Acer Predator Aethon 500 review: Seriously, who designed this keyboard? - gundersonselly1997

The thirster you stare at Acer's Piranha Aethon 500, the weirder information technology seems. It's not that information technology's an ugly keyboard per se, but you might call it "challenging." Where about companies power settee on one or two flashy design elements to stand out, the Aethon 500 is all flash, a mess of design elements that often contradict each some other.

Acer's by all odds qualification a statement Eastern Samoa it enters the mechanical keyboard market, but I'm not quite sure what statement.

Note: This review is part of our foremost gambling keyboards roundup. Go on that point for details about competing products and how we tested them.

Questionable calls

The Aethon 500 is a battle base. Let's start there, with its heft. This is a monster of a keyboard, so heavy I actually handed the box off to my colleague Adam Patrick Murray to see his look of surprise. You might think 3.9 pounds doesn't sound alike overmuch, but it's almost a full pound heavier than other flagship keyboards look-alike Razer's BlackWidow. IT's large, yes, with clogged bezels and a row of big keys—but more to the point, it's dense. On that point's a lot of plastic here, but also a quilted metal backplate and sides. If you want a keyboard to possibly club zombies with, the Aethon 500's set to constitute your best friend.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

IT's an interesting contrast to the lightweight Futura typeface emblazoned on (nigh) keycaps. And if those two elements, sans-serif typeface and a thick slab of keyboard, were decent to name the Aethon 500 so I might say Acer had a winner of a plan.

There are sol many left choices though. For 1, you'll observance I said Futura's used for most of the keyboard. Unusual, right-handed? Get into't ask me why, but Acer's chosen to use a completely contrasting, more aggressive font on the five macro keys. Information technology's not a intense apposition, but it's not endearing either.

The branding's too a little overdone for my tastes. The keyboard itself isn't besides bad, but having the word "Predator" written across the bottom edge International Relations and Security Network't a selection I'd make. The (thin plastic) wrist eternal rest is the real offender though, with the Genus Acer Predator logo graven in silver on the rightmost edge. Every time I view it, all I buttocks think is "Someone stamped Optimus Prime onto this keyboard."

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Aesthetics are subjective of course, but in the shell of the Aethon 500 there doesn't seem to be a unified beautiful. The logotype and the macro keys scream "gaming keyboard" patc the rest of IT says "office-ready workstation." Combining the two isn't doing the Aethon 500 many favors.

One of the first elements you'll notice is the volume wheel. Why? Because it sticks out of the side of the keyboard. The like such of the Aethon 500, I'm torn on this choice. It's useful—if the wheel didn't stick out the side, you'd be left with unmatched that's some a fractional-inch sesquipedalian and hard to get hold. Like Razer's modern cyclic media keys, the Aethon 500 makes it easy to run a hand down upward the side of the keyboard, retrieve the node, and gimmick.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Happening the other paw, it's ugly. Information technology reminds me of somebody hand-writing a sign and making the first few letters enormous, then thought process "Oh crap, I'm run out of space" and cramming the second half in. Unequalled? Sure, but not in a means I'd loved one to see others transcript. The bicycle's also flimsier than it looks, flexing up and down with yet a gentle press.

And these are just the Aethon 500's most obvious quirks. At that place are more. For instance, Acer uses the arrow keys for backlight cleverness, plus…a second set of volume controls. Why? You'll find the same sort of redundancy is also present in Caps Lock/Curlicue Lock/Num Lock, where Acer has included a standard row of index number lights crossways the top-right butt against and made it and so the lock keys only light functioning if active. Again, why?

The WASD keycaps are glary blueish, and there are no flip caps packed in the box. You'Re stuck with IT, which is an odd and limiting tasty. The Windows key is also swapped with the Function key, which might non impress you merely has emphatically annoyed me. I usually open programs past hitting the Windows key and typing the starting time few letters, and muscle memory means I keep open hit the Function tonality Hera instead.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Perhaps most baffling of all: The "5" key has two junior-grade function labels, one for the standard "%" sign and the other for the Euro symbolic representation ("€"). That's the single EurKEY symbol to demonstrate up on the Aethon 500 though, and the accompanying "EL Gr" key you'd use to admittance it doesn't (to my noesis) even work by default in the USA. It but defaults to a second AL important.

Point being, Acer made a quite a little of fantastical choices with the Aethon 500's design. None of them are really give-or-break, and I haven't hated having it on my desk these past fewer weeks. That said, there are advisable keyboards out there—especially for $180. That mightiness be standard name price for an RGB keyboard, and indeed the Aethon 500's backlighting is decent plenty to compete with Corsair, Razer, Logitech, et cetera. But the rest of the figure? I'm non so foreordained.

Uncheerful for blues

That $180 terms is doubly hard to deglutition when you factor out Acer's switch superior.

Did you know once upon a time Acer factory-made its own automatic switches? Fountainhead, mechanical-abutting maybe—they were varied ALPS switches, with a membrane core.

In any event, those days are farseeing in the past. Rather than recreate its old switch, Acer's instead opted for a clean standard Kailh Blue on the Aethon 500. In that location's goose egg wrongfulness with a Kailh Blue in theory. It's one of the better Cherry Maxwell knock-offs, with a somewhat lower actuation force—so weak it's doubtful you'll notice, really.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Kailh switches also have a reputation for poor quality control though, deserved operating theatre not. Regardless of whether you buy into that statement, it means Kailh switches generally don't command the same price as actual Cherry switches—except here, on the Aethon 500.

Corsair's keyboards list some $180 and use actual Cherry MX switches. Razer's and Logitech's don't, but each has developed a proprietary switch to justify the price—in other words, "You either get IT from the States or you don't buy our keyboards."

Kailhs are a common third-political party tack though, and thus we tush make direct comparisons to strange keyboards connected the market. You pot find other Kailh-equipped RGB keyboards for as reduced As $60 happening Amazon.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Like a sho, Acer's put a lot of work into the Aethon 500 and I've nobelium doubt the full general build timbre is amend than most of those $60 keyboards. That said, the Aethon 500 probably deserves a price in between the two extremes—say, $120. Anything higher than that feels a bit steep.

Light it up

Before we wrap up, let's briefly tinct on the awkwardly named "Predator Play Twist Integration" computer software. Information technology's okay.

These sorts of software utilities are always hit-or-leave out, but Acer's is at least fairly nonrational when information technology comes to changing out lighting effects, the one feature most mass testament disturb. Macro customization is more awkward, but can exist deciphered past someone who cares sufficient.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

My only real complaint is that it's in desperate pauperism of a graphic invention happen. Predator Gaming Device Integration (seriously, what a name) looks like it's rocking a WinAmp skin from circa 2003.

Bottom line

The Acer Predator Aethon 500 isn't a bad keyboard, and if you're buying an Acer Predator Personal computer there's no reason to throw it out. We've come a long path from the old rubber-dome pack-Immigration and Naturalization Service that came with a lot of prebuilt machines.

But Acer's now merchandising the Aethon 500 to the public and that's a more questionable pursuit, especially at full price. It's one of the few keyboards to admit large keys these days, which might be sufficient to win over positive gamers, just deficient switches, an eye-watering price, and a cadre of awkward design choices make the Aethon 500 an also-ran in my eyes.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/402695/acer-predator-aethon-500-gaming-keyboard-review.html

Posted by: gundersonselly1997.blogspot.com

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