14 DAY TRIAL // Sometimes it just seems that the multimedia concept goes a little too far, and, when it comes to our daily gadgets, each passing week brings a new item to make this assertion even stronger. It's the case of the new keyboard from Verbatim, the Speaker Keyboard. Now, it's true that Verbatim isn't one of the heaviest names when it comes to keyboard manufacturing and the company is way better known for its high-quality storage solutions. Yet, let's see what the Speaker Keyboard is all about.
Well, it's obvious that such a gadget is trying to hit two birds with one stone: typing and enjoying your fav music at the same time. Yet we're looking at a rather cool gadget flawed by some functional imperfections.
We're not gonna talk too much about the keyboard itself, because in this case there isn't any special feature, save for the backlighting, which can make typing in dark surroundings a lot easier. As far as the released pictures are concerned, we dare say that the Verbatim Speaker Keyboard is built quite sturdy and from quality materials, but when it comes to keyboards, the only tests to be taken seriously are those of time and heavy use.
The keyboard has a raised wedge housing the stereo speakers and some other controls for your music playback habits. The whole ensemble is powered by your USB port, whether we're thinking about the audio or the backlight. The Verbatim Speaker Keyboard sports mic and headphone connectors, meaning that you can actually go personal with your music in case you're in the same room with some people who simply cannot find anything cool in Cannibal Corpse's track “The Bleeding.” Just make sure about your computer's setup as the USB audio chipset will automatically override the existing settings and use this keyboard as the default device.
Of course, you get transport controls and a volume knob, but they won't do in our case. We were almost willing to stop asking why not buy some top-notch desktop speakers and enjoy hefty bass and crisp audio but we saw the price for the Verbatim Speaker Keyboard: 75 bucks is definitely too much for such a gadget, unless you're desperately looking to have a keyboard that very few others would ever get; for Mac or for PC.
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