Zalman ZM-K700M Overview
The first thing that I noticed about the ZM-K700M was its weight, it a very heavy and thus also very sturdy. I do prefer heavier keyboards as they tend to have less flex and overall a better feel when using them. The keyboard itself is all black with black keycaps, some of which have red writing on them for alternate functions. This is a full-sized keyboard meaning you have a full compliment of keys as well as a full number pad.
Along with your full compliment of keys you have five macro keys that are on the far left of the keyboard. They are labeled as M1-M5. Now you will also see G1-G3 and Loop as well as Auto. The G1-G3 macros, as well as the Loop macro and Auto macro are enabled when the keyboard is in Z-key mode. If you switch to N-key mode then macros M1-M5 will be available. Also at the top left of the keyboard you will find activity LEDs for caps lock, windows lock, scroll lock and Windows key lock.
As far as alternate function keys the ESC as well as F1-F8 keys all have alternate functions that can be accessed by holding down the function key and then pressing the corresponding key. They keys are as follows: ESC: My Computer, F1: Web Browser, F2: Search, F3: E-mail, F4: Wallpaper, F5: Media Player, F6: Previous, F7: Play / Pause, F8: Next. There are also volume down, mute, and volume up buttons on the far right of the keyboard.
On the bottom left of the keyboard you have the alternate functions Windows key lock and just plain keylock. Windows key lock of course locks the Windows key so you don’t accidently press it while in game. The key lock button will actually lock the key on the keyboard so they can’t be used, say if you are walking away from your PC or something.
This keyboard makes use of Cherry MX Red mechanical key switches, currently that is the only Cherry MX flavor they are offering right now. Each key is individually backlit with a white LED and as you can see the space bar has the Zalman logo on it.
Taking a look at the keyboard from the side we can see that the keys already sit at quite an angle. You can also see that the five macro keys are set at a different angle than the rest of the keys which the first three rows are angled down and the last three and angled up. If you want even more of an angle you can pop out the feet from the bottom of the keyboard.
Flipping the keyboard over you can see there are four rubber feet, plus the two pop-out feet to give you a better typing angle. There is also a cable channel that allows you to route the cable to the left, right or through the center.
Talking about cabling the cable on the ZM-K700M is thick and braided, which means that it will not rip or tear.
