While the G915's Lightspeed wireless technology is one of its key selling points, it could have held the board back, too. The Lightspeed connection only works with a Windows or Mac device via the included USB dongle, rendering it incompatible with devices like phones and many tablets. Fortunately, Logitech has equipped the G915 with Bluetooth support as well, letting you connect to a broader range of devices albeit without the performance benefits of the Lightspeed tech.
If it's bells and whistles you're after, the G915 has you covered. To start with, you've got five dedicated macro keys on the left side of the board, each of which you can map to a specific command or function for quick access through the Logitech G HUB app. The positioning of these keys does take some getting used to and I accidentally pressed them more than once while trying to Alt-Tab to a new window or crouch in-game with Ctrl. Nevertheless, having five keys dedicated to custom functions opens up a lot of options. Through the G HUB app, you can set each key to perform specific keyboard shortcuts, open specific programs, run system-level tasks or execute a complex macro of your own creation. The interface is pleasantly intuitive, requiring you to simply drag and drop the desired mapping to one of the dedicated macro slots.
Each key also supports an additional binding you can access by holding down a predefined key of your choosing (dubbed the "G-Shift key") at the same time. Going even further, the G915 can store three separate macro profiles each with different key bindings in its on-board memory, providing access to a total of 30 custom macros on-the-fly. Switching between each profile is as simple as hitting the corresponding profile button above the Fn keys.
In addition to macro keys, the G915 features dedicated media controls for adjusting audio and video. It's pretty standard fare, with a play/pause button, next/previous track buttons, a mute button and a volume wheel.
Most modern gaming keyboards support Game Mode, letting you temporarily disable the Windows key so that accidentally hitting it in the middle of a heated match doesn't boot you back to your desktop. The G915 takes this one step further, giving you the ability to choose which specific keys to disable when Game Mode is active. Can't help occasionally pressing the tilde (~) key instead of Tab or 1? Just disable it and you won't have to worry any more about inadvertently pulling up the console mid-game.
No top-of-the-line gaming keyboard would be complete without some form of RGB lighting and the G915 has all the options you'd expect. Along with supporting the full 16.8 million colour spectrum, it offers a range of preset lighting patterns including a wave effect, breathing pulse and reactive echo. You can customise the speed, colours and brightness of these patterns, or you can go ahead and individually define colours for each key on the board. And for folks who like to switch RGB on the fly, the G915 can store two profiles in its on-board memory.
What's really neat, however, is the ability to create your own custom lighting patterns within the G HUB app. Using an interface reminiscent of video-editing software, you define the lighting for each frame of the pattern along with how quickly one frame transitions to the next. It's clever stuff and opens up even more avenues for customisation.
If that's still a little too predictable for you, the G915 also supports Logitech's Lightsync technology, which creates dynamic lighting patterns based on the games, movies, music and apps that you're currently running. Supported games might trigger a flashing red pattern when you're low on health or set off light explosions in response to a grenade going off. For music, meanwhile, the G915 acts as an audio visualiser, with the ability to customise how the RGB responds to volume spikes and staccato rhythms.
One smaller feature of the G915 that I really appreciated is how it addresses the power demands of its RGB lighting. By default, it dims the RGB to 50% brightness after a minute of inactivity, completely turning the lights off after 5 minutes of inactivity. You can customise these settings to your liking, adjusting the level of dimming and how long before it kicks in.
There's also a handy low battery mode that activates when the power drops below 15%, switching the RGB to pure red to alert you that you'll want to plug the USB cable in soon. I found this approach more effective than the standard flashing battery light on most wireless keyboards, but there's an option to turn it off if you'd prefer.