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Zippy EL-610 Mini Keyboard |
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Written by Mikhail Ivanenkov
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Sunday, 01 July 2007 |
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Page 3 of 3
Size wise, here's the comparison. On the left is my all time favorite MS Natural Elite. To the right of that is the keyboard on my Dell Inspiron 8200. Below is the EL-610, which happens to be smaller than either of the two. As I mentioned earlier, the keyboard's tiny footprint makes it an ideal solution for everything road warrior. The paint job is very well done and the individual letters are significantly crisper than those of most standard keyboards. And although the buttons are small and take some time getting used to, eventually typing on the EL-610 becomes almost as easy as on any other keyboard.
There are no drivers and no installation issues. WinXP Pro detected the keyboard as a USB HID (human interface device). The light can be turned on and off at will so long as the PC has power. So far I've experienced no problems whatsoever. If you get very close to the keyboard (as in place your ear on the keys) you'll hear a slight whine, similar to that caused by inverters on lightstrips and older CCFLs, which leads me to believe that the illumination is probably of the former nature. Heat production is unnoticeable.
As for light output, it's not going to brighten the room, but it does a great job of lighting up the keyboard. The above pictures are both night shots, one with the room lights on and one without. I'd like to say that the color you see above is the actual color of the light emitted, but it's not. Similar to the Cobalt 3 Pyramid V fan controller, the glow is more aquamarine than true blue. Then again, a lot of blue CCFLs have a purple tint, so generally speaking it's blue enough, though not an exact match to other accessories you might have.
I've been using the EL-610 mini keyboard for several days now and I must say it's been a pleasure. It does take time getting used to, especially when the buttons are half the size of some found on my Natural Elite. Yes my overall WPM (words per minute) rate is lower and I do make a few more mistakes, but I really haven't had it long enough. The only thing that still bugs me is the smaller backspace key and the backslash button which is placed differently on said Microsoft board. Other than that, for a mini keyboard this does the trick and then some. $50 may seem like a lot, but keep in mind that the competition is running for twice a much while lacking some of the features. A full sized version would be nice, but for the EL-610's purpose (mobility), the execution is well above average.
Pros
- Very small and lightweight, great for LAN parties
- Blue/aqua illumination looks unbelievable
- Fn button for toggling keypad mode
- Minimal keystroke noise compared to rubber dome models
- Ability to turn light on/off
- Extra function buttons and hotkeys
- Cheap (~$50) compared to EluminX
Cons
- PS/2 adapter should be included
- Need a full-size variant to directly compete with the EluminX
- Needs blue LEDs to complement the glowing keypad
- Impractical for people with larger fingers
- Fn key can be misleading
- Enter key too large/backspace key too small
Overall I must say I'm quite pleased with the Zippy EL-610 mini keyboard. It's not perfect and has several issues that need to be addressed (backspace and enter key size/placement for example), but just as many that have already been improved upon. And even more have been added; the list above speaks for itself. Though I'll still go back to my Natural Elite for comfort during long typing sessions, this is a great board and I will no doubt use it at LAN parties or in the wee hours of the morning working on Cinema 4D animations in studio. It's also a perfect companion to an XPC. I'd like to thank Bytecc once again for sending over this keyboard and if interested you can get yours here. Thanks for reading and enjoy the site!
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Last Updated ( Friday, 13 July 2007 )
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