Accessories

Shiny! Buttons!
I bought this keyboard as a present for a someone who likes to game. I liked it so much that I wound up buying one for myself.

The Good:
1) The feel and layout of the keyboard for typing.
This was a big selling point for me.
2) Each key is lit by a blue light. The light level is adjustable to high / low and can be turned off.
3) 18 macro buttons. With three selector buttons, a total possible of 54 possible.
4) Two USB ports. I use one to plug-in my wireless mouse dongle.
5) Keyboard normal buttons work fine in Linux without doing anything.
Setup is possible for the macro buttons to be recognized.
The following link gives instructions for the G11 / G15 keyboards on Ubuntu.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LogitechG15

The Bad:
1) It is not wireless!!. I suspect power is the design issue in not being wireless. This keyboard with its lighting and USB ports would likely go through batteries pretty quick.
2) Cord length. Given that it is not wireless, I would like the cord to be much longer. This is a major drawback of the keyboard for my use. It is barley long enough for my setup. I think the cord is normal length, but I would like longer.
3) I read where the USB ports are not 2.0, so expect slow speeds if using the ports for a memory stick.
4) No manual! No pdf file is on the disk. Nor does the Logitech site have a manual. If you install the included software on Windows, instrunctions will be part of the keyboard help system. But there is no separate written manual, nor is there a source to download a manual.

The Ugly:
The keyboard is a monster. It weights quite a bit and is huge.
You may have read where another reviewer mentions that the lighting is uneven. I think this perception is more a result of the size of the board creating different viewing angles. Did I mention the keyboard is huge! If you move you head around the keyboard, you will see the keys that looked dimmer before become brighter. I think the lighting is evenly lit, but the keys that are at a winder angle from your eyes may appear dimmer.

The G15 is the newer brother of this keyboard.
A mini LCD screen is not important to me. I like blue over orange lighting. These along with 18 macro buttons as opposed to 6 are the reasons I chose this board over its brother the G15.

Exceeds expectations
I just recently bought the G11 to replace an old Microsoft keyboard i owned. I was looking at backlit models from several different companies and i kept coming back to this one. To put it simply: i made the right choice. This keyboard is amazing, even typing on this keyboard feels better than any other keyboard i've tried. As for the backlight, when other lights are on in the room, its kind of dim, but when all the lights are off, its plenty bright even on the dimmer setting. And in normal light, the keys are still easy to read without the backlight. As i've only used this keyboard for less than an hour i don't know about any long term defects, but if i encounter any i'll post to this review. Overall, this is one of the best keyboards for the money you can get.

Good keyboard whether you game or not
I love the tactile feel of the board when using the keys. They have a very good feel to them. The fact that the keys light up is a bonus. Although if you aren't viewing the keys almost right over the top of them, reading the keys are a little off since the backlighting doesn't light up the whole character like I feel it should. But for the most part the lighting of the keys does it's job. As for the G keys, they are pretty cool if you are a gamer. You can assign a keystroke, a macro, or a shortcut to the keys. Probably the main reason I gave this keyboard a 4 of 5 and not a 5 star rating is because you can't assign a series of letters or words to the G keys. What I mean is, I would like to be able to assign my email address to a G key or a password or user id that I use alot to a G key. But as far as I can tell you can't do that. A pretty big shortcoming if you ask me. Now if I'm wrong and you can do this, then I definately apologize and this keyboard is worthy of a 5 star rating. As for gaming though, this keyboard is great. Great response time and good customization. Overall, I would definately recommend this keyboard, shortcomings or not.

fasco
Really like this keyboard. I bought it for the lighted feature and enjoy it. I haven't used the macros because I don't play many games.If your eyes are getting a little old and you had to turn on a light type in an address,try it out. The lights don't show very good during the day but they work well at dusk into the evening.The blue light goes good with my Gateway lights too.Volume rotary button is very fast when you find something too loud. Hopes this helps!

Only a few flaws
I chose the G11 over the G15 because I didn't like the thought of having to give up my spinning volume wheel from the old Logitech Elite. Sadly, the volume wheel on the G11 is much worse than on the Elite. It has barely any tactile feedback, which would normally not be a problem, except that it is completely smooth save for a tiny bump you can barely feel. I had to adjust to pressing down harder on it to get it to even turn.

I ran into a small snag with the media keys and controlling iTunes. By default, they would only control iTunes if it had focus (this may be iTune's fault). I had to get a plugin to fix this (get mmkeys.dll and use it as a plugin).

The only other quibbles I have with the keyboard have been mentioned a bunch of times already: it takes getting used to coming from using a regular sized keyboard, and strange alignment of esc key with left edge of main keys.

Other than this, I am very satisfied with this keyboard.