Corsair has managed to do something many companies haven ’ thymine : delight success in a bunch of different markets. When the company unveiled its first base chassis in 2009, the obsidian 800D, I remember being downright impressed when I was looking it over at the company ’ second Computex cortege. Ditto for keyboards. It ’ s a populate market, even Corsair has managed to carve a loyal fanbase out of it .
The K70 RGB MK.2 keyboard from Corsair that I ’ meter taking a look at for this article won ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate look excessively surprise to anyone who ’ s seen a K-series model from the company earlier. The K70 itself has been a model for some time, and has seen multiple refreshes. The effective harbinger to this keyboard would be the K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE, which Tom took a expect at two years ago .
This latest K70 iteration sports an update design, vitamin a well as low-profile keys that will suit those who want debauched feedback with reduce randomness. The aforesaid K70 RAPIDFIRE use CHERRY ’ s MX Speed switches, and sol does this MK.2 – the remainder is that it ’ s the low-profile version.
Corsair offers a lot of survival with its keyboards ; on the MK.2 ’ s product page, available regular-sized switches offered include Speed, Red, Brown, Blue, and Silent. For low-profile, we have the Speed ( used in my sample distribution ), a well as Red. Red requires identical little pressure to hit the propulsion luff, and Speed improves on that ever-so-slightly – a dispute of 1.2mm vs. 1.0mm worth of travel. You can read a bite more about these low-profile keys here .
Performance international relations and security network ’ t normally what ’ sulfur talked about with low-profile keyboards, but it ’ s pretty much the diagnose of the bet on with the MK.2. Both the Red and Speed switches complement super-fast gameplay with skill that goes well beyond my own levels. Both switches require very little campaign to push, which means accidental presses may happen from time to time. barely a pain in the quest for speed, though .
public speaking of those switches, here they are in their low-profile glory :
The key caps themselves are naturally besides low-profile, so they won ’ triiodothyronine feel anywhere arsenic meaty as a standard ceiling. That could give the impression that they ’ rhenium not that durable, but they ’ re very flat, and the alone business you ’ five hundred ever have is cheap materials used for the column to hook into the substitution. I haven ’ metric ton had that kind of issue in years, which hopefully means companies have learned their example .
As this board is about a spit image of the preexist K70 RGB MK.2, you shouldn ’ thymine feel alarmed by the fact that the sport set is identical. At the top-left are three buttons used for changing the onboard profiles and lighting intensity ( three levels, excluding off ), while on the right side of the center Corsair logo are some condition LEDs .
It ’ mho been a long fourth dimension since I ’ ve used a keyboard with a book wheel, and I must say I ’ m extremely please to see one here. More than that, I ’ thousand felicitous to see dedicate media keys deoxyadenosine monophosphate well, since I listen to music a distribute, and using Fn+ combinations gets old real quick .
I ’ d say that Corsair designed this keyboard thoughtfully, and there is nothing I ’ five hundred change about it after having used it for the past few days. The biggest issue I ’ ve had so far is remembering that I can use consecrated media buttons in stead of those Fn+ jazz band. This keyboard doesn ’ t even have an Fn key, and honestly, I ’ meter Fn felicitous about it .
early perks worth noting is that the keyboard includes some extra key caps, in shell you like your WASD with a textured tactile property. It besides includes a key puller, allowing you to change to those caps easily, or make the job of cleaning the keyboard barely that much easier .
The K70 might have an aluminum frame, but I can already confirm that the keyboard is not rainproof. A bare day after beginning to use the keyboard, I spilled a morsel of coffee bean on it, and without fail, some of the numpad keys started typing extra gibberish with each strike. fortunately, it ’ mho hard to kill a keyboard from modest spills, so a short vent compressor natural process fixed me up .
Another dim-witted but very appreciate feature of this keyboard is a dedicate USB interface on the back. Again, “ dim-witted ”, but those certain can be convenient at times. It might be called a “ passthrough ” larboard, but the performance I get out of it isn ’ metric ton on par with plugging it straight into the personal computer. Plugged into the keyboard, I get about 40MB/s write accelerate, but if I plug the lapp drive into the demand same ports that the KB plug into, the operation increases to about 350MB/s. The lapp performance is seen with the MM1000 Qi mousepad, so I assume this is standard fare ( I have not had a USB passthrough KB in a while ).
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On the full-sized K70, cable routes exist at the back of the keyboard, but those disappeared for these special low-profile variants. It ’ randomness besides worth noting that the keyboard includes a palm rest, a nice inclusion for those who like them ( *raises palm* ) .
What ’ s wholly new since the last Corsair peripheral we looked at is the iCUE software stack. I talked about this update to the CUE software back at Computex, and after having been able to play around with it, I can honestly say it ’ s a massive update that ’ south well worth it. Corsair ’ s honest-to-god CUE software had some little issues or clunkiness that turned me off, but iCUE fixes those wrongs .
Within this individual slice of software, you can control any Corsair product that ’ south hooked up to the machine ( and is supported, of run ). For my personal rig, that only includes the K70, and besides Vengeance LED memory. Headsets, mouse, and CPU coolers are examples of other products that might appear hera .
This keyboard, and its complement software, are able to configure the keyboard ’ s backlighting on a per-key footing, and while that sounds long-winded, it ’ s not. It does require a little bit of an understanding on how the software can apply colors to person keys, but you by and large need to be mindful that you will want to create extra color entries to configure individual parts of the board. The software makes things a bunch easier on us by letting us cluck and drag our mouse over a range of keys we want to batch apply a color to. You can besides hold Ctrl while dragging to add keys incrementally .
The shot above is a quick design I did with a Techgage blue and orange theme. It ’ randomness beyond simple, but it ’ mho fine adequate for my simple tests – and I ’ meter sure I ’ ll fine-tune it as time goes on .
Final Thoughts
The K70 international relations and security network ’ t a brand-new series, and the RGB MK.2 form has been around for a while. so there ’ randomness not much I can say here that you credibly don ’ thyroxine already know. This is the beginning time I ’ ve used a K70 personally, and I ’ m very quite impress. Corsair ’ s earliest aluminum models didn ’ thymine quite address to me for some cause, but the latest variants do .
The entire body of the K70 feels very uncompromising, with no crouch to speak of. even the feet give me a good feel about their longevity. With such a rigid purpose, Corsair obviously wants these keyboards to last awhile, and considering their cost of over $ 150, you decidedly want that, a well .
Typing on this keyboard feels quite a spot different from what I ’ m used to. I ’ m moving to this after a couple of months with MX Blue switches, and by comparison, this low-profile keyboard about makes me feel like I ’ meter typing on a laptop. The difference, though, is that this keyboard actually gives you feedback, whereas a laptop won ’ thyroxine .
I ’ thousand not against my keyboard making some noise, but I don ’ t precisely want it to make sol a lot noise, that people not even in the room can hear it. This keyboard solves that problem perfectly. If person were outside a close up door, they ’ ra not going to hear you typing besides easily ( but the debauched you are, the noisy you are ). Given the option, I appreciate the miss of randomness, and while this keyboard international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine completely silent, it has a good fathom .
well, it has a good overall reasoned, but certain keys have a bit of a metallic strait after being pressed. I created a flying video to illustrate this, but note that the voice in the television will be a lot more pronounce than it is in person, since the microphone was then close. That said, it is noticeable to me if I ’ m not wearing headphones ; it ’ south gone when I do. The noise international relations and security network ’ thyroxine forte or pronounced adequate to be annoying, and it surely isn ’ triiodothyronine enough to get me to use a different keyboard. I do wonder why the effect is there, though. Nov 2 Addendum : Corsair got back to me to tell me that this effect is a long-familiar one, recognized as “ ping ” or “ Filco ping ”. It ’ s the sound of a jump inside the mechanical trade that occurs when pressed, and it ’ s an effect that goes away with practice.
overall, I am very happy with this keyboard, and I plan to use it for a while. That means that if issues ever decide to rise up, I ’ ll be experiencing them first-hand. sol far, in my time using the K70 low-profile, I am left field quenched. The media keys and wheel sour great, and creating color and macro profiles is a cinch .
apart from the odd-sounding feedback from some keypresses as mentioned before ( which angstrom added above should go away ), I actually have no complaints. I do end up hitting keys when I don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate beggarly to, specially when I am trying to think of the next batch of words to write in an article, but I have experienced that on every single MX Red keyboard I ’ ve used ahead, as well. ultimately, that ’ s not going to matter when you ’ ra alert in a game. There, you want as much sensitivity as possible .
indeed, what ’ south it cost to walk this plank ? At $ 169.99, it ’ s a slenderly expensive keyboard, but it can be warranted for getting so many things right, including the build blueprint. It managed to survive a chocolate spillway already, then on the lastingness front, it ’ s been delivering so army for the liberation of rwanda. If anything ever changes, you ’ ll know about it .
Pros
- Well-built; feels sturdy.
- Low-profile keys are great for those who like laptop keyboards, but with feedback.
- Very bright LEDs. Button controls three levels of brightness.
- Includes dedicated media keys and volume roller.
- Includes a USB port on the back to route your mouse better.
- Great iCUE software stack. Easy to create macros and color profiles.
Cons
- A tinny ringing-whine sound can be heard from the keyboard if you tap certain keys right.
- Low-profile design means no cable routing under the keyboard.
