OCZ Alchemy series Illuminati Keyboard review
Author: Vedran Dakic
Date: 07 Oct 2009

OCZ's peripherals are not something this memory and PSU manufacturer is well known for. It started with the Equalizer mouse, which was one of the best mice we have ever seen, completely on the level of competition twice as expensive. Although it was “just” a rebranded and visually redesigned A4Tech mouse, it didn’t stop it from becoming our primary mouse for testbeds and everyday use, replacing more expensive Logitech MX518. Today, we are reviewing a representative of another segment in the OCZ product line, a backlit keyboard cleverly named Illuminati.

As some of you may know, the Illuminati (lat. enlightened) were, or still are, an order that many conspiracy theorists are claiming controls the affairs of many developed countries to promote their interests, most notably the establishment of a totalitarian New World Order. While we don’t know if they stand behind OCZ and this is their marketing stunt, we do know that the well known name suits this keyboard well, because it is indeed ‘enlightened’.

Unlike the first Alchemy series gaming keyboard, which we didn’t find all that useful because it was too big and had some very weird key placement features, the Illuminati is your standard keyboard, with none of the modern features that can annoy you to hell and back. The Insert, Delete and the rest of the keys are grouped in two rows, and PrtScr, Scroll Lock and Pause are positioned above them in a standard layout. There’s no key after the right Shift, or above the Enter key, as can be seen on many modern keyboards.

A couple of pictures first: