INTRODUCTION
Logitech G Pro X
The G Pro X keyboard is novel but it has as many opportunities as it does complications. In fact, many people find a bit mysterious. On one hand, it’s colorful, comfortable and compact but on the other, it’s a little pricey for a tenkeyless gaming keyboard.
Logitech G915 Lightspeed
The G915 is a top-notch wireless keyboard with almost no compromises. However, it also doesn’t come cheap. With that said, it’s hard to find many wireless gaming keyboards better than this. It’s an attractive, sleek peripheral that has low-profile keys and mechanical switches.
Logitech did a magnificent job on both of these products. Let’s take a look at what factors separate the two from each other.
DESIGN
Logitech G Pro X
The surface of the Logitech G Pro X is very similar to that of its G Pro predecessor that was released a while back. This gaming keyboard is a tenkeyless peripheral device with full RGB lighting and a plain black chassis. It doesn’t have any extra keys on it, just 2 buttons at the top for brightness and game mode. It’s also a lot easier to move around because of its detachable USB cable. Things get a bit more interesting when the key switches and keycaps underneath are pried off. The G Pro X keyboard is the first one that Logitech has manufactured that has swappable key switches. This means that all the 87 keys feel can be customized.
When buying the G Pro X keyboard for the first time, you can choose what type of you switches you want as the baseline; tactile, quiet GX Browns, tactile, loud GX Blues or linear, quite GX Reds. However, you can also buy Blue, Brown or Red switch sets. These will include ninety switches of whatever you choose and each comes at the price of around $90 or so. As such, if you’d like to mix Blue, Brown and Red switches to suit a particular play-style you’ve got going on, you can so long as you have around 250 bucks to spare for that privilege.
Logitech G915 Lightspeed
The Logitech G915 is an absolutely gorgeous mechanical keyboard. It has a brushed metallic finish with a firm and sturdy plastic chassis. All the keys have ultra-thin keycaps over tiny mechanical switches. On the far left of the keyboard, you’ll find a macro-key column, a macro record button on top of the F1-4keys and three macro-profile keys. On top of the F4-F8keys are Bluetooth connectivity and USB dongle buttons. Here you’ll also find the RGB lighting brightness and Game Mode buttons. The Game Mode feature will disable certain buttons during gameplay.
The G915’s biggest downside is that it has five extra buttons on it left side that, for many gamers, are only situationally useful at best. Furthermore, their inclusion extends the length of the keyboard to 18.5inches, which is an entire inch more than very many other full-size gaming keyboards available on the market. This will make a huge difference if you’re someone that happens to be working with limited desk space. Also, the G915 lacks a wrist rest, which can be troublesome when using such a low-to-the-ground, thin laptop. Even 3rd party wrist rests won’t provide much of a solution since many of them are still way higher than the gaming keyboard itself.
KEYS
Logitech G Pro X
As previously mentioned, when it comes to the Logitech G Pro X keyboard you have the option of choosing from 3 types of switches. That’s not all though. You can also go as far as customizing the peripheral of the device with extra key switch sets. Logitech G’s key switches are a bit more resistant and stiffer compared to the Cherry MX switches, however, that doesn’t make them any less comfortable. With that said, the keys on the G Pro X may take some getting used to which isn’t the case for the other keyboard in this review.
Logitech G915 Lightspeed
The G915 keyboard has a totally new type of switch. Okay, to be a little more accurate, it uses three switches. Just as gamers can buy Corsair keyboards and pick the type of Cherry MX switches they want, they can also pick between GL Clicky, GL Tactile and GL Linear on the Logitech G915 as well. These brand-new, low-pro mechanical switches are designed to give the user key travel similar to what you’ll get with Logitech’s Romer-G switches. However, in a more stylish, much smaller package.
The G915’s low-pro switches might take a bit of getting used to, especially if you are using the keyboard mainly for typing purposes. The smaller keycaps make it a lot easier to accidentally press adjacent buttons. The G Pro X one-ups the G915 here.
FEATURES
Logitech G Pro X
The Logitech G Pro X gaming keyboard is targeting an e-sports audience. It has a tenkeyless design style and a micro removable USB power cable for easy travel. The new feature it has, that its predecessor didn’t, is that its mechanical switches can be swapped out. If you buy a model that has GX Blues on it and then later on you feel that Reds might better suit your play style, instead of buying an entirely new keyboard you can spend 50 bucks and switch out your keys. Granted not a lot of gamers will find this very useful.
Logitech G Hub software is what runs the G Pro keyboard, and it’s a pretty simple way for users to program their function keys, set up profiles for apps and individual games as well as control the RGB lighting. The one downside on this front is that every key can’t be reprogrammed. Only the function keys. Other Logitech keyboards don’t have this problem. This is a bit considering one of the highlights of this keyboard is that every key can be physically customized. It’s strange that they can’t be reprogrammed as well.
Logitech G915 Lightspeed
Logitech G Hub software also powers the Logitech G915 gaming keyboard. A wide array of different color effects can be programmed, from reactive rainbows that shine across the keyboard when the user types to per-key lighting. You can also set up profiles and record macros for programs and individual games. Unlike many other of its competitors, the G915 keyboard also does not allow the user to reprogram every key found on the device. However, since you have about 15 extra macro keys, you might not have any need to do so. Furthermore, you can still customize the keys you’d like to disable when on Game Mode which, in turn, which will help you reduce the risk of accidentally tabbing out of games.
The most noticeable upside and biggest advantage, however, the G915 has is its wireless connectivity. The keyboard can be connected via Bluetooth or USB dongle. Theoretically, what this means is that it has the capability of being hooked to a smartphone and a PC at the same time (or generally whatever other device combos you might fancy). All it takes is one press of a button to switch between them, and both connections are operational from several feet away.
PERFORMANCE
Logitech G Pro X
The Logitech G Pro X gaming keyboard has very good performance. The keys are responsive and quick, whether its constructing bases in real-time strategy games or shooting down enemies in first-person shooters. Since you have the option of picking the type of switches you want, all gamers should be able to find something that fits their gaming style. The only downside, as far as performance is concerned, is that this gaming keyboard doesn’t do too well when it comes to everyday productivity, especially if you’re someone that’s used to a number pad and media keys. However, that’s not really the audience Logitech is targeting with this product anyway, so you should remember this before dropping your hard-earned cash on this product.
Logitech G915 Lightspeed
The Logitech G915 can handle almost any game you throw at it with relative ease. Each time you select an army when playing StarCraft, fire off or remaster magic spells in Baldur’s Gate or activate special abilities in Overwatch, you can be sure that your commands will be instantaneously and accurately parsed. For those of you that game competitively, the low-pro keycaps can help you hit important keys repeatedly and quickly without the spring-back you’d expect from larger switches.
VERDICT
The first wireless mechanical gaming keyboard Logitech released, the G613, was an intriguing one, yes, but was still a bit underwhelming. It lacked a volume wheel, RGB lighting and a rechargeable battery. The G915, however, has all these things alongside a very attractive overall design. It nails almost all its features perfectly. If you are serious about uncluttered gaming setups that don’t sacrifice functionality, then this is definitely the product you should strongly be considering.
When it comes to the G Pro X, at its core this device is a solid product that offers something none of its competitors has tried just yet. The ability to exchange switches was is pretty cool. With that said, if you’re considering getting your hands on a tenkeyless mechanical gaming keyboard, then even the original G Pro will do just fine.
All in all, both are wonderful product but if we had to decide which one to go for then it would definitely be the G915.
