Gigabyte Aivia M8600
- Details
- Category: Input Devices
- Published: Friday, 08 July 2011 10:14
In the moments before I sat down in the office to write this review, Wes and I wrestled with the web of cords that we hide behind the monitor. Given the opportunity, I think any user would jump on the chance to eliminate even one from that mess. Attractive of a thought as that is, wireless peripherals aren't always the friendliest, in cost or performance. We visited Gigabyte's Ghost engine last year with the M8000Xtreme, and today we sit down with the newest addition, one that is designed to cut down the clutter of cables.
The Razer Nostromo is an intriguing piece of hardware. The name may sound familiar to some enthusiasts who remember the n52te 'speedpad' from Belkin, which is pretty much an identical piece to what we are reviewing today. That product was collaboration between the two companies, and Razer has adopted and given new life to the keypad known as the Nostromo. This lucky peripheral has the pleasure of being tested by two of our contributors, one a keypad newbie and the other a Logitech G13 junkie.
If years of playing MMO's and dungeon crawlers have taught me anything, it's that the world is always a better place when you've got the full set. While I probably won't get a 40% better chance of getting a magic item, having a keyboard and mouse that match looks great. Earlier this week we took a look at the Challenger Pro from Tt's new eSports line, and today I looted the UPS box to find its partner, the Black Gaming Mouse.
Thermaltake isn’t a new name in the world of PC gaming, the brand well-known for keeping our systems cool and stable when under the load of increasingly stressful titles. Recently, Tt extended their product line into the gaming peripheral industry with a partnership with World Cyber Games, creating a family of keyboards and mice for professional use. 
Fresh out of E3 and a release date finally announced, the brawl between Call of Duty and Battlefield is approaching rapidly. The two titles seem similar, but true fans know they are almost as different as white and black. The same can be said about Razer's new gaming surface line, the Goliathus. One built for speed and one built for control, the story begins to sound very similar to the formerly mentioned FPS struggle. With a four pack of Red Bull and a Speed Edition Goliathus surface, I'm ready to get my twitch on.
To some a mousepad is just a mousepad, to others (like me) the subtle differences between every pad make all of the difference. When trying to keep your gaming environment consistent when traveling or at LAN parties, that’s where companies like Razer come in. Their Destructor is to this day one of my favorite pads, both my wife and I use them and I keep one packed away with my gaming laptop for traveling. Razer introduced their Ironclad as a rock-solid hard mouse pad for someone looking for a pad that should last through World War 3 for a little post-apocalyptic gaming in between the waves of zombies.
The original Zboard by Ideazon was, for better or for worse, the first gaming keyboard I ever owned. Because of this, it will always hold a special, biased place in my heart. About two years later, I had become more engrossed in the world of PC gaming, and found myself a pretty big fan of SteelSeries, who built quality equipment for professional gamers, a field which I'm a huge proponent of. I think I literally squealed in joy when I read the press release stating that SS was going to be redesigning the Zboard (which is why my fiancée’s parents didn't invite me to Easter dinner this year). Today we look at the Shift to see if it lives up to the standard SteelSeries has set.
When Razer introduced their MMO-focused Naga, the telephone-reminiscent side buttons were the butt of a few jokes, yet some hardcore MMO fans saw the potential. At CES last year we had a chance to get a hands on with the Naga and I was pleasantly surprised. When Razer introduced a special edition of the Naga with the Razer logo busting out of glowing molten hot lava I had to finally get one here at the office to take a look at. Will it be hot like the design implies? Or will it fizzle out like some of the other MMO mice.
Gaming mice are quickly approaching the point in which a unique look is in itself a cliché. Visual appeal was once a new, exciting feature that attracted the attention of the demanding gaming crowd. It has become so standard today that sometimes functionality is sacrificed for a novelty design. The Spawn was on display for us this year at CES, a unique device that did, indeed, catch our eye. Does it fall victim to vanity, or prove its value in one of the harshest gaming genres?
This rodent from a faraway galaxy appears to be the little brother to the Naos 5000. LanOC reviewed the Moinix Naos 5000 a few months ago, and got high remarks. Presumably Mionix released this mouse to cut cost for the common gamer. Taking out the weight system and changing the 5000 DPI laser eye to a 3200 DPI LED-optical eye. Let us see how the Naos 3200 stacks up to its big brother.
Content to use what came with their computer or a cheap off-brand that they picked up from the local box store, most people don't realize how much better using a good quality mouse and pad is. As gamers, most of us understand that those mice don't cut the mustard when it comes to quick movement and spot on tracking. With all the companies out there are vying for your money, it's hard to decide which to buy. The guys over at QPAD, confident that their products are the best, sent me their newest gaming mouse and pad to take a look at. Let's see if they really are as good as they say they are.
A while back, I took a look at a gaming mouse from Cooler Master called the Sentinel. Still to this day I get messages on YouTube asking how I made the video of the Sentinel’s rapid fire. At CES this past year in Cooler Masters' suite, they pulled Adam and I into a side room during our product tour and asked us to put down our cameras for confidential reasons. In that room they showed off a prototype of a new mouse called the Inferno, today finally I have the chance to take a closer look at the Storm Inferno.
Anytime input is provided to a computer, the human element is involved. This is most notable with the mouse. Every person is different, and so comes many different ways to control your cursor. Some simply think that this is the jurisdiction of the mouse itself, but since when do humans operate with DPI? You don’t go to your barber and have them cut your hair to the precise millimeter, do you? You want style, you want what’s fresh, and you want it to WORK FOR YOU! Jump into the article to take an in-depth read on three different styles of an under-appreciated aspect of your desktop, the mouse pad. Oh, and did I mention, STARCRAFT II?!?
I'm well past the point of accepting that Gigabyte has placed a steady foot in the component arena outside of motherboards. When LanOC Editor and Chief Wes broke out this next piece of hardware however, I was more than a little surprised; and anxious, having seen the quality of Gigabyte's motherboards first hand numerous times. The Ghost M8000Xtreme is the high-performance gaming mouse in the company's recent line of peripherals, and today I see if it lives up to it's lineage.
We took a look at Razer’s Orochi, their Bluetooth portable gaming mouse yesterday. You can’t have a mouse without a mouse pad to match, and that’s where Razer’s Kabuto comes in. Razer added the Kabuto as a portable mouse pad for times you can’t bring along one of their larger pads. It may be portable, but is it worth taking with you? Let’s find out.
When it comes to mice for a gaming laptop, you're stuck deciding between a normal, non-gaming mouse or full-size, desktop gaming mouse. When the goal is portability, every component counts and although a full size mouse isn’t too large, it does add up. Razer recently introduced their Orochi, a Bluetooth-enabled gaming mouse that hopes to fill the need for a gaming mouse. I plan on using the Orochi in our LAN rig to see how well it will perform while gaming and when portability is important.
Those of us who can remember back to the early days of gaming hold fond memories of arcades, one of the reasons being the lavish peripherals that could only be found in such an establishment. Being able to take the throttle of a plane on a replication cockpit and feel the turbulence as you took off was something the Nintendo controller just couldn't capture. Today, we have tremendously life-like flight sims available on our home machines, allowing us to once again encountered grand experiences. They are such great recreations that mouse and keyboard simply don't do them justice.
After receiving a distress call from the ground Ghost squad, you grab the accelerator throttle to your right, anxiously increasing speed while keeping a steady hand on the plane's balance to your left, and head towards the hot zone. As you drop to near 20 feet from the ground, under fire from several tanks and a few aerial hostiles incoming, you force yourself to relax in the leather pilot seat, concentrating on the target and eliminating uncertainty from your mind. And at that moment, your cat comes in the living room and jumps up on your lap, demanding attention and bringing you back to reality.
A week or so ago we took a look at the Smog, Ozone's entry into the competitive gaming mouse industry. As any gamer is aware, however, a good mouse needs to be complimented with a good surface. Not to fall short in this category, Ozone has released two lines of mousepads of their own, and today with sit down with the more portable Ground Level series, which comes in three sizes.