all prices correct on amazon.com at time of writing.

Continuing with our overview of top-end gaming keyboards, this time we’ll look at the Steelseries 7G Gaming Keyboard which takes a completely different approach to its competitors. No flashy LED backlighting, no LCD screen and no banks of assignable buttons. What you do get is probably the sturdiest, most well-made keyboard available, with lightning fast key response times, so let’s have a closer look…

Steelseries 7G Gaming Keyboard $198.98

The Good

Very robust build quality
When connected via PS2 (the default connection, with a PS2 to USB converter included in the box), the 7G can instantly register every single key being pressed simultaneously. This is in contrast to the 7 simultaneous key presses most boards can register, and could be could be a life saver when pulling off a difficult move in your favorite shoot-em-up
Each key is uses its own mechanical switch and has 18k gold connectors with a guaranteed lifetime of 50 million keystrokes. This amazing build quality results in incredibly responsive keys with almost no (an astoundingly low 2ms) lag time. Touch-typers will gain even more benefit than gamers from this keyboard!
The large and robust wrist-rest provides plenty of support for your wrists, and the design, which slips over and surrounds he whole keyboard, makes it very sturdy and practical in use
Convenient thigh holes on underside make it comfortable to place on your lap
Large non-slip rubber pads on corners
2 x USB ports, mic and headphone jacks
4 High quality gold pated 6 foot long cables (USB 2.0, PS2, 2 x sound cables). The connections on these cables are very heavily covered inn gold to the best possible connection possible and the cable braiding is of exceptional quality
Each key can be removed for cleaning or to prevent accidental key-presses.

The ok

With its severe, minimalist ascetic, devoid of any unnecessary borders (when the wrist guard is not deployed) the G7 look like it means business. It’s down to personal taste of course, but some may prefer the gaudy LED backlighting and LCD screens offered by its rivals
Very conventional keyboard design, featuring neither low-profile nor any curved styling to make it more comfortable to use. Again, it’s down to taste.

The ugly

No cushioning on wrist-rest for comfort
It is perhaps a bit unfair to put the lack on bells and whistles under this heading as this goes to the heart of the design principle behind the Steelseries 7G Gaming Keyboard, but it can’t be ignored that many gamers will miss these extras. The lack of extra assignable keys seems to be a major omission, although of course it is possible to bind the regular QWERTY keys.

Conclusion

This keyboard oozes quality and is almost certainly the most responsive, sturdily built with the highest quality components keyboard on the market. The lack of bells and whistles may be an understandable put-off for many gamers, especially at this this price point, and they may prefer to look at more feature rich offerings such as the Logitech G19 gaming keyboard instead. Those who value premium build quality and functionality over features however, will find in the Steelseries 7G a keyboard that will prove its value for over 50 million keystrokes (per key).