Digital Trends

Logitech Z-10 January 31st, 2007 | by Brandon King

Features and Design

The Logitech Z-10 2.0 speaker setup is the second peripheral that Logitech has slapped an LCD screen on. First came the G15 gaming keyboard, and we all rejoiced. But now, a 2.0 speaker setup with touch sensitive controls and an LCD screen. Why? We’ll make some suggestions at the end of the review, so stick around.

The Z-10 speakers ooze quality, and at the price you’ll be paying for two speakers ($150 at review time), they better. The first thing we noticed was that the box was as heavy as many 2.1 speaker setups, a good sign that we’ll be getting quality electronics and probably good bass. The packaging is premium quality, and the all-gloss surfaces come with a plastic peel-off protective cover so they stay smudge free. Besides the speakers themselves, you get a USB cord, male/male stereo cord, and software CD. The power cord is permanently fixed to the right speaker, which also houses the stereo port and media control buttons.

The glossy black finish is only interrupted by the speaker ports and the faded ghosts of control button images when off. Once powered on, the amber backlit buttons glow with life, and the amber LCD displays the boot sequence (the Logitech logo followed by a big “Z-10”). The media control buttons are only available if the USB connection is plugged in, otherwise only the volume up/down, and mute buttons will be accessible. The use of two connectors allows the speakers to be used for non-PC playback. Otherwise, users can control Windows Media Player, iTunes, or MusicMatch Jukebox using the controls. There are 4 shortcut keys that operate similarly to radio preset station buttons on a stereo, turning the media playing application to the internet radio station assigned.

The LCD uses the same software as the G15 keyboard, but installs its own management software. Applets can be assigned to either of the LCDs, if you should have both of the products. Otherwise, the Z-10 will install the LCD manager software, which contains the selection of applets to rotate through the display. Some, like the clock applet, have customization options, while others do not. The rate at which applets rotate through is customizable, as is the brightness and contrast.

LCD applications include a clock with date, POP3 mail checker with Outlook integration, stopwatch, performance monitor with CPU and memory usage statistics, and the media playback application.

Images Courtesy of Logitech