Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard for gaming?

I have one and I love it. Only good M$ KB I ever owned. I also have the Sidewinder Mouse the "Original". Its not a mechanical but still, very good for its price IMO

BTW, I suggest checking Amazon for one of these. They tend to go in the 30ish range on there last I checked anyway.

The Sidewinder X4 is my next gaming keyboard. I've been using a Microsoft Media one for a long time now.

I got an X6. The only (major) difference is the detachable numpad on the X6. I can't think of any other difference.

The X4 is pretty similar to the X6 which I have used for about 6 months now(mostly high paced shooters and RPG's). It is a very good keyboard, no signs of wear until now. I feel it is underpriced for the massive amount of features it has.

The only gripe is that it has some ghosting issues. However, nothing that you need to worry about. Never experienced ghosting will performing fast consecutive actions in FPS's.

I would buy it again, but I think I need to entertain my need to try a mechanical keyboard. I would definitely recommend it (X4 or X6) for anyone looking a non-mechanical gaming keyboard.

Cheers

I have the X4, and I love it.
One other diff between the X4 and X6 is the volume control, the X4 has buttons for the volume and the X6 has big knobs...which I didn't like and saw complaints about them, the knobs that is.

The X6 is a slightly older design - it was developed before we invented our resistive multitouch keyboard technology which is featured in the X4. Like most gaming keyboards (apparently including the Razer Ultimate), the X6 relies on rearranging the key matrix to move the non-working key combinations to places where they do the least harm. So the most important 3-key combinations should work. However, there are still lots of 3-key combinations that don't. The Sidewinder X4 completely eliminates this problem. All key combinations work, up to an absurd number. Before the X4, this feature had only been available in very high-end keyboards.

People frequently ask me if this matters. Most people seem happy with their standard gaming keyboards that have the issue. For a standard matrix, something less than 5% of the 3-key combinations have problems. (Which combinations depends on the specific matrix layout, so it varies from keyboard to keyboard.) So you might get lucky, and never hit one of the non-working sets. However, in my experience, when you sit down with serious gamers and actually show them which sets don't work on their favorite keyboard, they get very upset. A typical reaction is "that's why I can't throw a grenade while moving north-west!" or something similar. Most people tend to blame the game, themselves, etc. when they are having a problem like this. Usually, they don't think to blame their keyboard. Given these experiences, I think it matters much more than most people recognize.

For what it's worth, we've had quite a few requests to license the tech in X4. Microsoft recently kicked off the licensing program. I successfully argued that fixing this problem would help the entire Windows gaming ecosystem, and as such, we should make the cost of the license very low. We've done that. So I am hopeful that you will be seeing this spread widely across the industry in the coming years...

Disclaimer: Yes, I work for Microsoft and I am one of the researchers behind the tech in X4. No, I'm not speaking for Microsoft - these are my personal views.

Paul, will Microsoft release another keyboard with a switchable numpad with this resistive multitouch tech?