I recently got my hands on a Microsoft Sidewinder X6 as my new permanent gaming keyboard and I’m pretty impressed.

The X6 comes with a detachable number pad, which can be put on either side of the keyboard or left off entirely.  There are a lot of cool features on the X6, plenty of macro keys, volume and light knobs. You can also set the keyboard up in almost any configuration you want.  Pick which side you want the number pad on or chuck it altogether.

The multiple configurations of the Microsoft Sidewinder X6 keyboard. (Images courtesy Microsoft)

Read on for my thoughts on how well it performs.
The majority of my time with the X6 so far has been spent sans number pad.  It was just nice to take it off, and have a smaller keyboard footprint.  I don’t type a lot of numbers, so it’s not a huge loss.  If I did need to crank out a spreadsheet or two though, I can easily toss it back on because the X6 recognizes it in seconds. There are some additional features of keeping the number pad attached, but first to some other things.

The X6 has an impressive number of buttons and options on it.  It comes packed with macro keys, even with the keypad detached.  There are a row of six just to the left of the letter area on the keyboard.  This took some getting used to, because the escape key was still in the top left of the keyboard, and thus further away from the letters.  I found myself hitting F1 quite a bit at the beginning.  The macro keys can be bound to almost anything.  Microsoft says there are more than 90 programmable options, and if that’s not enough you can record and assign a specific group of actions with the keyboard.  This could be great for the MMORPG gamers, but having set World of Warcraft to the side, it was of limited use to me.  The X6 would also lend itself to RTS gaming, with the macro record I could think of a couple of interesting things to do in-game.

The X6 has three profile sets that allow you to setup different macros for different programs.  I setup my main profile to launch programs, assigning keys to Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, Firefox and iTunes.  I didn’t really use the other profiles though.

The detachable keypad can also be used to setup another series of macros, taking the total macro button total to 30.  But seeing as I didn’t have a glut of macros I wanted to program in, I left it off.  Also on the keypad was a quick launch button for the calculator.  You could reassign it to any other program as well, or just leave it set to calculator.

There’s also a cruise control function on the keyboard that allows you to continue doing something without holding the key down.  Cruise control works with up to four keys at a time, but not with macro keys.

The X6 comes equipped with your standard media controls for your program of choice.  When paired with iTunes, I could pause, play, skip songs forward and back from any program without having to switch back to iTunes.  Pretty standard fare for media controls.  Volume is controlled through a knob on the keyboard that turns infinitely.  It controls volume system-wide, not just on the media player or current program.

The second knob on the keyboard adjusts the light level.  The keyboard has two colors it glows, red in the main area and keypad and amber in the macro section.  You can dim the light to the level you want, but most of the time I just left it at maximum.

With the keypad detached, the smaller footprint made it a bit more comfortable for me to game with, because my mouse-hand and keyboard-hand were closer together.  Other structural things worth noting, is that the palm rest is not detachable as it is part of the keyboard.  Also, there are no “feet” that would prop up the keyboard, it wasn’t that noticeable to me though, and I was still able to type comfortably.  There’s also a pair of tiny nubs on the W key

In all, the keyboard is great to use.  I didn’t get wrist fatigue when typing for long periods of time and gaming was as expected.

A serious knock against it though, there are no USB ports at all.  There’s also no headphone or mic jack.  It’d be nice to have those three things, but it still works without them.

Like the Razer Lycosa Mirror I reviewed in January, the Microsoft Sidewinder X6 retails for $80.  But, I was able to find it for less than $60 shipped.

Questions? Shoot me an email at matt(dot)schuler(at)woodtv.com or hit up the comments section.  For more, shorter updates, check out my Twitter by clicking on twitter.com/mattschuler.