On our desk this week

KeySonic ACK-720 EL Keyboard

It's difficult to really imagine the purpose behind this keyboard. Undoubtedly it's cool, but useful? We're not sure. It's a backlit board made with a brushed aluminium finish.

The selling point of this keyboard is that the keys light up. Why is this good? So you can work in low-light conditions. But why not just turn on a light? Apple's range of PowerBooks have backlit keyboards so that you can work in low-ligh, but there's more of an application for this - you can take your laptop into bed, or work on a train or plane. But a desktop? I'm not sure I get it.

Of course, I know plenty of Counter-Strike players who like to play with the lights off. That said, most of them never look at the keyboard during a 2 hour session!

There's no doubt, however, that the Keysonic is a nifty bit of kit - the blue is a pleasant shade of Electric, and whilst you might expect some annoying hum from the inverter that powers it, the keyboard is actually very quiet. There is also a dedicated EL On/Off key on the keyboard. The Caps Lock line of LEDs are all blue, as you'd expect.

Electric Six

The crucial question is - how does it feel? Well, it's a laptop-type keyboard, which means flat keys rather than full height ones, and there is less travel in the keys consequently. If you're happy with laptop keyboards, you'll find this pleasing. If you hate them, especially at full size, you'll want to shy away from this.

The keys have a satisfying click, although UK users might find the spacing a little weird. You may also find it odd that there's no multimedia or application keys on this model, given their ubiquity on other brands.

All in all, at £35 from Vadim, it's an expensive keyboard compared to the amount of Microsoft or Logitech you could get for the money.


Name: KeySonic ACK-720 EL
Buy it at: Vadim
Cost: £35
Verdict: Does it look cool? Hell yeah. Do you really have a use for it? Dubious.