Logitech added two mechanical keyboards to its range on Monday. The boards ship in February and are part of the company’s PC gaming brand, but with their $70 starting price and classic, understated look, they’re also interesting candidates for someone looking for a productivity keyboard with mechanical switches.
The Logitech G G413 SE and G413 TKL SE are $80 and $70 respectively and offer a reasonable entry point for those who might find mechanical keyboards too expensive. Logitech, especially the G gaming brand, isn’t afraid to overload its keyboards with RGB lighting, but the backlighting on these boards is only in white. The standard G413 is available with an all-white or all-red backlight.
Logitech
An understated look continues with an aluminum-magnesium alloy top case with a brushed black finish to match the black PBT keys. The plastic should be an upgrade over the ABS plastic keyboards on the non-SE G413, as PBT is generally more resistant to degradation over time.
Beneath those keys are what Logitech calls “tactile mechanical switches.” That sentence suggests something like Cherry MX Browns, but Logitech didn’t specify the exact switch that was used. According to the full size SE keyboard product page, the switches operate at 1.9mm with 50g force and bottom out at 4mm. The page did not specify how much force is required to feel the tactile switch’s perceptible thrust. We’ve asked Logitech for more information and will update this story if we hear anything.
In any case, the G413 SE’s switches differ from the Logitech Romer-G tactile switches used on the stock G413 (1.5mm actuation point, 45g force, tactile bump at 50g, low at 3.2mm). Shorter actuation points requiring less force to hit may make the keys on the G413 easier to break quickly than those on the SE versions, but we’ll have to test the keyboards to be sure. Still, the switches in the G413 SE have shorter travel than Cherry MX Browns (4mm/2mm).
As with the non-SE G413, Logitech does not offer the SE keyboards with linear or click switches. Preferences vary by player, but many gamers vouch for linear switches, as the absence of a bump can make it easier to repeatedly and quickly press keys. Logitech insists the G413 SE line is for gamers, pointing to six-key rollover and anti-ghosting, but countless gaming keyboards offer full n-key rollover.
Logitech
One sacrifice to keep prices lower is programmability. Unlike many of Logitech’s gaming peripherals, this board doesn’t seem to work with Logitech’s G Hub software. It also has no internal memory and does not have reprogrammable keys.
The G413 is listed on Logitech’s website for $70, the same price as the G413 TKL SE. It’s unclear if the standard G413 will get a price cut once the SE versions come out.
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