I have a very old keyboard that I used for my home PC. I think it's more than 10 years old. I cannot remember when I first bought it but it was very reliable. It's an Acer Wireless Keyboard. It was catered for home entertainment because it has an integrated mouse knob on the top right hand corner of the keyboard with 2 buttons for left and right mouse click. It was using infrared and the sensor has to be line of sight for it to be effective. The sensor is connected to the PC via the old PS2 port. This was long before bluetooth was the norm. The keyboard uses 4 x AA batteries and it lasts for about 3 months.
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My old keyboard with the huge infrared
dongle connected via PS2. |
Unfortunately with all things, the keyboard finally died on me. It simply refuse to give any response. I tried everything to resuscitate it, to extend its life just a little longer. New batteries, bought a new PS2 adapter to USB. But there was simply no response. It was with a heavy heart that I had to accept its demise . I am being sentimental because the keyboard was like an old friend to me. All the times we played games together. All the work that we did together.
I had to get a replacement.
I bought the
Razer Blackwidow Tournament Edition Stealth 2014 on a trip to Lowyat Plaza in KL in Oct 2016. The shop I bought it from was having a Razer promo and I got the keyboard for RM198 which costs around SGD66. In Singapore, it costs around SGD149.90 at the Computer Exhibition in September.
The Razer keyboard is a ten keyless (TKL) format which means there is no number keypad. I hardly used it because I use the keyboard for gaming purposes. Another key requirement is the keyboard has to be silent. With a family, I can only play late at night and having a noisy keyboard is ineffective for me. However, despite it claims to be a silent keyboard, there is still a distinct keyboard clickety sound. Well, so much for being silent. I had to do away with a wireless keyboard. Keeping stock of batteries is quite a hassle.
The specs for the Razer Keyboard:
- Razer™ Mechanical Switches with 45g actuation force
- 60 million keystroke life span
- Compact layout
- 10 key roll-over anti-ghosting
- Fully programmable keys with on-the-fly macro recording
- Detachable braided fiber USB cable with cable strap
- Carrying sleeve for protection
- 1000Hz Ultrapolling
- Razer Synapse enabled
- Approximate size: 366mm/14.40” (Width) x 154mm/6.06” (Height) x 30mm/1.18” (Depth)
- Approximate weight: 950g/2.09lbs
- PC with USB port
- Windows® 8/ Windows® 7 / Mac OS X (v10.8 - 10.11)
- Internet connection (for driver installation)
- At least 200MB of hard disk space
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| Box Front |
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| Box Front |
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| Box Back |
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| Box Back |
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| Comes in another box. |
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| Inside is the keyboard in its cloth bag. |
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| Braided cable and instructions. |
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| View of the keyboard. |
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| Another view of the keyboard. |
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Comparing the Razer with the old Acer
Keyboard. |
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Comparing the Razer with a normal
layout keyboard. |
I just have to live with its clickety sound.
