Final words and conclusion

Final words and conclusion

The Gigabyte Aivia 8100 keyboard is what it is, a really good gaming keyboard. You might miss the features like an LCD screen seen on Logitech keyboards, but really ... the 8100 has everything in store when it comes to gaming.

Next to that, the keyboard is ergonomic and has a very comfortable feel to it. Typically I am not really into keyboard reviews etc, but it's nearly silly how much I seem to like this one. It's actually going to stay plugged in on my working PC, as for whatever reason the feel is just really good with it. So yes, as a desktop and productivity keyboard, this one works out wonders as well. Well, that's added benefit I'd say.

The design is a little trivial though, some will hate it, other will love the strict coloring scheme and design style. Personally I like that as it's a little different. So aesthetically it is a pleasing concept. The macro functions are plentiful, per macro group you'll have five functions at your disposal which can be programmed. In a desktop environment usage I'd program standards in it like the calculator, media center etc, moving up a mode you could assign specific macros to a specific game and so on. You have five modes available. Programming the macros can be considered a little 'icky' but well ... I have yet to find a software suite that I feel is brilliant, so that might just be silly old me.

Let's see what else, ah yes ... the backlit keys are good, not too bright not too soft. It would have been nice to have seen the keys switch in color corresponding to the macro modes as well. But that's wishful thinking I guess. Also we do feel that the profile keys should have been backlit, if it's dark it might be confusing to see what key is P1 P2 P3 etc and especially in a gaming session you only want to quickly press a button and not spend time on thinking 'which key was it'.

Overall we feel the 8100 is a success though, it's a nice looking sturdy programmable gaming keyboard that could attract masses. There is room for improvements in the software suite but overall we feel this simply is a splendid gaming keyboard which we can recommend very much.

The black K8100 will sell for 59 USD, the colored ones 10 bucks more. It's a fair price for some pretty terrific gaming keyboards.

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