Computer Shopper - UK (2020-01)

ISSUE383|COMPUTER SHOPPER|JANUARY2020 31

STORAGESPECIALIST ADATAis attempting
abig push intoenthusiast PC hardware at
the moment, branching out from the usual
SSDs with cases such as the XPG Invader
and XPG Battlecruiser,alongside the XPG
Summoner,afull-sizegaming keyboard
with mechanical Cherry switches.
Design-wise,it’s fairlysimple–standard
blackkeycaps sit on topofagreymetalplate,
whichinturn covers aplasticunderside –but
that’s also just the foundation uponwhich
Adata has made somenice additions.The
biggest,literally,isthe padded leatherette
wristrest,whichcan be quickly attached or
detachedvia magnets. This is,asyou can
imagine, alot comfierthan anysolid plastic
wristrest,and while it’s easy to remove
quickly, the magnetic grip isn’t so loose that
it slidesabout.The keyboard itself also
plants afirm grip,with rubberfeetand a
solidpair of height-adjustinglegs.
There’saUSB2 pass-through port on the
topedge,which is idealfor plugginginaUSB
headset or removable storagewithout having
to reachall the waytoyour PC’s I/O panels.
Dedicated mediacontrols, meanwhile,
come in the form of amutebutton and
volume wheel. Thelatter is particularlywell
made: ridged forgrip and with asatisfyingly
tactile sense of torque, it’s both afast and
precise tool formusic and video playback.

CLICKING BOXES

Youalso get achoice of keyswitches: Cherry
MX Blue, MX RedorMXSpeedSilver. Our
review unit came with MX Blues, which differ
from theother two options in that they have a
tactile bump and an audibleclick, providing

VERDICT

An adequatemechboard,but also one that
doesn’t fully develop its own features

MECHANICALGAMINGKEYBOARD

two formsoffeedback to letyou knowan

input has registered. This makes them better

suitedtoheavy typing than Reds and Speed

Silvers, whichare bothqqquieeetttaaannndddlllackkkabump.

Howeveeerrr,,,sssiiinnnccceeeaBBBlueswitch requires 60cNof

force to depress, compared to the 45cNof

both Redand Speed Silver switches, some

mayfind they feel slower andless conducive

to fast-paced gaming.

We didn’t have anyobjective issuesplaying

on the XPG Summoner.Itdid feel as if we had

to put more effort intoeachpress, but only

veryslightly, andour fingers weren’t worn

outevenafterafewhours. That said, given

the choice, we’d rather use Reds or Speed

Silvers forgamingspecifically: these switches

feel slightly moreagile,even if in-game

performance isn’t noticeably affected, and

the constant clackingofBlueswitches can

distract fromthe game’saudio.

SET MENU

We’re gladthat the choice is there, then,and

the XPG Summonerhas acouple of other

gaming focused tricks, too: youcan disable

the Windows key, to prevent an accidental

mis-pressbringing up theStartmenu while

playing, andthere’sfullN-keyrolloversothat

intentionally pressing multiple keys at once

won’t only input asingleone.

Unfortunately,this keyboard’s other key

features are more limited

than its competitors’

equivalents. TheRGB lighting,

forexample,can’t be fully

customised:you can adjust

brightness andenable a

handfulofpulsingorwavy

effects, but the only wayto

switch to specificcolours is

to selectone of thesix

profiles. Each of thesehas a

single colour assigned to it,

but you can’t change the

exxxxact hue or shade of eachprofififillleee,ooorrrsssetttiiit

up so thatsooommmeeekkkeeeyyysare one colour and

aaanothhher set are adifferent colour.All of these

profiles also disablethe Windows key, so if

you do actually wantitenabled, you canonly

use the default,all-redprofile.

The main purposeofthese profiles is to

organiseuser-set macros, which in itself is a

welcome feature: you canrecord them on

the fly,which is convenient,and being able

to arrange themintodifferent profiles

meansyou canhavedifferent setsfor

different types of game,without them

competingfor buttonassignments.

MISSING PIECE

Nevertheless, this stillmeans switching the

backlighting to acolour youmight not want,

and there’s no wayofreviewing your macros

or reassigningthem to adifferent keywithout

inputting the wholethingagain. Both this

handicap,and the lack of RGBcustomisation,

can ultimately be traced back to howthe XPG

Summonerhas no softwareutility –Asus,

Razer, Cooler Master andmany other

mechanical keyboard manufacturers

providedesktopsoftware to facilitate

customisation,but the XPG Summonertries

to do everything withthe keyboard itself,

and ends up stiflingitself as aresult.

Forjust£5more,you could getthe Asus

ROG Strix Flare (Shopper381), which is far

more customisable andalso offers achoice of

Cherry MX switches. Its wrist rest isn’t

padded, but is stillreasonably comfortable,

and you also get amuchwider range of

dedicated media keys.The XPGSummoner

has many of thecomponentpartsneeded

foragreat keyboard, butdoesn’t currently

fulfilits true potential.

JamesArcher

ADATA XPG

Summoner

★★★★★

£110•From http://www.box.co.uk

SPECIFICATIONS

KEYBOARD SHAPEFull size•NUMBER PADYes•

CONNECTION2x USB2•DIMENSIONS44x449x135mm•

MEDIAKEYSMute, volumedial•USB PORTS1x USB2•

WARRANTYTwoyears RTB•DETAILSwww.xpg.cpm•

PART CODESUMMONER4B-BKCWW

The leatherettewristrest, which can be attached or detached

via magnets, is alot comfier than asolid plastic wristrest

⬅The XPG Summoner comes

with achoice of threedifferent

Cherry MX switches