Zowie Celeritas Mechanical Pro Keyboard Review

Introduction

Zowie have made their name in the gaming industry by being laser focused on pro gaming and eSports, and rightly so, because when it comes to making high performance gaming equipment there really isn’t a better testing ground than competitive gaming. The pros want the best tools for the job, the peripheral or component that will give them that advantage over their opponents, no matter the cost. Then at the end of the day, you’ll find consumers will want the same hardware because they know it’s the product used by winners, much like how Formula 1 works to promote consumer cars brand names.

The Zowie Celeritas has some bold claims to it and given Zowie’s heritage of working closely with some of the biggest pro gamers in history such as Abdisamad ‘SpawN’ Mohamed, Young Ho ‘Flash’ Lee and Ho Jun ‘Ho-Jun’ Moon, all of whom helped develop this keyboard, we know they mean business. In a bid for maximum performance the Celeritas features mechanical switch keys, with 18K gold plated switches, gold plated USB connection, nylon key caps and most importantly the fastest response time of any keyboard on the market today.

“The primary feature of the ZOWIE CELERITAS is the newly developed ZOWIE RTR™ (Real Time Response) technology which allows the user to define the repeat-response of their presses to be 1x, 2x, 4x or 8x of the normal repeat-response for a keyboard when using the PS/2 connector. RTR™ allows gamers to gain a higher responsiveness from their keys and thereby increase the pace of movement in FPS and Racing games or possibly even increase the APM in RTS. How fast do you like it to be? We give you the possibility so you can define your most comfortable repeat-response.” – Zowie

“With an actual response-time of only 0,2 seconds, the ZOWIE CELERITAS has the fastest response-time of any mechanical keyboard currently on the market.  Furthermore it features anti-ghosting, supporting all keys through PS/2 and 6 keys through USB. For your information, the definition of a “normal response-time” for a keyboard is 0,5 seconds.” – Zowie

General functions

• 6 keys Anti-Ghosting through USB
• 18K Gold Plated mechanical switches and USB connectors
• Ability to change the “Windows”-key to “Ctrl”
• Multimedia controls
• Highly durable metal inner chassis
• Ergonomic design saves space and offer full comfort during use
• Connector: USB / PS2 (by USB to PS2 converter)
• Cable Length: 1.8m / 5.8 ft.

PS/2 functions

• Full Anti-Ghosting with PS/2
• ZOWIE RTR™ technology provides 4 levels of repeat-response (normal, 2x, 4x, 8x) – PS/2

Dimensions

• Width: 44 cm
• Length: 16 cm
• Height: 2,5 cm

The Celeritas comes in a fairly unassuming grey box, there is a sneaky look at the keyboard through a small window, but this only gives away the colour of the keyboard model as there is a plastic guard over the keys that hides most of the visual details.

Around the back of the box we have something I’ve never seen before, the entire user manual! Details of how to configure the windows key (more on that soon), response rate and change the LED light colour are all here, as well as a multi language breakdown of the main specifications.

There wasn’t a huge amount of stuff in the box, just the keyboard its self, a Zowie sticker and a PS2/USB adaptor.