Slim Keyboard Shootout: Hiper & Logisys

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by Greg King on February 21, 2008 in Peripherals

Keyboards might serve only one primary purpose, but they come in a large variety of shapes and sizes. Some might cater to gamers, others to media buffs… and others to those who want something small. We have two such keyboards here today, from Logisys and Hiper.

Page 2 – Closer Look Cont., Final Thoughts


Looking down the line of keys at the top though will reveal a web browser key, an email client key, volume up and down, forward, stop, play/pause and forward keys as well. While not as many extra keys are found on the Hiper board as on the Logisys, the HCK-1K18A included the basics and that’s good enough for me.

On the right hand side of the board we see the number pad and the lock indicator lights. These lights employ the same purple LED that we loved on the Anubis. This is a welcome addition as it helps the HCK-1K18A stand out a bit from the rest of the pack.

Flipping the board over, Hiper has given the HCK-1K18A a set of stands that raise the board roughly an inch off of the desk, adding a few extra degrees of tilt to the board. We can also see that at the front of the board there is a pair of rubber feet to combat sliding.

Like the Logisys keyboard we looked at earlier in this review, we gave the HCK-1K18A from Hiper the good old’ fashioned Lincoln test. In almost identical fashion to the Logisys board, the Hiper keyboard is roughly the same height as a US penny when stood up on end. Mind you, this is with the two feet on the bottom folded in, but is still impressive.

As mentioned earlier, the number, caps and scroll lock keys light up using the same purple LEDs found on the Anubis. While not the best of pictures, these purple lights look awesome in a low lit room.

Final Thoughts

The last picture we want to look at is a comparison shot of the two. This gives us a good idea of how they measure up size wise. It’s amazing how much more compact the Hiper keyboard is when placed beside the Logisys board. This speaks to what we mentioned earlier in the article about how they both achieve the “functionality on the cheap” goal but obtain that in two completely different fashions. While the Logisys keyboard is a full sized board, it uses notebook keys to give it a smooth typing experience and does so while looking top notch thanks to its glossy black frame.

The Hiper board however, pursues a different design route and has clearly been designs with size in mind. Not only is it as thin as the Logisys keyboard, but it’s considerably less wide. Built as a true compact keyboard, anyone in the market for such a board would be smart to consider this keyboard.

Testing of the boards was nowhere near as in depth as any other review that we have ever done. Once we received our evaluation samples, we simply plugged them in and used the two keyboards for roughly 4 weeks. With little in the way of benchmarks for a keyboard, our final thoughts simply come down to our opinions.

Your choice of keyboard undoubtedly will come down to personal opinion and because of this please weight your options carefully. Boards like these are not for everyone. Those who game a lot or like the feel of a larger board will want to consider other options. The two keyboards we dealt with today are for those who are looking for a cheap everyday board with a few extras but ultimately styled well, offering more than a standard business class Microsoft board.

It should be mentioned though that I did play a fair amount of games on these boards while testing them over the last month. There really isn’t any reason to be leery of using boards like these for your gaming needs and can be compared to playing around or two of CS:S on a notebook, without the crappy integrated graphics and such.

All in all, I doubt anyone could find to terribly many faults with either of these boards. If you’re going to get either though, keep in mind the keys. The notebook styled keys are different from those on regular keyboards and because of this, many people may not like the feel of these boards initially. I must say though that after a while, I actually came to like the soft touch of the keys.

If you’re looking for a small, compact board that you could possibly through in your notebook bag and use in a hotel, the Hiper board is undoubtedly up your alley. Of your looking for an alternative to your clunky desktop keyboard, the Logisys will serve you well. Both offer top notch keyboard performance and neither will break your bank. Kudos to both companies for making quality keyboards that anyone can afford.

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