Corsair is best known for their premium gaming products on their K95 platinum all the way
to the myriad of RGB options they offer.
Now this is a pretty big you know, kind of depart from that style with a multimedia kind
of home HTPC kind of keyboard with trackpad.
It's pretty interesting; it has some interesting functionality, so let's take a look at it.
Starting off with the build quality, it's pretty fantastic.
The top is a brushed aluminum plate with the bottom being a good quality plastic, it feels
well reinforced and style-wise, I really do love the look of this.
You've also got white LED backlighting which only adds to the style for me and just makes
this a very visually appealing keyboard.
Typing wise, it feels great.
It actually feels like a mechanical key switch and that's pretty high praise for someone
who exclusively uses mechanical key switches on a daily basis, so this is a very nice typing
feel.
Its actually got a pretty good travel distance for a chiclet style keyboard and has a pretty
tactile feel to it as well.
The trackpad side is where this really tries to differentiate itself from the rest of the
multimedia market.
You've obviously got this circular trackpad which is more for style than functionality
but I got used to it and didn't really have any problems with it, you've also got physical
buttons down the bottom.
But then where it gets interesting is up at the top, you've got the very very nice volume
scroll wheel, it's a metal scroll wheel which if you've used any of more - Corsair's more
recent keyboards you'll know just how much I like this and why I like it so much and
you've also got a full-on joy stick.
Now, this joysticks functionality is controlled by what mode you're in as is the buttons on
the top and the back - the bottom side of the keyboard which actually rests very well
for where your fingers will land when holding the keyboard on its side.
Now I mention the mode just there, let's kind of talk about that.
Corsair have decided to limit the functionality that you can customize in their iCUE software
down to basically just the main keyboard function itself.
Now, you can still do all of your usual stuff like adding macros or remapping all of the
keys if you fancy so that is nice but you cannot customize at least at the time of filming
anyway, the joystick, the volume roller all those extra keys.
Instead what they're offering is a mode selector which isn't actually printed on the keyboard
in any way, you just have to know these modes exist but you access them by pressing FN and
then either 1 to 4 minus or plus.
These correlate to different modes but the two main ones are the 1 & 2, so media and
gaming and really the only thing that changes with these modes is just what the functionality
of the joystick and those extra buttons do.
In media mode, the buttons are back and forward, you know, like a web browser back and forward
with the joystick acting as a sort of a - effectual like your arrow keys and then in gaming mode
it switches to be a mouse cursor with the L and R buttons being your left and right
clicks.
Now, the reason they quoted for locking out that functionality in terms of customization
is that this keyboard is designed for the home media, home entertainment market and
therefore the users of that market may be confused by having to customize options so
they went with the modes instead.
Now, as I mentioned, these modes aren't listed on the keyboard anywhere and you'll have to
either dig through the manual or quite a way down in the reviewers guide to work out what
the modes do, what - you know, the differences are and even just how to access them.
And that would all be okay and I understand why they went that route because I appreciate
that not everyone will want to customize you know, all of the functions on the keyboard
but for the fact that they're offering what is essentially a pretty premium keyboard at
a hundred pounds, I really would like to see that customization for the power users who
know Corsair as a fairly kind of gamer focused and customizable brand to them you know, pick
up a multimedia keyboard to fit with your you know, living room PC or whatever and be
able to customize what that functionality does you know, through their iCUE software.
Even the ability to just customize what each of the modes do and the functionality that
they offer, that would be fantastic.
Unfortunately that's just not available at the moment, so if you're interested in this
keyboard and you'd like to see that happen, feel free to let me know in the comments down
below and to tell Corsair as well.
Getting back to the functionality though, connectivity wise, this is actually pretty
interesting.
In the box you get a small USB receiver which lets you use the 2.4 gigahertz wireless connection
which is what you'll use with your PC or whatever else and also what you use to use the iCUE
software to customize it and then you can with a single key press switch to your, say
phone via Bluetooth and then with another key press switch to - I don’t know, your
tablet via Bluetooth as well as you can pair up to two devices at any time and switch between
them pretty seamlessly with a single key press if either - I think it's f5 f6 or f7, so that
is all good.
Battery life has a 2017 milliampere cell inside which gives you up to 40 hours of the use
case.
Now, that is assuming that you leave the LED backlighting off and well you do have three
stages above off for the LED backlighting.
If you have it on full brightness you're looking at about eight hours of usage which well,
you know, minimal compared to the 40 hours is still fine and because it's a multimedia
keyboard, you can just plug it in while you're not using it so that it's charging and then
just take it off.
Now, it does charge via a micro USB port on the top which I really would have liked have
seen a type C port here instead for a longevity and durability although I suppose you're not
really meant to use it while it's plugged in.
So winding off then, is it worth the hundred-pound price tag?
It's certainly nice, build and material quality are fantastic, typing feel is great, I just
wish that it had some more customized ability options especially from a power-users perspective
and overall it's still a pretty decent shouts if a little premium.
I did have a slight problem with the 2.4 gigahertz USB connection where if I didn't have a line
of sight to the receiver, it stopped registering key presses completely.
So, keep that in mind if you are planning on picking one of these up and using it with
your HTPC in your living room, it might be better off to use the front USB port for the
keyboard receiver if you're going on that route.
And of course, would I put one of these on my desk?
I think I probably would, it's certainly expensive and so for my personal preference, I generally
go on cheaper options but it does have some awesome functionality; the fact that you switch
to your phone or your tablet or whatever else pretty quickly is great to see.
And overall is a very nice build material finish with great typing experience too, so
if you're after a premium you know, living-room keyboard, then it's certainly not a bad choice.
With that said, that is my thoughts, I would love to hear yours in the comments down below,
is this a keyboard you're interested in, is this something that's just too expensive, you
need to go with the like 20 pound Logitech one that I also have downstairs?
Let me know in the comments down below, I'd love to hear from you.
Of course, if you do want to pick one of these up or just check out pricing when and where
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