's the closest you will get to the Apple though unless you go for the diNovo Edge but that doesn't have a numpad!

 

[lowteckh]

Where are the media keys Only ones from all the pics I've seen are just the play and volume buttons above the numpad.

 

[haffey]

That is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a keyboard.

 

[robbiekhan]

You hold FN (green) to access the media keys directly above but you don't have to hold it to access the media keys above the numpad.


For me The MediaPlayer key (F9) loads a flyout menu allowing me to choose any of the mediaplayers installed on my PC and Eject button is STOP (don't need to hold FN for this either).

For Next Track/Title you press FN+F11 or to fast forward hold them, same for Previous or reverse for FN+F10.

Quite simple and no different to how it's been on some boards for a long time though now the key layout is closer together so you can do it with one hand no problems.

Right click context menu is FN+print screen.

All FN functions are clearly marked on the keys themselves and you can customise all FN functions anyhow you wish, EG: