MICROSOFT SIDEWINDER X6 W KEY SOFTWARE

They're not tiny, or capacitive, out of the way or lay flush with the keyboard - they're big things you can mash, and from the multimedia keys to the nicely placed calculator shortcut above the numpad, this is highly appreciated.

The next thing that grabs your attention is that all the quick access are actual buttons. If, for example, you wanted to continuously run forward in an FPS, you'd hold down the Cruise Control button, press W, then release both, and your character would indefinitely run forward. Some players will also find the Cruise Control button a boon - by holding down the Cruise Control button, then pressing up to a combination of four buttons and releasing, the keyboard will then act as if those four keys have been held down continuously until the Cruise Control button is pressed again.

MICROSOFT SIDEWINDER X6 W KEY SOFTWARE

The software also allows you to disable the Windows, Caps Lock and Application key, should they prove to be an annoyance in-game, and can set per application key settings, so when a program is launched, the macro keys change with it - it's not just customisable macros either, as the keys can be used to run commands, or launch applications as well. Those counting will be thinking 'you've gotten that wrong - that should be 90 macros' - but in bank 1 mode, the numpad is always the numpad, even if Microsoft's software allows you to add macros to the unusable keys. A shift key below the six macro keys on the left switches them to allow another six macros to be stored, and up to three banks worth of macros can be created and switched between using a button at the top of the keyboard, giving way to a possible 72 macros. Along with the dedicated bank of six keys down the left, the numpad can be used for an additional 18 keys within which to store macros that can either be recorded live through the keyboard by pressing the macro record key, created and edited through Microsoft's Intellitype software, or a combination of the two.

The first thing of note is the swappable numpad, which can be placed on the right, left, or removed altogether via a strong magnetic system.

Microsoft sidewinder x6 w key