Gigabyte Releases Gaming Keyboard

Giants Logitech, Microsoft, and Razer have been in the gaming keyboard market for years, along with others such as Saitek and Steelseries. Additionally, Thermaltake has recently released a few gaming keyboards to mix up the market a bit. Now, Gigabyte has a released its own gaming keyboard, set to compete with classics such as the Logitech G15 and Saitek Cyborg gaming keyboards. Gigabyte claims "The design of Aivia™ K8100 Gaming Keyboard has been inspired by ultra-high-end sports car whose outward appearance and performance are superior to that of its contemporaries." Despite the weird design description, the feature set of this new keyboard is compelling.

Gigabyte won a 2011 red dot design award for the K8100 keyboard, which has many crazy features. Aside from the de-facto backlighting, different zones of the keyboard have different keyfirmness, with each specific zone set for what Gigabyte claims is maximum ergonomix comfort. Whether that will make typing on the keyboard difficult remains to be seen. Additionally, the keyboard has 5 macro keys with onboard memory capable of storing up to 100 macros. Up to 20 keys can be pressed at once without losing any keypresses. Additionally, it has a capacative volume slider, additional rubber WASD keys, and a four-port USB hub. The keyboard, retailing for $80, comes in black, red, or yellow. See the product page here.