Category: Keyboards
Manufacturer: SteelSeries
Product: SteelKeys 6G
Gallery: Click Here
Price: $129.99 (unofficial, preorder)

At GotFrag Hardware we have had the chance to review a lot of really exciting and diverse products. Nothing more hyped than Intel’s Core 2 Duo, nothing more legendary than Microsoft’s IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0. But as a bunch of guys who are, on the most fundamental level, gamers, we aren’t necessary looking for the coolest, biggest, and most popular products. Instead, our quest is in search of the figurative “holy grail” of gaming; the product in its category that will, by all accounts, provide the best experience to gamers.

Sure, the IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 may have been this “prophetic” symbol of gaming. Sure, the Logitech G15 keyboard may be the most feature-rich product we have EVER seen. But when it really comes down to it, tons of extra features and massive public acceptance do not make a product the best performer. This philosophy is never more important to uphold than when reviewing gaming peripherals.

The latest product from SteelSeries, a company known for its product range and numerous endorsements of professional gaming teams, seems to exude the simplistic and high quality characteristics that made the company famous. The SteelKeys 6G keyboard is, for all intents and purposes, a professional gaming keyboard.

SteelKeys 6G
It is very rare these days that you find a product that doesn’t have a lot of extra features and fancy buttons and lights that are largely unnecessary but look really cool. Logitech’s G15 keyboard has a ton of extra buttons and a really cool LCD display that can be used for all sorts of applications. Razer’s Copperhead laser mouse sports an on-the-fly resolution toggle that allows you to change the dpi of your mouse without going through the driver interface. All of these extra features are very cool, yes, but the practicality of them is, dare I say, almost non-existent. The SteelKeys 6G represents a radical departure from this trend. Standard key layout and no real features that you wouldn’t find on your basic run-of-the-mill generic keyboard, the 6G defines practicality. Here is a quick rundown of the specifications as related on the SteelSeries website:

Specs

• Highly durable professional gaming keyboard
• Supports the use up to 8 keys simultaneously
• Gold plated connectors to ensure low latency
• Designed for PS/2 (USB-converter included)
• Dimensions: 445mm x 185mm x 30mm (17.5in x 7.3in x 1.2in)
• Weight: 3.1 lbs
• Cable Length: 5.9 ft
• Switches: Gold plated no-click
• Switch Lifetime: 60,000,000 cycles