What’s goin on guys, Jerry Neutron here back with a brand new video and it seems like these days pretty much every company is getting into the peripheral market and as of late, Lenovo is no different. They’ve actually recently released a brand new mechanical keyboard and a mouse, which was actually sent out to me for review. So today we’re going to take a look at both of those items, see how they measure up to other players in the game and whether they are worth the purchase or not so yeah, let’s go ahead and get into the review!
So let’s start with the keyboard because this thing is pretty full featured. It has macro keys along the left side, there are 6 total with the ability to save 3 different profiles per key. Personally I’m not someone that uses macro keys but if you are it seems like 18 different combinations would be more than plenty. You also get dedicated media keys on the upper right-hand side so that’s a nice touch along with USB 2.0 passthrough and mic and headphone jacks along the outer edge. The only negative thing about having the passthrough is do you get this huge braided USB cable that you kinda have to deal with as far as cable routing goes. The keyboard also comes with a detachable palm rest which is textured just like the spacebar but still a hard plastic like the rest of the build. It would’ve been nice if they added a soft rubber coating on top or just something to make it feel a little more comfortable.
Now as far as the aesthetics go, I’m not a fan. I’m not sure why companies believe that gamers want a keyboard that looks like some type of futuristic, spaceship type device but put me down as someone that does not.
Also the build quality on this keyboard is just OK. There’s a lot of plastic everywhere and the media keys and macro keys while a good size, feel loose, noisy and don’t inspire a lot of confidence in the construction of the keyboard. Thankfully, the main 104 key layout which uses Kailh red switches feels a lot better in comparison.
-insert typing test-
If you’ve used Cherry MX red switches in the past you should know that the Kailhs feel just a hair stiffer but do offer a similar linear feel. I personally still prefer tactile switches on my keyboards but everyone has their own taste.
It’s also important to note that if you’re a lighting enthusiast or RGB fanboy that this keyboard only comes with red LEDs and customization is limited to changing between 5 brightness levels. It sounds odd but having a single color backlit keyboard in today’s market somewhat puts you at a disadvantage when even some budget mechanical keyboards offer 7 color options.
Moving on let’s take a quick peak at the software. Design-wise it looks pretty clean and intuitive. Here you can see you can set specific functions or macros for the G keys along with 3 separate profiles. On the backlit tab you can customize the lighting of the Y logo in the center of the keyboard and in the upper-right hand corner of the software you can record macros. One thing you’ll notice is there is no mention of the Lenovo mouse that I am using and that is because these products do not have a unified software which to me is disappointing. I like when companies integrate their peripherals and make them sync or play nicely together and even if they didn’t do that it would be nice just for the convenience factor.
And speaking of the previously mentioned mouse, here it is…it’s huge! From the height to the width and weight, it’s just a big mouse so if that’s what you like, perfect! I weighed it at 120g by itself but it also comes with four, 5g weights that you can add to make it even heavier. I’m actually surprised Lenovo would go with such a heavy mouse when the current trend for competitive gamers is small, lightweight mice. Internally it also uses an Avago 9800 laser sensor which may turn some people off due to it’s inherent acceleration but I’ve personally had good experiences with this sensor in the past. Gaming with this mouse is certainly doable although it will take some time to get used to the larger profile. Although if you’re a claw grip user I’m sorry to say this is definitely not the mouse for you unless you have NBA prospect hands.
Construction-wise this mouse is almost completely plastic. There are textured portions of the mouse in the thumb and pinky areas but I feel it doesn’t offer any additional grip due to the build material. The side buttons are also at an odd placement as you have what appears to be a sniper button but is really not and it was moved simply so that the two top buttons, which default to volume adjustment could be included. Luckily the key assignments can be changed in the software which provides plenty of configuration options although I’m not sure why DPI personalization is under the Backlit tab.
But to make a long story short, both of these products need work. I have build quality concerns with the keyboard and mouse, neither one are aesthetically pleasing, the mouse is too big and heavy. Also, Lenovo lacks a unified software for their peripherals. If they want to compete with companies like Corsair, Cooler Master and Razer in this market they’re going to need to go back to the drawing board.
Alright guys, so that pretty much wraps up my thoughts on these two items, let me know what YOU think down in the comments below. Like this video if you’ve found it helpful or entertaining, subscribe if you haven’t already and until next time…see ya!
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