Logitech G413 Carbon

Is this super-thin mechanical keyboard one compromise too far?

The G413 is Logitech’s first affordable mechanical gaming keyboard and it ditches the usual media and macro keys, along with fully customisable RGB backlighting, in favour of a frameless design and a full set of Logitech proprietary Romer-G switches.

When compared to most gaming keyboards — or even most PC keyboards come to that — the G413 looks a little naked; as it lacks a plastic fairing, you can see the underlying base plate in all its glory. However, we do dig the painted black metal and red backlighting. Luckily, losing the external shell hasn’t cost the G413 any sturdiness. You’ll have a tough time finding any points of flex, thanks to its solid, aluminiummagnesium alloy plate.

The only thing some users might not love is how the key caps basically hover right above the base board without any protection on the sides. But we personally love the simpler design.

Rather than going with membrane keys or Cherry MX switches, the G413 comes with Romer-G mechanical switches, which are responsive and relatively silent, and rated for 70 million actuations. Logitech also includes a set of 12 faceted key caps that you can use to replace the WASD and first five number keys, plus a few others. And on the bottom of the ‘ board is a handy cable pathway for your headphones cable to be tidily hidden.

While the presence of USB passthrough is welcome, the fact that it’s limited to USB 2.0 seems like an oversight; as does the lack of dedicated media keys. However we think both compromises are a relatively small price to pay given the G413’s price.