Cherry G81-8308 Keyboard

[Steph]

http://www.cherry.de/english/products/keyboards_multiboard_g81-8308.htm

I spilled beer over my G15 last week and dug this keyboard out again. Granted, it does not look as sleek as the G15, but it has more to offer. Two additional rows of 12 keys each are found above the F-keys, and these keys are programmable in 10 layers. An LED display shows the number of the layer you are currently on. You can program the keyboard on the fly, or use software to load/modify/save the configuration, even for PS/2 models. This is a keyboard made for professional use, it is sturdy and very well made.

I use the core area of the keyboard and the number keys row for normal wow play on the primary char, with the exception of the left most key in the number row that has the 'heal tank' button for the priest. The F-key row is my DPS, and the programmable keys are for everything else, targetted healing, CCs and all the other stuff we need =]

Besides my ancient 8308, Cherry also offers gaming keyboard and matrix keyboards, but I have no personal experience with these. I am just including two snapshots for those who want to take a glance:


Cheers, Steph.

[elo]

To me it'd kinda be annoying to have to reach that far up on the keyboard to hit the additional keys.

In contrast though a keyboard they have on the site really appeals to me.

Raptor Gaming Keyboard

Reason being the reduced width. My setup is like this

K-keys|G15|Mouse|Mouse

and with the G15 being 21.x inches long it spreads my arms at uncomfortable angles when I'm on my secondary mouse.

The Raptor here is reported to be 15.x inches long, so I'd save 6 inches in spread, making it considerably more comfortable.

I'd truly hate giving up my backlighting and LCD though...