X-Gene Multimedia Trackball Keyboard Author: faceless105 -- Posted: 2007-08-07
One of the most commonly overlooked components of any computer is the keyboard. Today I'll be reviewing the Trackball Keyboard Series by X-Gene.
Out of the box, this keyboard has a stylish look to it. It looks like a hybrid compact keyboard. Now that in it self might sound odd to you all but I'll explain. It has a very thin, very light design. The column of keys where you'd find the page up and page down keys, as well as the arrow keys below it have been pushed into the main typing section. This very much resembles your standard laptop keyboards and with the main keyboard section only, this would very comfortably fit onto a laptop. Now while fitting all of this together, it doesn't inhibit your typing abilities at all. This is fairly uncommon, as most of you may know, there is a large difference between typing on a laptop and typing on a desktop, but I don't sense any transition problems at all.<br />
Now while this keyboard does have a compact design they have still managed to fit a lot of features onto it. One of my favorite features on this keyboard would have to be the media buttons. This one has all of them including volume control, and even one to launch your default media player. There are also buttons for copy and paste which is a cool feature that I've never seen on a keyboard. In addition to these they have your standard media buttons for opening email, the internet, my computer, as well as many others. A large feature that stands out on this keyboard is the fact that they have an integrated trackball mouse. This is actually really nice if you want to rest your keyboard in your lap, or don't have much desk space to be rolling a mouse all over the place.
I know a lot of people prefer slim design keyboards and this will definitely fit into that category. This keyboard comes with a very light and slim design. Overall I think this keyboard looks great. It has a very solid feel to it as well so you won't have to worry about it breaking the first time it drops to the floor. As far as usability I haven't had any problems at all. It may take a minute or two to get used to the arrow keys being slightly smaller then a normal keyboard but overall I found I didn't have any problems at all jumping on it this one. The fact that there is also a mounted trackball really adds to the functionality of this keyboard. One feature that really caught my eye is the built in scroll wheel. This is coming from a guy who's mouse doesn't have a built in scroll wheel, this really is a convenient feature.
I'd like to take a moment to thank X-Gene for giving me the opportunity to review their Trackball Series Keyboard. This is definitely a cool keyboard that's worth checking out. For work this would be a great way to one-up the guy in the cubicle next to yours or just to have something cool to show off at home.
As always if anyone has any questions or comments I'd love to hear them :)
