EVGA's Z15 gaming keyboard with swappable mechanical switches is down to $50

EVGA is perhaps best known for its graphics cards, but it does also dabble in peripherals, including gaming keyboards. The Z15 is one such offering. It's also discounted to $49.99 on Newegg right now, which is an attractive price for a mechanical keyboard.

The list price stands at $129.99, so technically you're saving $80 on this deal. Looking at the price tracking history at CamelCamelCamel, a convenient resource for researching advertised deals (albeit it only looks at Amazon), pricing has bounced around all over the place on this model, averaging out to $103.33.

One of the neat features of the Z15 is it has hot swappable key switches. That means if you grow tired of the included Kailh Speed Silver switches, you can rip them out and replace them with any three-pin switch for a change in feel and a potentially whole new typing experience, without buying another keyboard.

That's a feature that may not always make a whole lot of sense, but since you're only into this keyboard for a penny shy of $50, it becomes a worthwhile proposition, should you ever decide to change things up.

Out of the box, the included switches are linear and quiet, for smooth key presses without the distinct 'click' you get from Kailh Greens or Cherry MX Blues. I actually prefer obnoxiously loud key switches, but I also realize that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for them.

EVGA also touts a 4,000Hz report rate. The vast majority of gaming keyboards offer up a 1,000Hz report rate (or polling rate), which translates to a 1ms response time. That's fast enough, though EVGA earns itself bragging rights with a 0.25ms response time.

Other features include RGB lighting, dedicated media controls (including a volume scroll wheel), a magnetic palm rest, and onboard memory to save custom settings to the keyboard.

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).