SteelSeries Zboard Limited Edition--Wrath of the Lich King Bundle- Zboard keyboard, WoLK keyset and Standard Qwerty Keyset

by SteelSeries

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 9.5 x 2.3 inches ; 3.9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001JIDDYC
• Item model number: PW1USE1X9WKB01
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,918 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 29, 2008

Product Description

This limited edition SteelSeries Zboard (WotLK) is a unique gaming keyboard featuring the ability to adapt for any game through removable keysets. The “anti-ghosting” feature allows for 7 simultaneous keystrokes opposed to the industry standard of 2-4 simultaneous key presses found on other keyboards. The entire keyboard can be fully customized through the use of the powerful SteelSeries Z Engine software, which enables macros to be dragged and dropped onto specific keys. The SteelSeries Zboard is equipped with 2 USB ports and includes a standard keyset for everyday use, plus the specially developed gaming keyset for World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. No disc is included. * Specially designed World of Warcraft® keyset included * One-touch macros for raiding and PvP gameplay * Anti-ghosting capability: Up to 7 simultaneous keystrokes * Internal hub with 2 USB ports * SteelSeries Z Engine allows full customization of each key

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not that cool to begin with, and has tech issues, May 21, 2009

By 

LANCE R LINDLEY "hagakure" (Yokosuka, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SteelSeries Zboard Limited Edition--Wrath of the Lich King Bundle- Zboard keyboard, WoLK keyset and Standard Qwerty Keyset (Personal Computers)

If you play a ton of WoW (and most people who play, play a lot), it's nice to have your hotkeys labelled -- it actually makes you more likely to use some of the more obscure ones because they are right there in front of you. As for the extra set of special keys that replace your numpad, I don't find them at all useful. Almost all the special buttons have to do with switching between chat channels or triggering an emote in one keystroke. So, if you aren't too concerned about getting from Raid Chat to Whisper to Party Chat and back without using your mouse, or being able to "roar" or "wave" or "spit" with a single keystroke, then the new keys aren't likely worth your cash.

Summary: It's a neat gimmick to have a keyboard with specialized keys and a pretty WOTLK graphic that announces to the whole house what a WoW-head you are (like they didn't know already by the fact you're never anywhere but that computer chair); but its a relatively inferior keyboard (it's rattly loud and not particularly ergonomic), and its functionality is somewhat limited.

I also had one whale of a time getting it to work. I used to have all those trials and tribulations detailed in this review; in the end I got a software engineer friend of mine to come over and sweep all references to this thing out of my registry and then I was able to install the drivers from the SteelSeries website (don't use the old outdated CDROM -- it's what led to my problems!).

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Yeah.. not so great., March 20, 2009

By 

Robb Bancroft "Robb" (Akron, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SteelSeries Zboard Limited Edition--Wrath of the Lich King Bundle- Zboard keyboard, WoLK keyset and Standard Qwerty Keyset (Personal Computers)

SteelSeries Zboard Limited Edition--Wrath of the Lich King Bundle- Zboard keyboard, WoLK keyset and Standard Qwerty Keyset

As soon as I got it I sent it back. Don't waste your time on this board with other options on the market, Wotlk fans.

The functionality of the keyboard is nice, however, several issues with the board itself.

A.) The drivers that come with the board are not compatable with Vista 64. The disk does indicate that the drivers will work with Win XP 32/54 and Vista 32/64. Not the case when going to install them. You may download the drivers from the manufacturer's website directly with limited bandwith. The download of 52 mb was "cruising" at a whole 15k kbps. (I have broadband).

B.) Secondly, the keyboard looks terribly cheap. The silk screen process they used to put the characters on the keys must not have been so great. This keyboard was bought new and unfortunately it looked used. Also, the graphics that have been put on the keyboard look like stickers. That wasn't really an issue for me; I figured they would be, however, they looked like that had sat out in the sun for a week and had become faded.

There are a lot of other gaming keyboards out there for the same price. I would suggest looking at other options for your gaming needs.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Received as a gift..., August 6, 2009

By 

Clivers (Palm Beaches, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SteelSeries Zboard Limited Edition--Wrath of the Lich King Bundle- Zboard keyboard, WoLK keyset and Standard Qwerty Keyset (Personal Computers)

Received this as a gift, but I would have to agree with some of the disappointments listed in the other reviews here. This keyboard did not give me any issues running on WinXP32 system, and I also had a mouse and card reader plugged into the additional USB ports on the back.

I have to admit a couple items. First, my primary system uses a Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard, so it's not totally fair to compare the two boards in a head to head. Second, as this keyboard is on my second computer in a dual set-up, I spend more time using the standard Qwerty keyset on it than the WotLK one.

Does it do the basics and a little more? Sure. Is it a board I recommend for WotLK fans? Only if you find yourself also a collector of the WoW mousepad, WoW mouse, WoW laptop (from Dell) and drink the WoW soda. Otherwise there are better choices out there (how about that Logitech? - j/k).