There's no getting away from it: Enermax's Crystal keyboard is an exceptionally strong piece of work.

Made from aluminium, and exceptionally sturdy and robust as a result, from the moment you take it out of the box it's impossible not to appreciate that this is a premium keyboard (albeit at a premium price).

What's interesting about it, too, is that it eschews many of the conventions that have, to some, plagued the modern-day keyboard. Its layout has no media keys, no volume control, no sign of the bizarre entourage of extra buttons that the modern keyboard seems to attract.

For our money, they've perhaps stripped this back a little too much - one or two of the added buttons that have become part and parcel of keyboards, we find quite useful - but the minimalist approach will certainly and rightly win Enermax friends.

As will a couple of touches mounted onto the edges of the keyboard. The Crystal connects up to a PC via a USB port, but also has two further USB (albeit 1.1) ports built into it, acting as a mini-hub.

You'll also find headphone and microphone sockets, a very convenient addition. To utilise them, you'll have to connect the two relevant leads into the two relevant ports at the back of your PC, but then you're free to connect your headset with convenient ease directly into the side of the keyboard.

Typing, too - aside from the issues we're coming to in a moment - is extremely comfortable. This is a low profile keyboard and one that doesn't sit at a harsh, forced angle. The keys are responsive, with just the right amount of travel, and the Crystal is one of the most comfortable keyboards we've ever used.

What troubled us a little, though, was the layout of some of the keys. The main Enter button, for instance, is half-sized, and immediately to the right of it are controls for the likes of Page Up and Page Down. This caused chaos for us with our typing in the first couple of hours of testing, simply because the Enter key wasn't quite where we expected it to be.

Sure, we got used to it, but to some extent you have to argue that keyboard layout has evolved as it has for a reason, and a big, chunky Enter button is a firm part of that. Our sizeable fingers also slipped onto the Page Up/Page Down keys with some frequency.

Also, to the left of the space bar is a '/' key. Granted, this is probably a concession to the gaming market, and gamers are certainly going to be warming to the Crystal, but again it's not particularly logical for everyday use. Likewise, the omission of a second CTRL button on the right side of the keyboard is going to be a frustration for some.

Working heavily in its corner though, the Crystal has a quite luxurious build quality to it, with a desperately, cool diamond-cut aluminium surface. It looks like no other keyboard we've seen, and while admittedly this is an aesthetic rather than practical feature, it's nonetheless one we warmed to.

But £70 is a lot - an awful lot - of money for a keyboard, especially one with the niggles of the Crystal. In many ways it's undone by Enermax's own Aurora keyboard, which doesn't possess the same quirks of the Crystal, doesn't look quite as good, but is a unit we can see ourselves using with more comfort and convenience.

The Crystal is excellent for the most part, there's little doubt about that, but its slightly unusual layout and approach are likely to isolate as many people as they win over.

Verdict
Superb construction and very comfortable to use. Some odd layout choices and a hefty asking price work against it, though.

Company: Enermax

Contact: 0870 240 2571

Tags: keyboard layout universal serial bus control key personal computer button space bar keyboard android