My Keyboard Recommendation

The Microsoft Natural 4000. I picked this board up last night to give it a try.

I have a Logitech G11, G15 and G510. The Microsoft Natural is much better for multi-boxing. With the Logitech keyboards you have to move your entire hand to hit a G key. Not so with the Natural. The left hand lands perfectly on WASD and the thumb is on the Alt key. It is so easy to hit macros with the Ctrl or Alt modifier. Obviously you don't have the G keys with the Natural, but with such a friendly layout I don't think you're losing anything.

The 4000 has a few extra controls on it, volume, etc. It cost around $50, but you can get a base Natural for $25-$30 and in my opinion is the perfect boxing keyboard.

[lax]

Here's my thoughts.

I hate the "ergonomic" keyboards. My hands don't work that way. I don't always hit H with my right hand, etc. Being forced to use one of these keyboards invariably slows me down.

As a long-time PC user, I've never had an issue with using modifiers in hotkeys. However, modifiers slow down the pace. If you're trying to spam several keys in combat, you can't be expected to quickly change shift/alt/ctrl states between them, and if you're trying to use the mouse at the same time it will also mess with your mouse clicks. These are huge arguments for the use of additional keys such as extra mouse buttons, extra keyboard buttons (a la G11, G15, etc), or a separate input device (G13, X-Keys, etc)... and so I have to disagree with "not losing anything"

Now, as for the G15, I really don't mind moving my hand to the side because I've already committed to having my hand there during combat, and everything I need during that time is based around that area. I will usually use the mouse to move (as opposed to moving back and forth for wasd during combat; I usually only move my hand back to wasd when out of combat) or adjust as needed. The G-keys are close enough to use any of the modifier keys if I need them, and I build my key layout from the bottom toward the top for easy reach. Here's an example of what I've done: http://www.lavishsoft.com/wiki/index.php/ISBoxer:Lax#Logitech_G15_Keyboard. Notice that Follow, Assist, and DPS are right there are the bottom -- that's where my hand will rest during combat, and I will pretty much spam those keys. If I were to update the image, my Interact with Target is now directly above the Assist key, so I would spam that and DPS instead of Assist. Love my G15.

(Note: not a big fan of the G15 v2 with only 6 G-keys, and I would prefer an 18 G-key G11 over the 18 G-key G15 because the LCD is useless to me)

On to the G13. When I'm boxing on my laptop, I use the laptop keyboard along with my G13 (whereas I use G15 with my desktop). I like having additional "extra" (non-keyboard) buttons within reach, but I miss having easy access to the alt, shift, and ctrl modifiers. I could use one of the thumb buttons on the G13 for a modifier (How to use any button as a modifier key), but those buttons aren't quite as comfortable to me. So I lose out on a little bit of extra functionality on the G13 compared to the G15.

I also use a Razer Naga mouse regardless of whether I am on my laptop or desktop, and I use the standard 1 through = mapping for the 12 buttons on the side. I use them instead of moving my hand back to the number keys for something mundane like pressing 1 or 9 for pulls.

Lax, does ISBoxer support the G510? I couldn't seem to get the G keys to work.

I've just gotten in the habit over many years of keeping my hand on wasd while playing. It seems wierd when I try something else. I may be too old to change!

I hadn't thought of using mouse buttons as modifiers. It seems that would really speed things up, no?

[lax]

Inner Space does not currently have native support for the G510, I had added it but then some problems were reported -- so I need to get my hands on one to test with

You can, however, still use the Logitech Profiler (run as Administrator) to assign behavior to the buttons, e.g. ctrl+shift+alt+q or something. ISBoxer can then interpret those as Hotkeys

Ok, I've been playing around with my G510, and I will have to agree with Lax. Once you get it set up and get used to it, the G Keys on the Logitech keyboards are hard to beat. My Ergo keyboard is back on the shelf, lol.