The best keyboard I've ever used..
I'm just likeeeeeee, WOW.
I'm currently typing on the Corsair K70 MK.2 LOW PROFILE with the Cherry MX LOW PROFILE Speed Switches. This is the nicest typing and gaming experience I've ever had.
People complain usually about these switches since they're 1mm actuation - so they get typos. But I rarely fat finger other keys.
The typing is so smooth, feels like cutting through butter with this keyboard. I've used laptop keyboards for the past, idk, 8-10 years? And I've gotten use to that flat nature where you can easily move between the keys.
Because of this, the first keyboard I got, the Z15 from EVGA did not feel nice to use at all - especially for gaming. I felt like I was constantly bumping the edges of keys trying to go from one key to the next. You have to raise your finger a lot more than you would ever need to on a flat laptop keyboard.
So after that awful experience, I looked for low profile keyboards. I found the G915/G815. It looked great and it typed well (tested it at a Best Buy), but they were pricey as hell. Even the G815, the wired version which I'd prefer, was $170, a rip off really.
I then got the rip-off version of the G815, the Redragon Horis. It wasn't that bad, but the quality was poor and the software for it was absolute garbage for many reasons. I was also worried about the keyboard's latency. While it polls at 1000hz, a poor quality switch can take up to 30ms to register a hit!
By my own measurement (using the slow-mo 240hz on my iphone and my laptop's 240hz display), the latency of the Redragon was 20ms give or take 4ms. People may say that's not a big deal, but it is. 20ms latency + your reaction time + ping. My reaction time is usually around 150ms, I can hit 120ms if I'm feeling good.
Once I measured my reaction time and I hit 80ms - no idea how. I felt so in sync with myself in that moment. There's usually such a noticeable delay between when I see something and press the mouse. It's like staring at the screen and seeing everything in slow motion and you can feel yourself sending the signal to your finger and it's slow. But that time, it was right lightening fast.
Anyway... 20ms can make or break it, its like increasing my reaction time by 13%.
So I kept looking, thinking I might just stick with the Redragon because.. I can game and type comfortably at least.
Then I saw this one. It was low profile - ACTUALLY. Other keyboards will claim to be low profile, but they should have a slim chasey, low profile switches, and low profile key caps. Many keyboard manufacturers will only do 1 or 2 of those things then call it low profile.
They were having a sale, only $100 for the keyboard. I got it, same day shipping. I open it up, it looks amazing.
The bottom row is sitting "flatter" than the other rows, which I thought would make my thumb hit the space bar when trying to press "b" (which I do when gaming) but there's plenty of room.
It's amazing how ergonomic this keyboard is. It's comfortable without a wrist rest, but with the included one it's even better. It's amazing. Even came with textured keys for gaming, which I put on my W and S keys (so you can feel the keys and know them without looking).
The software is also AMAZING. Reprogramming keys and layered lighting with onboard memory. Sublime. It also has access to the system's CPU and GPU temps, which I keep track of by the color on the Corsair logo.
The volume scroll wheel is smoother than butter. The typing experience is addicting. The switches and the ergonomics just make it feel like a walk in the park.
The keyboard also has USB passthrough, which I thought I wouldn't use, but damn did it come in handy.
Note: This review is sponsored by Corsair.
hehe, imagine
EDIT: I really wanted to be able to mute my mic with a button too, but that's kinda.. gay. There's Fn + F4 on my laptop, but it doesn't carry over. I wrote a little C# program that toggles mute and opens at a button press on the keyboard. Impossible with the other horrid Redragon.
I'm currently typing on the Corsair K70 MK.2 LOW PROFILE with the Cherry MX LOW PROFILE Speed Switches. This is the nicest typing and gaming experience I've ever had.
People complain usually about these switches since they're 1mm actuation - so they get typos. But I rarely fat finger other keys.
The typing is so smooth, feels like cutting through butter with this keyboard. I've used laptop keyboards for the past, idk, 8-10 years? And I've gotten use to that flat nature where you can easily move between the keys.
Because of this, the first keyboard I got, the Z15 from EVGA did not feel nice to use at all - especially for gaming. I felt like I was constantly bumping the edges of keys trying to go from one key to the next. You have to raise your finger a lot more than you would ever need to on a flat laptop keyboard.
So after that awful experience, I looked for low profile keyboards. I found the G915/G815. It looked great and it typed well (tested it at a Best Buy), but they were pricey as hell. Even the G815, the wired version which I'd prefer, was $170, a rip off really.
I then got the rip-off version of the G815, the Redragon Horis. It wasn't that bad, but the quality was poor and the software for it was absolute garbage for many reasons. I was also worried about the keyboard's latency. While it polls at 1000hz, a poor quality switch can take up to 30ms to register a hit!
By my own measurement (using the slow-mo 240hz on my iphone and my laptop's 240hz display), the latency of the Redragon was 20ms give or take 4ms. People may say that's not a big deal, but it is. 20ms latency + your reaction time + ping. My reaction time is usually around 150ms, I can hit 120ms if I'm feeling good.
Once I measured my reaction time and I hit 80ms - no idea how. I felt so in sync with myself in that moment. There's usually such a noticeable delay between when I see something and press the mouse. It's like staring at the screen and seeing everything in slow motion and you can feel yourself sending the signal to your finger and it's slow. But that time, it was right lightening fast.
Anyway... 20ms can make or break it, its like increasing my reaction time by 13%.
So I kept looking, thinking I might just stick with the Redragon because.. I can game and type comfortably at least.
Then I saw this one. It was low profile - ACTUALLY. Other keyboards will claim to be low profile, but they should have a slim chasey, low profile switches, and low profile key caps. Many keyboard manufacturers will only do 1 or 2 of those things then call it low profile.
They were having a sale, only $100 for the keyboard. I got it, same day shipping. I open it up, it looks amazing.
The bottom row is sitting "flatter" than the other rows, which I thought would make my thumb hit the space bar when trying to press "b" (which I do when gaming) but there's plenty of room.
It's amazing how ergonomic this keyboard is. It's comfortable without a wrist rest, but with the included one it's even better. It's amazing. Even came with textured keys for gaming, which I put on my W and S keys (so you can feel the keys and know them without looking).
The software is also AMAZING. Reprogramming keys and layered lighting with onboard memory. Sublime. It also has access to the system's CPU and GPU temps, which I keep track of by the color on the Corsair logo.
The volume scroll wheel is smoother than butter. The typing experience is addicting. The switches and the ergonomics just make it feel like a walk in the park.
The keyboard also has USB passthrough, which I thought I wouldn't use, but damn did it come in handy.
Note: This review is sponsored by Corsair.
hehe, imagine
EDIT: I really wanted to be able to mute my mic with a button too, but that's kinda.. gay. There's Fn + F4 on my laptop, but it doesn't carry over. I wrote a little C# program that toggles mute and opens at a button press on the keyboard. Impossible with the other horrid Redragon.
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I still miss my first keyboard. It had about 30 or so programmable keys that were simple to use, all in the hardware (no weird driver or computer interaction to make it work). It also had double arrow keys (like northeast) that auto sent like up then right arrow keys back to back so you could move diagonally in games etc (given when it was, this was extra cool, as it was the era of top down 2d text + image redraw graphics era games). It lasted a long, long time too, but age finally got the best of it.
I would pay good money to get a decent keyboard that DID NOT mess up my sound, web pages, or other stuff when I hit buttons stuffed on the edges that shouldn't have been there in the first place. My current one, every other time I pick up my pen I brush either the mute sounds or 'game' button (game prevents you from doing anything keyboard related in windows like alt tab, windows key, etc).
I would pay good money to get a decent keyboard that DID NOT mess up my sound, web pages, or other stuff when I hit buttons stuffed on the edges that shouldn't have been there in the first place. My current one, every other time I pick up my pen I brush either the mute sounds or 'game' button (game prevents you from doing anything keyboard related in windows like alt tab, windows key, etc).
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| It also had double arrow keys (like northeast) that auto sent like up then right arrow keys |
Lmao, the dawn before anti-ghosting keyboards.
| I would pay good money to get a decent keyboard that DID NOT mess up my sound, web pages, or other stuff when I hit buttons stuffed on the edges that shouldn't have been there in the first place |
Nothing like that on the Corsair K70. All buttons can be disabled or repurposed. There's on-board memory so you don't have to use the software after your initial setup. There are a few minor things that require the software to work, like tracking CPU temps through lighting or opening a program through a button.
| every other time I pick up my pen I brush either the mute sounds or 'game' button |
Mine has a "gaming" button too which disables the Windows keys. I repurposed it to be by sleep button. They're impossible to accidently click because they're solid dedicated buttons - not as easy to press as a regular key.
I'd recommend this keyboard 100 times over. The linear Cherry low profile Speed Switches aren't for everyone, and the only alternative for it is the Cherry Red low profile switch which is almost the same, but I love it.
Speaking of gaming buttons, does that make you a gamer Jonnin? 🤨
Yes. I don't have a cell phone, nor TV service. The time that other people spend on social media, phones, the internet, and TV I spend in games. Less now that I am getting old, but still, its what I do when others reach for those things, that or reading. Not into the hardcore pvp or online MMO stuff anymore though, everything now has to be something I can drop at a moment's notice without messing up other people or losing my place etc.
No phone!? That's crazy.
I mainly play pvp. But you should check out Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, the Batman Arkham series, and The Longest Journey series if you're looking for some good single player games :)
| Not into the hardcore pvp or online MMO stuff anymore though, everything now has to be something I can drop at a moment's notice |
I mainly play pvp. But you should check out Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, the Batman Arkham series, and The Longest Journey series if you're looking for some good single player games :)
I never was into PvP/MMO video games, I am too crotchety to deal with other people wandering off.
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