Zowie Celeritas Review
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Published: 18th February 2011 | Source: Zowie | Price: £99 |
Introduction
When you reach the higher echelons of quality you always begin to come across brands that are less likely to be known by your average person.
Take, for example, jewellery. Everyone has heard of Elizabeth Duke, and most people would avoid it. You might also be aware of Samuels or Hinds, but very little from that price range until you reach Cartier or De Beers. It's always about volume vs affordability. Few of us would buy our wedding rings from Argos, but fewer still could afford a bespoke 5 carat number.
Zowie are definitely a company who tailor their products to those who demand the very best performance. Rather than expend swathes of the cost on bells and whistles that look good to the average consumer, the focus is on making the internals as brilliant as possible for the highest operational capabilities.
Today we're taking a look at one such product, the Celeritas keyboard.
Technical Specifications
Everything is focused on making sure that the gamer will always have the exceptional response that they desire to gain the edge over their competitors. At the highest levels of play even a millisecond advantage can be the difference between glory and pain.
6 keys Anti-Ghosting through USB, Full Anti-Ghosting with PS/2
18K Gold Plated mechanical switches and USB connectors
Ability to change the "Windows"-key to "Ctrl"
Multimedia controls
Highly durable metal inner chassis
Ergonomic design saves space and offer full comfort during use
Connector: USB / PS2 (by USB to PS2 converter)
Cable Length: 1.8m / 5.8 ft.
ZOWIE RTR™ technology provides 4 levels of repeat-response (normal, 2x, 4x, 8x) - PS/2
Dimensions: Width: 44 cm Length: 16 cm Height: 2.5 cm
Let's move on and see how it looks.
Most Recent Comments
A very nice looking elegant keyboard, glad to see it's not riced out with LEDs lights, displays and other useless features.Quote
very stylish, sleek and un-cluttered. if i didnt need LEDs on my G19 because of my fetish for flashing (*coughs* bad eyesight), this would be something i would really consider. reasonably priced too - coolQuote
Expensive! My Cherry keyboard is doing me well 
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QuoteNever heard of Zowie beforeQuote
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Originally Posted by Fodr Kreatr
Never heard of Zowie before |
looks nice, but if it just had backlit keys...it'd be better, no buttons, no screens, no nothing, just backlit keys, i dont think they're OTT, or too bad...Quote
You know this thing is like identical to the Steelseries 6gv2.
Cherry MX Black key switches?
Also anyone wanting to buy this, I would say go for the Steelseries 6Gv2, same features for around 70 pounds?
EDIT: Reasons why it doesn't have LED Backlighting or any other features could also be due to the choice of using PS/2 connector.
If you go for PS/2 you can get full n-key rollover and instant polling; since PS/2 is designed for keyboards.
But if you go for USB connection you can get features such as backlighting, screens, insane amounts of macro keys and all that. But you'll be limited to around 7-key rollover and 1000Hz polling.
Maybe one day someone will release a keyboard with both connectors, getting the best of both worlds.Quote
Cherry MX Black key switches?
Also anyone wanting to buy this, I would say go for the Steelseries 6Gv2, same features for around 70 pounds?
EDIT: Reasons why it doesn't have LED Backlighting or any other features could also be due to the choice of using PS/2 connector.
If you go for PS/2 you can get full n-key rollover and instant polling; since PS/2 is designed for keyboards.
But if you go for USB connection you can get features such as backlighting, screens, insane amounts of macro keys and all that. But you'll be limited to around 7-key rollover and 1000Hz polling.
Maybe one day someone will release a keyboard with both connectors, getting the best of both worlds.Quote
I think I'll rather stick with my cheap Microsoft Sidewinder X4 keyboard, I can press 26 keys at once on USB 
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QuoteWhy do all mechanic keyboards have to be angular? My £10 from Tescos Logitech keyboard looks better than that.. Surely they could make it seem less like something that came out of the 1980s? And with that price tag.. just retarded IMO no matter how good it is.Quote
Mechanicals last 10 times longer than regular keyboards Todd. Also the angular nature is meant to improve ergonomics, I personally don't notice a difference, than again I'm the guy that laughs at people on Vent when they have carpel tunnel.
TuNk77 yeah my bad USB does go higher than 7, but it won't support full n-key rollover. ~103 simultaneousness facerolling ftw?
Anyway Zowie appeals to a niche market, which Steelseries currently owns and Steelseries has a loyal fanbase and is cheaper; can't believe i just said that xD
EDIT: TuNk77 it's up to 26 key but that's a combination of an optimized matrix and diodes, so certain combinations might not go up to 26.Quote
TuNk77 yeah my bad USB does go higher than 7, but it won't support full n-key rollover. ~103 simultaneousness facerolling ftw?
Anyway Zowie appeals to a niche market, which Steelseries currently owns and Steelseries has a loyal fanbase and is cheaper; can't believe i just said that xD
EDIT: TuNk77 it's up to 26 key but that's a combination of an optimized matrix and diodes, so certain combinations might not go up to 26.Quote
Zowie Celeritas ? For a moment I actually thought you were about to do a review on some almost famous celebrity model.
Anyway...the keyboard does look neat; clean and from your review it seems it peforms very well. However, for the price I'd expect a little more: maybe just a bit of backlighting on the keys (not overkill, though) and/or a screen for temps.
Good review also. Cheers Tom
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Anyway...the keyboard does look neat; clean and from your review it seems it peforms very well. However, for the price I'd expect a little more: maybe just a bit of backlighting on the keys (not overkill, though) and/or a screen for temps.
Good review also. Cheers Tom
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Originally Posted by MichaelH
Zowie Celeritas ? For a moment I actually thought you were about to do a review on some almost famous celebrity model. Anyway...the keyboard does look neat; clean and from your review it seems it peforms very well. However, for the price I'd expect a little more: maybe just a bit of backlighting on the keys (not overkill, though) and/or a screen for temps. Good review also. Cheers Tom |
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Originally Posted by MichaelH
Anyway...the keyboard does look neat; clean and from your review it seems it peforms very well. However, for the price I'd expect a little more: maybe just a bit of backlighting on the keys (not overkill, though) and/or a screen for temps. |
Also for a keyboard built like this it's meant to last a long time, mechanical keys last 50 million keystrokes as opposed with the 5 million you get with a regular membrane keyboard. It's also built like a tank, so it can withstand nerd rage, so in the long term this will be better value for money.Quote
Nice stuff. It's not for me and the perfect board for me is yet to be available. I need a compact board (i use sidewinder x6, perfect), the compact board fits between the LOGITECH G35 and mouse mat, backlit keys is a must as gaming is often done with low light and build quality (the sidewinder x6 isn't great though it is cheap). Please consider my needs keyboard manufacturers as for an exceptional board i will pay what is asked by the fair retailer
I tried the ROCCAT ARVO. i didn't have full all keys back-lit
thanksQuote
I tried the ROCCAT ARVO. i didn't have full all keys back-lit
thanksQuote
I guess I should say... I'd give my eye teeth for that keyboard, but, I can't even afford to dream about it, much less buy the doggone thing. LOL! It really does look like a wonderful piece of work that I'd be more than happy to have in front of me for any usage at all. But, that price tag is more than prohibitive, its just rocking the areas of "SCBA required", and no joke. I presume they can justify the price somehow, but at the same time I don't believe it. Just seems snobbery on top of classy building to me, but maybe I'm just REALLY jealous.Quote
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Originally Posted by Todd
Bryan's review, matey. OC3D is a team not an individual |
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Originally Posted by Zeals
It's a PS/2 keyboard so you can't have any other features beside full n-key rollover. However looking at the specs, it's probably built like the Steelseries mechanical keyboards, such as gold connectors, and a metal plate. It's probably heavy enough and strong enough to be used as a bat. |
About to add this keyboard to the my shopping cart, the reason why is simply because I already have the EC1 mouse in white. The mouse is quite simply the best I have ever used and I am comparing it to others like the Deathadder Respawn, Boomslang, Naga, Xai, Intellimouse, RAT5, RAT7 and my previous mouse the Roccat Kone+.
So based on the mouse performance I am pretty much expecting the same from the keyboard. Yes it lacks some features but do people really need backlit keyboards? We need to remember this is a gaming keyboard and in all honesty if you are good at your game you should know where your key binds are already!
Oh, I also have the Swift mouse pad from Zowie too, once again it is excellent. At this rate I might even be pushed to take a look at their headset range tooQuote
So based on the mouse performance I am pretty much expecting the same from the keyboard. Yes it lacks some features but do people really need backlit keyboards? We need to remember this is a gaming keyboard and in all honesty if you are good at your game you should know where your key binds are already!
Oh, I also have the Swift mouse pad from Zowie too, once again it is excellent. At this rate I might even be pushed to take a look at their headset range too
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