The Basics:

Below we see the Trigger in all of its glory. Keyboards have to have the same basic layout so your fingers know where to go, but many brands try to get fancy with complex curves and what not. The Trigger takes a more subdued approach, featuring a silver top surface, with flat black trim, keys, and other accents. The basic rectangular shape is only interrupted by a slightly notched area along the top, as well as a deeper notched out area just below the arrow keys on the right hand side. Other than the appearance, the main thing I noticed with the Trigger out of the box is that it has to be the heaviest keyboard I have used. It feels very well built, and this suggests to me that it is ready to endure years of intense use!



The next two images take a closer look at either end of the keyboard. In the below left image you see the stack of Macro keys that run up the side of the keyboard, as well as that the Function keys along the top have dual functions for things such as back-light control and multimedia playback. The below right image shows that the other end of the keyboard is laid out in a typical manner, but we do get a closer look at the notched out sections of the housing.



A clearer look at the Function keys alternate uses is shown in the image below.



Next we see the bank of connections, located on the top edge of the keyboard just above the numeric keypad. As mentioned previously, the USB cable is not permanently attached to the keyboard, but a special mini-USB to USB cable is provided. In addition to the mini-USB port for connecting to your PC, there is also a 5VDC power connection and two USB ports. I was confused about the power connection at first, as I assumed you needed a power supply to make the keyboard work (which seemed silly), but there is no power supply in the box. As it turns out, some of the LED back-light functionality is restricted when powered solely by USB, and in order to 'unlock' two extra levels of back-lighting you would need to get a power adapter. I don't like that setup at all... Give me everything I need, or don't include that functionality.



In the last image in this section we see the wrist rest attached to the keyboard. I won't be using this piece for three reasons. One, it is just a hard piece of plastic that did nothing for my comfort. Two, it was too low profile for me to comfortably 'rest' on it while typing. And three, it is so deep I couldn't get my keyboard in my desk's tray with it installed.