| OCZ Technology Alchemy Series Elixir I Keyboard
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The Basics (continued):
Though not well advertised, this keyboard does deviate slightly from the standard US keyboard layout. Judging by the changes, the goal here was to make the keyboard more compact. Therefore you will find the "home/insert/delete" keys rearranged and moved closer to the traditional "enter" and arrow keys. The elongated "delete" button will take some getting used to. My biggest gripe is that the Windows Key to the left of the space bar has been omitted; which is a bit of a letdown as I use this key all the time to lock my workstation. OCZ Technology - bring back to the left Windows Key!
For the sake of completeness, we have also included pictures of the boring backside of the OCZ Technology Elixir keyboard. Note the extending plastic feet that allow you to elevate the keyboard. Not much to see here. Please keep in mind this keyboard utilizes a wired USB 2.0 connection with the wire being approximately six feet in length.
 
As previously mentioned this keyboard has been marketed to gamers. Probably the most notable "gamer friendly" feature this product offers is the set of programmable macro buttons which allow users to use a single keystroke to send a multi-keystroke sequence to the computer. Five of these macro buttons can be found on each end of the keyboard (for a total of 10), with each being colored in a contrasting blue hue and labeled "L1-L10". Players of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG), such as World of Warcraft (WOW), should immediately recognize the strength of this feature. For example, pressing "L1" could send up to eight keyboard commands to the computer for special abilities in quick succession. Pictures of these programmable buttons are highlighted in the images below.
 
Using the included OCZ Technology Elixir software you can customize each key to your liking. A "mode" key located just above the "+/-" keys allows you to reprogram the "L1-L10" macro keys without requiring software changes. I would suggest keeping separate profiles for each game you play. However, the software only allows for three profiles so this may not be entirely possible.
The second feature that OCZ Technology promotes with this keyboard is the ability to completely customize the function of the keys. Do you want to press the key labeled "4" and have it output an "R"? With the OCZ Technology Elixir software you can do it, although I do not believe this feature will have a valuable impact. Can you think of a good reason to do this?
A third feature of this keyboard is the set of multimedia controls located on the extreme left and right hand sides. During testing I found the mute and volume controls most useful; especially when gaming. Other multimedia buttons of interest may include: media player stop/start, my computer shortcut, and web browser keys.
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