Finding a ‘conventional’ keyboard in the world of mechanical options can be a bit difficult, especially if you want to please both mainstream folks and us weirdos who find building their own options a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. However, one of Drop’s most recent additions to their burgeoning lineup of great keyboards, the all-new Shift V2, represents an ideal halfway house that will please a lot of people.

The nerds in the crowd will be pleased to learn of some of  the major improvements that the Shift V2 features over the original: new Phantom stabilisers for better acoustics, more foam inside, new switches, a new and improved chipset for the RGB lighting, support for 5-pin switches with a new PCB, and a brand new black colourway. It demonstrates the power of little things in the mechanical keyboard world, and they all combine to make the Shift V2 a truly great keyboard.

It's new black colourway looks sublime when contrasted with the two-tone black and grey keycaps that have adorned Drop’s own keyboards in the past. Combined with this, the machined aluminium case is gorgeous and means the Shift V2 offers no deck flex whatsoever, while also looking and feeling like a Drop keyboard should—excellent. Around the bottom of this machined chassis is a translucent bar which, when the Shift V2 is plugged in, transforms into a sea of RGB, sandwiched between the black case.

The layout here may leave you scratching your head if it isn’t one you’ve come across before. It looks like someone has stolen the Nav cluster and moved it above the number pad! Well, that’s exactly what’s happened to the Shift V2. This is what’s known as a 96%, or 1800 layout, named after the Cherry G80-1800 keyboard that has been around for at least the last twenty five years, if not longer. 

With it, you get the full benefit of pretty much all the normal keys of a 105 key keyboard, but slightly pushed together to give more space. It’s a comfortable layout to use once you get used to key placement, although you may find yourself initially hitting the right hand arrow key when looking for the zero key on the number pad. I know I did in my first few days of using the Shift V2, as some double-sized keys are now a single unit wide. 

It also comes with some convenient measures such as detachable magnetic feet to raise the keyboard up to a more comfortable angle. These are typical of Drop’s keyboards, given they also come with the Ctrl and Alt models—it’s a nice touch, and they do genuinely make a difference to the comfort factor of the Shift V2. It also comes with a pair of USB-C ports on the back, one of which is for plugging the keyboard in, and the other a pass-through for connecting other low power USB-C devices, such as a mouse cable, or a USB DAC. 

Elsewhere you’ll also find PBT keycaps adorning the Shift V2, reinforcing its status as an enthusiast-grade keyboard. On one that’s this expensive however, it’s perhaps a given rather than something that’s nice to have.

The Shift V2 is available with a choice of two switches: either the soft tactile Holy Panda X Clears or the linear Gateron Yellows. Both of these switches are new to this keyboard, where the previous variant came had a much wider selection of options from Cherry, Kalih or Halo. My sample came with Gateron Yellows, which are a 50g linear switch that carry enough extra weight compared to the more standard 45g Red options to make it a better keyboard to type on for day to day work. 

I’ve often had a bit of a mixed relationship with Gateron switches. Their tactile offerings have sometimes felt inconsistent across a variety of different keyboards, while some of their linear switches have just lacked a certain something. I’m pleased to report that the Yellows inside the Shift V2 aren’t plagued with any inconsistencies or issues with feeling. They’re a buttery smooth switch with no scratchiness, and felt excellent to use in my day to day. While I’m never the biggest fan of linear switches, they are some of the better options I’ve used in a while.

However, if neither switch option tickles your fancy (or anywhere else on you for that matter), then the Shift V2 is hot-swappable. This second-gen model comes with a new PCB which now supports 5-pin switches as well as 3-pin options, so you’ve got plenty to choose from. I had some Cherry MX Clear-Top Blacks laying around in a bag from ages ago, and swapped them into the Shift V2. 

Swapping switches out is simple enough thanks to Drop bundling a keycap and switch puller in the box. Simply take the keycap off and pull out your old switch with the puller, making sure to line up the hooks on the puller with the nibs on the top and bottom of the switch. Then, pull straight up and the switch should pull out. To add a new switch in its place, line up the switch’s pins with the relevant holes in the PCB, and press down until it clicks into place, making sure that the pins aren’t bent beneath you. If they are, the keys won’t work, and you’ll have to reseat the switches. It can be a little fiddly at first—I’ll confess to still bending the odd pin or two when changing my switches, but it’s easier than dealing with a soldering iron!

Acoustically, the Shift V2 impresses as well, with those layers of case foam and the new stabilisers working absolutely wonders to make this keyboard an aural dream. There’s no rattle or ping or any other unwanted noises, and the Shift V2 is a keyboard I could use happily for a long time without opening it up and poking around. 

Its RGB lighting is bright and flash, both underneath the individual keys and in the RGB sandwich between the case. Drop’s keyboards have often impressed me with their RGB, and the Shift V2 is no different, with vivid colours across the board (no pun intended). The addition of QMK and VIA support for convenient remapping of keys and fiddling with the RGB lighting using the online Drop Keyboard Configurator. Using that online system does require you to flash the firmware onto the keyboard, which is a bit of a fiddly process, but its presence is a welcome one.

The big thing though is whether all these changes and additions are worth $250 (currently on sale at $199), though. For existing Drop Shift owners, I’ll tell you to go and pay a much lower price of $75 for the newer PCBA, which gets you some of the way to a V2 model without a lot more expense. 

For the rest of you, though, it’s a different proposition. $199 is a lot of money for a pre-built keyboard in any guise, but the Drop Shift V2 is an excellent option if you value sound acoustics, a great typing experience, bright lighting and a fuller-sized layout. 

However, we’ve also seen another 96% competitor emerge in the form of the Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96%, which adds wireless connectivity to the party alongside a lot of similar features to the Shift V2, and it’s cheaper. It makes the Shift V2 a bit of a harder sell, to be honest, but there’s no denying that this is a seriously good keyboard, and it’s one I could leave on my desk for a long time. But against some of the competition, it falls just a little bit short. 

If there's one thing that divides opinion between PC hardware enthusiasts, it's RGB lighting. For some it's a tasteless display of gamer aesthetic and a glowing affront to the eyeballs, while to others it's a dazzling display of neon that sets off a gaming setup. If you fall into the latter category then you might want to check out Hyte's latest keyboard offering, as not only does it contain enough RGB lighting to divert low-flying planes, but Hyte has even gone and called it the Keeb TKL.

Ambassador, you really are spoiling us.

The Hyte Keeb TKL features a "Crystal Bubble Polycarbonate" case that allows a 155-pixel qRGB array to deliver a seemingly staggering amount of multi-colored lighting from all angles, but the unusual features don't stop there. 

At the top of the chassis sits two magnetic rollers which can be customised to give users control over all the usual roller-y things, like volume control, media shortcuts and tab selection, and beneath them lie five dedicated media keys that feature what Hyte calls its "Flappy Paddle" tactile low-profile blue switches.

Speaking of unusually named switches, try these on for size: The Keeb TKL's main keyset makes use of—and I've been so looking forward to typing this—Fluffy Lavender linear switches, designed to deliver "unparalleled aesthetics and epic thocks". Right-o then. 

Each switch comes pre-lubed with Krytox 205g0 and has an actuation force of 40 grams, with an actuation distance of 1.5mm and a bottom out distance of 3.5mm to ensure a fast and responsive typing experience. Although if you talk to our Dave about lubing keeb switches he suddenly becomes rather quiet indeed.

There are also four layers of sound dampening, a gasket-mounted 5-pin hot swappable PCB and Hyte's Nexus software that should allow you to customise many aspects of the Keeb TKL, including reactive per-key lighting, a range of animations and the creation of storable macros.

Look, I'm not going to lie to you: I prefer my RGB a little more on the subtle side than this. That being said, I can't help but admire the effort here, not only to make it the most RGB version of itself it could possibly RG-be, but also to the attention to detail, from pre-lubed switches all the way to a naming scheme that I won't forget in a hurry. I mean, it's really going for a certain side of the enthusiast keyboard crowd.

It stands out from the pack, this little Keeb, although we'll have to wait until we play with one ourselves to see what it's like in person. Pricing for the Keeb TKL is $179.99, with an expected UK price of £199, which is definitely enthusiast pricing.

I'll be sure to wear my sunglasses if we get one in, and perhaps even some ear defenders to protect against those epic thocks.

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PC Gamer's CES 2024 coverage is being published in association with Asus Republic of Gamers.

If you've ever wanted to build your own keyboard then the Ducky ProjectD Outlaw65 is a simple and easy way to go about it. Included in this compact kit are most of the pieces required to build a mechanical keyboard from scratch and a guarantee that every piece will fit together—you need only provide switches and keycaps.

So, why might you want to build your own keyboard when you can pay someone less for one already made? Good question, and if you don't already get why that might be appealing I don't have a particularly convincing answer for you. Beyond an opportunity to lube up all your stabilisers and switches before actually putting them inside your keyboard, or the option to customise often inaccessible layers, you mostly need to be in it for the love of the game.

No doubt the concept should appeal to many in the PC gaming community—any excuse to tinker with my setup is gratefully received. And the Ducky Outlaw lets you skip the entire planning process and get right into the keyboard assembly.

Assembly is easy peasy, if you abide by the instructions. Though it still took me around 2.5 hours to complete. Admittedly I was filming the entire process for a TikTok you can catch in the embed below. My camera kept dying, delaying the entire process, and I was working on other parts of my day job at the time. However much I'd like to, I can't drop absolutely everything to build a keyboard from scratch during work hours. Sigh.

Opening the neat black carry case, I'm greeted by the many bags of components to fit together. There are chunky hunks of metal (I have a silver kit for review), alongside the underlying PCB, sound dampening, and electrical parts. Also a couple packs of screws, washers, and rubber grommets. Pretty much all of which is needed, though Ducky chucks in a bag of spares in case you end up dropping anything.

It would be pretty easy to lose some of these pieces—the screws are especially tiny, but Ducky provides the necessary tools to screw them in: a tiny allen key and a lovely Ducky branded screwdriver.

It's almost a shame the Ducky screwdriver is so specific to fit the small components included in the build—it would be my go to screwdriver with a couple of key bits. It's a shame to have to pack it away again at the end of the build.

Before we talk endings, let's talk beginnings. I started off by building the base for the keyboard, mostly comprised of weighty sandblasted aluminium. First the adjustable feet, then the surround which helps hold in the PCB and other important components. Even though this is a 65% keyboard and lacking plenty of keys you'd usually find on a full-size unit, this is one of the heaviest keyboards I've got in my collection. 

The Ducky Outlaw weighs in ~1.3kg once completed; a good deal heavier than the larger Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 at ~1kg.

Once the base is formed, it's time to move onto the PCB. The first step to preparing the PCB is to lube up the stabilisers included in the case. There are three required for the UK ISO layout I've to hand, though the US layout requires another stabiliser for the oversized shift key. Lubing these stabilisers helps improve the final typing experience and makes for a very smooth actuation of the larger keys. Ducky includes some lube and a tiny brush for this purpose in the box, so no need to worry about sorting any of that ahead of time.

You only need a small amount of the included lubricant for the stabilisers themselves, and if you wanted to you could definitely spread it over an entire pack of switches as well. I've decided to use NovelKeys Novelias switches for this build, though I've not bothered lubing them for this build. They're an extremely heavy tactile switch I bought back in 2018 and have used sparingly since, and they feel pretty great anyways. No doubt they would be improved with some lube, but I don't have the best tools for opening each switch.

Once those stabilisers are lubed up, I fit them onto the PCB. This process was made a little tougher due to the instructions being for the US layout and not the UK layout, though I figured it out in the end. Go me. 

Next up, the base plate. This is what you might call a tray mount, and there are a couple of options available in the pack to choose from. There's a black FR4 with gold trim or a white POM option. These feel and sound different to one another, and it requires a bit of experimentation to find out which you prefer. It's nice to have the option to change this up; finding out which you prefer is going to be handy if you end up getting deep into this whole mechanical keyboard building malarkey. Here's how Ducky explains the difference between the two:

• Polyoxymethylene (POM) is an engineering thermoplastic with lithe, low friction, and excellent stability.
• FR4 glass epoxy is a versatile high-pressure thermoset plastic laminate grade with high stiffness to weight ratios.

I've settled on the FR4 for this build, though it's worth noting the white POM plate will likely help the RGB LEDs included on this keyboard shine a bit brighter behind the caps.

A couple of spacers are required here before slotting the sound dampening foam between it and the PCB and firmly screwing it down. Once that's sorted, I attached the included USB connector to the PCB and got ready to assemble it all together.

Slot the innards into the outer metal frame, screw everything down, and I've pretty much made a mechanical keyboard from scratch.

The next bit, however, is the most repetitive part of the build: switches and caps. Admittedly I quite like the job of plugging in switch after switch into a hot-swappable keyboard—careful not to snap any pins in the process—but it's not for everyone. The NovelKeys Novelias switches I've got at hand for this build fit a gasket mount keyboard such as this, and you'll need to check compatibility for any others you might use with it. These Novelias also come with a see-through plastic housing on the south side of the switch for RGB LEDs to shine through.

After all the switches are in place, it's time to do the same all over again with the keycaps.

This keyboard uses, for the most part, traditional UK ISO sized caps, though the left-hand shift key that's usually 2.75u is replaced by a 1.75u switch. For me that meant stealing some caps off the Wooting 60HE, replacing the caps lock key for the left-hand shift key, and nabbing the caps lock key off a Corsair K65 to replace. It sounds like a janky solution, but it actually looks decent in practice.

The only other issue I have that you'll want to consider if buying a kit for this board is the row of keys down the right-hand side. Del, page up, page down, and end keys are usually spread across two horizontal rows on a normal layout board, yet on this board they're across four horizontal rows. That means these keys might not stand flush with others in the same row due to the key profile. You can buy completely flat profile keys, such as DSA, or get some other profile keys to match instead. One option would be to replace them with non-specific blank key caps of the correct profile, which I might end up doing.

Speaking of key caps, I had two special Jelly Key artisan keycaps in need of a home and I feel they both look absolutely fantastic on this board. They feature Mario-style worlds and the space bar is translucent so the RGB shines through and something about the silver frame just brings out all the colour in these caps. Yes, I think these will stick around on this board for the foreseeable. It just feels right.

With the whole keyboard finally together at last, I'm able to appreciate the board for what it is. It's the nicest compact board I've personally used in terms of the tactile typing feedback. The rock-solid construction and sheer weight of it see to that. Admittedly the switches I had spare aren't the most ideal for gaming considering their 90g weight and tactile feedback, but it's still a mechanical keyboard and still plenty responsive for it.

As a way to build a keyboard from scratch without the planning stage to slow you down, Ducky has delivered a superb kit here. Though it's not without a custom mech keyboard price tag at £300—thankfully that's the price for the 'First Edition', which does include switches and keycaps. In the US, it will set you back $299 without caps or switches. Nobody said building your own mechanical keyboard was cheap, easy, or necessary—but I'll be damned if it isn't incredibly satisfying. 

Keyboard customisation is a big deal at the moment, and you don't have to look far to find a host of different ways to tweak your favourite clicky clacky device to your heart's content. For those of you with an axe to grind however, Dbrand has just released a limited edition aluminium keycap with the immortal words "Fuck off" milled directly into the face. Call me crude if you must, but I want one. Badly.

Simply called "Enter", it's currently available in three different finishes, from the rather pretty "neochrome'' all the way to a black as pure as my dark, dark heart. It's not the only limited edition keycap on offer here either, the other being "The Pyramid". This apparently came from an idea to create an escape key that stabs whoever presses it, which should please the sado-masochists amongst you or perhaps make you think twice before ragequitting your favourite games.

Both these keycaps are designed to be compatible with keyboards that use a Cherry profile, and while it's tempting to roll our eyes at the somewhat edgy branding it's nice to see some aesthetic variation in customisable keys beyond different colourways. I'm not sure where this trend might go next, but it's fun to imagine a world where our boring everyday peripherals could be transformed into a cornucopia of strange and esoteric buttons. 

Personally I'd like my input devices to be more reminiscent of the controls of Moya from the fondly-remembered sci-fi TV show Farscape. Give me wheels and levers and spikes and knobs that make strange noises. Why the hell not. 

For now, we'll have to make do with a sweary enter key and a spiky escape. Still, who amongst us wouldn't feel a little better slamming a "Fuck off" key at the end of a particularly spicy email, or a little swell of pride at the sight of a tiny pyramid where their escape key should be?

No? Just me? Alright then. But you know what to get me for Christmas at least.

Building off the back of the excellent ROG Azoth, the new Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless is simply the best gaming keyboard I've used in a very, very long time.

I don't say that lightly—I've also been using Corsair's latest creation, the K70 Max, and the Strix Scope II 96 has it beat. Same for the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL. While both Corsair and SteelSeries boards offer magnetic switches with adjustable actuation, which the Scope II does not, neither matches the sublime typing and gaming experience delivered by the ROG's lubed up switches.

Yes, lubed switches. I'm so glad this has made the leap from enthusiast boards into more mainstream ones. The process of pulling out every key switch and dropping in some lube in order to make it thwomp good is not something many PC gamers will have bothered to do, but freshly lubed switches out of the factory means you don't have to worry about the messy details with the Scope II 96.

A spot of lube makes all the difference. Every key drops lightly into place as you type and smoothly springs back with a satisfyingly light clack. The ROG NX Snow switches are your pretty usual linear key switch with an actuation force of 45g. There's also the tactile and moderately heavier option, however, the NX Storm. Both actuate at 1.8mm, which is pretty snappy, though not quite as snappy as those aforementioned boards at their lowest adjustable actuations. Not that I noticed that in-game. The Scope II 96 feels extremely responsive.

The Scope II 96 is a relatively quiet mechanical keyboard. The sound of the linear switches reduced to a light pitter-patter by the sound dampening foam, sturdy PBT plastic keycaps, and switch pads. Lubed up, sturdy stabilisers also keep the larger keys, namely the spacebar, quiet.

I've been using the Corsair K70 Max alongside the Scope II 96 to compare, and there's really no competition: the Scope II 96 is noticeably quieter.

You are able to swap out any of the NX Snow switches on this keyboard for keys of your choosing. However, if you don't replace them with lubed switches I will personally hunt you down. Don't do the Scope II dirty like that.

The Scope II 96 is nearly a full-size board—it importantly retains a full numpad—though it's been squished down into a more compact chassis. As a result, the delete key is further away from your pinky than normal. If, like me, you use the delete key often, you will have to reprogram your brain to get into the habit of reaching further up for it. The shift key is also a little short for my UK ISO layout-addled mind, in order to make way for the arrow keys.

It takes some getting used to, but I've been tapping away on it for a couple of weeks now and I feel I've got typing on the Scope II 96 down to a fine art.

This keyboard still retains a whole lot of multimedia functionality for its size. There's a simple scroll wheel with a single oversized ROG logo button beside it. Press the button and the scroll wheel changes function: it's a volume adjuster, media controls, lighting control, and able to run a couple of hotkeys you can set in the Armoury Crate software.

I'm not a huge fan of the Armoury Crate software. Like many other big brand software packages, I find it's a bit difficult to navigate and usually trying to flog you something. In Armoury Crate's case, a virtual pet—my Tamagotchi is long dead, thanks. At least the key parts of the board you might wish to setup via the app are quick to access, including the RGB lighting customisations screen and macro setup. There are some handy battery saver controls in the app to play about with as well. Though the battery is generally very good. I've only plugged it in one time so far, and I've been using it between two PCs at once.

Yes, this board is fantastic for dual-wielding PCs. I've had the dongle plugged into my PC, then when I've been running benchmarks in Baldur's Gate 3 this past week, I've switched the toggle on the rear of the board and gone into Bluetooth mode to connect to the test bench. It's been extremely handy, though admittedly a bit of a niche use-case.

Still, it rounds off what is an already extremely adept gaming keyboard. It's been a long time since I've been blown away by a new gaming keyboard—so many seemed carbon copies of what Corsair did 10 years ago—but the Scope II 96 has done just that. It focuses on nailing the actual mechanics of a mechanical gaming keyboard, and that appeals to the mech keyboard snob in me.

Importantly, it's a cheaper than the Asus ROG Azoth, despite coming with many more keys. You can buy the Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless for $180/£170, which is about $20 cheaper than the often discounted ROG Azoth. It's also $40 less than the Corsair K70 Max, which makes this an easy choice. No doubt we're still talking about an enthusiast keyboard price tag, but with the Scope II 96 at least you're receiving what is in many ways an enthusiast-grade board in return.

How you hold your mouse can be as personal to you as your fingerprints, so when Mountain's Makalu Max landed on my desk, with a host of customisation options, things were looking good for the company's second mouse release.

Its perforated first foray into the gaming mouse market, however, the Makalu 67, wasn't particularly well received around these parts. It feels flimsy, as a lot of ultralights do, and the RGB trim doesn't feel particularly well implemented. That, and the DPI selection button had a habit of getting caught by an errant finger.

Especially if you hold your mouse like our Jacob. I mean, like an absolute monster—the guy has his middle finger permanently attached to the scroll wheel with his index and ring fingers on the left and right buttons. Seriously, @ him, because he needs to be told it's not right.

But Mountain has built its reputation on putting user customisation at the forefront of the products it creates. Its first product, the Everest, was an excellent multi-purpose keyboard and its Everest 60 follow up has become my favourite enthusiast keeb ever. And it still has pride of place on my desktop at home.

I've been a huge fan of Mountain's take on the gaming keyboard, and I really want to like the Makalu Max. And most of the time I really do. It's got a classic PixArt sensor, offering up to 19,000DPI should you need such a level of sensitivity, but it also comes with interchangeable weights. That's not hugely innovative on its own—many other mice have done things in the past—but few have gone with the sort of weights that can allow you to balance that weight around different areas of the mouse body.

You get a set of three rings to use as clip-in weights: One solid, for the heaviest option; one cut-out, for the lightest; one with a third filled in and the rest cut-out. This last one can be dropped in with the heaviest part of the ring at any point positioned around the circle, skewing the heft towards different sides.

That's pretty niche, if I'm honest, but the aspect of customisation that will appeal to more people is the option to completely change the shape. As standard it comes as a pretty straightforward, symmetrical shape—although, because of the position of the sniper and forward/back buttons, not ambidextrous. But there are two different magnetically attachable side panels you can swap in that add support for your pinky finger or thumb.

That broadens the sweep of mouse grips that can be comfortably accommodated by the Makalu Max, and the breadth of meaty hand that can hold it, too. For those of you with monster paws, you should be well supported by Mountain's latest rodent. You can mix and match the options, leading to very different-looking mice… though I have to say I'm so damned vanilla that my absolute preference is for the simple, more slimline symmetrical layout.

Still, if you're really into the customisation angle, Mountain offers the STL files for you to download and tweak to heart's content before 3D printing your own side panels for the Makalu Max.

Aside from the custom side of things, the Makalu Max is also a wireless mouse, with no noticeable latency and a reliable connection. But it's also this aspect of the device with which I have the most issue. 

I've adjusted the soft and deep sleep timings as much as I dare and I just can't get to a situation where I'm using it where I don't get deeply frustrated when I set aside the mouse for a moment and have to click a button to wake it up again. I get that it's important to maintain battery life, but I want my mouse to be there, ready to roll when I need it.

And if I set it up like that I feel like I have to charge it up far too much. The USB Type-C charging cable is soft and the fabric coating makes it easily flexible and comfortable to use as a wired mouse, but I still get frustrated seeing the neat RGB LED ring around the mouse wheel start flashing red.

We probably sound like major Razer apologists, given the tranche of its rodents filling out our best gaming mouse guide, but neither the DeathAdder V3 Pro or V2 Pro ever gave me that feeling. Granted the V3 Pro is around $100 more right now, but the V2 Pro is the same price as the Makalu Max, and if I'm not chasing the extra girth of the magnetic side panels, that's probably the more affordable wireless mouse I'd be buying.

I am not a fan of Razer's demanding Synapse software, I will admit, but I also can't leave a Mountain review without railing against its Base Camp software. I do not like. For one thing, I can never find it. It doesn't install in a way that makes it visible to the quick search function accessible via the Windows key, and for another it's just not very nice to use. It's a common failing of even the best peripheral makers—the software is almost always horrible to use.

All that said, I do still have a soft spot for the Makalu Max. I've been using it solidly for a good long while now, and have been swaying back and forth between 'yeah, I would happily keep using this,' to 'damn it, why do you keep going to sleep so often?!' 

It's at a decent price for a responsive, customisable, reliable wireless gaming mouse right now, and that makes it tempting. But there are just some quality of life issues that mean it can't be a definite recommendation today.

Being the first white keyboard I've used since the '90s, I was prepared to be underwhelmed by the Roccat Vulcan II Max's stylings. Combined with my ambivalence towards OTT RGB, I was preparing to caveat this review quite heavily. Kinda like what I'm doing now, I guess, but the reason is entirely different, because this slab is beautiful. 

This is a full-sized affair with optical switches and Roccat's own AIMO lighting tech, which the company claims is twice as fast as the competition, in the sense that the RGB will react to your button presses with more immediacy. The key lights themselves bleed into the translucent detachable palm rest, which looks more impressive than it sounds: even undulating light effects course through that thick texture in concert with the switches, almost as if the palm rest itself has lights. It doesn't: this is just good old fashioned light trickery at play. And if the white model I reviewed is too, well, white for you, there's a black variety too.

It's a bright slab, if you want it to be. Thanks to the biscuit-thin ABS keycaps the switches are perfectly visible from all directions and thus, the light verily gushes forth, especially since the characters on each keycap are translucent. Third-party keycaps are compatible, so there's room to replace them, and the switches themselves have an advertised 100 million keystroke life, so you may very well wear the keycaps during this keyboard's lifespan.

Meanwhile, 24 of the keys have dual LED functionality, which means there are two discrete LEDs under the switch rather than one, all the better for these keys to not only look very pretty, but to serve as indicators for various conditions. Is your mic muted? A light can show you that. Which keyboard profile is active? The function key with the fancy assigned light, of course! You can even have different coloured LEDs based on the battery status of a wireless headset or mouse. 

These dual-LEDs are chiefly found on the F (function) keys, but the navigation keys have dual-LEDs as well. Overall, the level of key assignment flexibility here is extremely high, as you'd expect from a pricey modern gaming keyboard. Not only can you switch between five different profiles, but there's Shift-Key functionality which allows, with the assigning of a particular Shift-Key, an added layer of functionality to all keys. I personally don't use these much on a day-to-day basis as I simply forget what I've programmed, but plenty of bigger brained people will appreciate the options, especially MMO or MOBA players.

There are two drawbacks with the dual LED system. The first is that it necessitates the use of two USB-A ports, via the non-detachable but very robust power port. Two USB ports sacrificed to a keyboard may be a deal breaker to some, but I myself am a port over-compensator so it did not trouble me.

The second, more general drawback is using Roccat's Swarm software for customising profiles. Look: it's not terrible, and it works. Occasionally it throws up notification windows with clipped text, and no option to expand those windows, which is especially annoying when it's throwing you a warning. In fairness, this happened when I was fiddling with Roccat Torch settings in the same program, so it's not directly related to the keyboard at hand, but is representative of Swarm's slightly janky user experience. Five profiles can be stored in onboard memory, so the best option is to spend a few hours customising these and then switching between them with shortcuts, and then, if you're blessed, forgetting Swarm altogether save for firmware updates.

The form factor is about what you'd expect from a full-size keyboard, albeit a tad larger than what I'm used to at 463x154mm (I mainly use the Corsair K70 RGB Pro). It's not for the space conscious then, but the generous amount of profiles and the Shift-Key functionality means you'll be able to make great use of otherwise underused keys if you're a shortcut fanatic. The media controls at the top left are nice to have, though I prefer a horizontal volume wheel. While the dimensions sprawl the weight is slight, coming in at a touch over a kilogram. As you'd expect, there are two retractable feet at the back.

I normally use a mechanical keyboard with an aluminium frame, so I was prepared to be gentle with the Vulcan, which has a plastic chassis with a thin aluminium veneer at the top. The plastic is what makes this such a light affair, and overall it doesn't affect the appearance of what is a gorgeous keyboard, because it's the anodised upper plate you'll see. Still, given the price it'd be nice to get more metal for your buck.

With an actuation distance of 1.4mm (in other words: the distance at which a button press triggers an action) these red linear optical switches are supremely responsive for gaming: rather than requiring physical contact like a common mechanical switch, light is used to trigger the actuation. For everyday use it can prove a tad slippery when touch typing: it took me a while to adjust to its rather unforgiving sensitivity and so, that backspace button got a work out. As a result I'd probably personally go with the brown switch option, which is also available with an actuation distance of 1.7mm, but your preference may vary. You'll have to choose one or the other because unlike some Wooting keyboards, the actuation point cannot be changed. 

The Roccat Vulcan 2 Max is an exceptional optical gaming keyboard and the price feels warranted, so long as aesthetics are your priority. This is easily one of the prettiest conventional gaming keyboards I've used, though there is increasing demand for the more elegant stylings of, say, the Wooting slabs. Still, as far as Roccat and its main big brand gaming competitors go, this is a restrained affair and the lights can be reined in with software if you choose. 

The price is a big obstacle though. I'd have liked a sturdier build, say, a full aluminium frame, and the plastic wrist rest, while easy to clean, looks a little cheap when it doesn't have a light show coursing through it. This is a great gaming keyboard with exceptional lights, and if it's lights you're after, geez Louise, does this have 'em.

As more of an enthusiast in the keyboard space, it’s been interesting to watch the development of it into the mainstream as more people become hobbyists and fixated on everything from switch feeling to a board’s acoustics. To this end, everyone has a holy grail product, or in other words, a keyboard which, money no object, is their ultimate desktop companion. May I present to you a keyboard that is likely to be a lot of people’s holy grails: the all-new Drop Sense75.

This is a keyboard that’s been a long time coming for me personally, as it’s been a good few months since its announcement and I’ve been patiently waiting to test one. The version I’ve got to test is the $399 pre-built option in the fetching Polar colourway, although it is also available in more of a conventional black colour too, with white legends on the keycaps.

Looking at the feature set, it’s got all the makings of an excellent enthusiast-level keyboard—with a sturdy aluminium frame, Drop’s own much-lauded Holy Panda X switches, a hot-swappable PCB, and a sea of RGB lighting on the keyboard’s underside. But the reality is a little bit different.

Just to provide a little bit of context, the 75% custom keyboard space is one that’s becoming quite crowded, and there are already a handy few options offering a similar set of features for a lot less than the Sense75 is, such as my beloved Keychron Q1 V2 I’ve been using on a daily basis, or the new Asus ROG Azoth for those who want more of a gaming flavour.

So, why would you buy the Sense75 then?

Well, first of all, it’s incredibly well made. Even by custom keyboard standards, the Sense75 is ridiculously heavy at nearly a kilo and makes for one of the sturdiest keyboards I’ve ever used. In a world where the keyboard mainstream is becoming as thin and light as possible, it’s nice to still have a keyboard you could conceivably use as a weapon.

As well as offering a sturdy frame, the Sense75 also features a set of doubleshot ABS keycaps, with Drop’s own DCX profile. The caps on my sample are bright white, complete with especially legible black legends. It contrasts the ice blue of the Sense75’s chassis nicely, although I can’t help but think the slightly rounded typeface used on the keycaps cheapens the overall feel of the Sense75 a smidgen.

The 75% layout it uses is actually my personal favourite, and the Sense75 offers an intuitive layout, complete with the creature comforts of arrow keys and nav cluster buttons. You aren’t actually losing much compared to a more standard TKL keyboard, and the 75% layout also looks a lot nicer, too. Much like its competition, there is also a volume knob which provides some extra tactility and functionality to the Sense75.

The real reason why the Sense75 is worth picking up from my perspective are its switches. While it is hot-swappable, and you could chuck in all manner of 3 or 5 pin MX style switches, the Holy Panda X switches used by default are just excellent.

For some background, these switches have their origin in a community mod that took the stem of a Halo Clear switch and put it in the housing of a Panda switch, creating the Holy Panda. Since then, they’ve been recreated and put into keyboards by everyone from Glorious to Drop, and the Holy Panda Xs I’ve got here are the latest in a long line of brothers. They’re a soft tactile switch that are comparable to Cherry MX Clears in terms of force with a heavier 60g weight and a crisp tactile bump. As someone who’s used to typing either Cherry MX Browns, Clears and, more recently, the silent goodness of an HHKB Professional Hybrid Type-S, I like to think I’ve got a decent hand on what a good soft tactile switch feels like. These Holy Panda Xs are some of the best tactile switches I’ve ever used and I don’t think I’ll be replacing them anytime soon.

The fact they’re a heavier switch means they’re more designed for typing as opposed to gaming, and for this purpose, they’re some of the best switches money can buy. Of course, if you don’t like them, you can swap them out for all manner of MX-style switches, be it ones from Cherry or the shedload of clones that exist in 2023.

While these switches help to make the Sense75 one of the best feeling keyboards money can buy, I do have a small complaint. The enthusiast in me isn’t the biggest fan of how pingy the aluminium case is, although some more dampening and foam is likely to alleviate this. For a keyboard this expensive though, I may well have expected the case acoustics to be a little bit better. With this in mind though, Drop’s decision to go for south-facing LEDs is handy for those who want to swap switches out, and the gasket mounting here helps to offer a slightly springier typing feel, as is customary for other keyboards of this ilk.

The especially intriguing thing about the Sense75 is its underglow RGB lighting. It contrasts other keyboards’ per-key lighting and opts for a vibrant take on lighting that looks to be there more as ambient lighting for your desk, as opposed to making it easier to see the Sense75’s keys in the dark, With that in mind though, it provides some handy illumination that offsets the white and blue chassis nicely. RGB lighting can sometimes cheapen the aesthetics of a keyboard, but that isn’t the case here.

While I’d normally be about to go and tell you to buy the Sense75 given I’ve waxed lyrical about it for a few paragraphs, that price tag is just stopping me from doing so. $399 is a wildly high price for a keyboard for most people, but when you’ve got just as capable options for a fair margin less, the Sense75 becomes a bit of a hard sell. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a gorgeous, class-leading keyboard that offers one of the best typing experiences money can buy, but that extreme price tag just lingers at the back of my head.

Two weeks ago we got word of a brand new kind of keyboard coming out. Wooting, the folks behind our favourite gaming keyboard of the minute, the Wooting Two HE, have been hard at work on a new design. The adorable little three-keyed board looks like an April Fools joke at first glance, but the Wooting UwU is real and we have details of the founders campaign to go alongside this unique product.

The UwU is a purpose-built board designed for the rhythm game osu! A keyboard made for just one game may seem like overkill, but osu! is a free-to-play mainstay of the rhythm gaming community that's been around for years, and has seen a resurgence in popularity thanks to social media. 

Being free and having a thriving community constantly pumping out new levels means osu! is a treasure trove for content creators. Players on apps like TikTok share their frantic efforts, which do pretty well on the platform thanks to the funky beats and visual nature of osu! Plus, since it needs only three keys it's incredibly accessible despite its difficulty. It makes a tonne of sense for a board maker like Wooting to jump in on this action with the UwU board.

It also makes sense that Wooting is launching this board with a founders campaign, not only to gauge interest, but to help take advantage of that social sway. It's officially launching on Thursday April 6 at 15:00 (CEST) but you can grab a look at the details on the blog post.

It turns out there will be three variations of the three-keyed board, starting with the basic model. The Wooting UwU will start at $50 / €50 and comes with the base model board complete with braided USB cable, a spare of one of Wooting's analogue lekker switches, and four collectable keycaps. It's mostly a cream colour with a navy stripe across the top, and pink highlights. The face keys are white and feature the cute UwU design. It looks like a nicely pocketable peripheral.

Wooting knows its market, so the next in the series is the Wooting UwU RGB. Where navy blue capped the previous UwU this one shows off RGB lighting, which also looks like it shines up through the keys. It comes with an additional travel case over the basic model but will set you back $69.69 / €69.69 for the package. There's also a black version called the Wooting UwU RGB Stealth Edition.

This is a fair price to pay for three keys, if it was a regular board. Given it's a niche device and comes with all the Wooting analogue capabilities including software use it actually seems OK. I'm almost thinking of getting into osu! Just to make owning one worthwhile. I'm also hoping this will lead to more high-quality bespoke controller options for games outside the usual keyboard format.

If the UwU has you convinced, you should be able to put money down in less than 48 hours. Anyone who orders as part of the founder campaign for one of these cute little keebs will be eligible for free air and freight shipping. As a bonus they'll also be granted the  "UwUting Founder" role on Wooting's Discord, which will expire once the campaign is finished on the May 4.

Back in January I checked out SteelSeries' Apex 9 TKL, a keyboard that's got something going for it but which I didn't feel made the most out of the optical switches it comes installed with. So SteelSeries said they had just the thing: the Apex Pro TKL Wireless (2023). With more adjustable magnetic switches (yes, there is a difference), this keyboard is definitely more my speed.

The Apex Pro TKL is extremely speedy, actually. You can adjust the actuation on most of the keyboard's keys anywhere between 0.2mm and 3.8mm, in 1mm increments. That's pretty much as far as I'd like to go in either direction—0.2mm is extremely sensitive to the lightest touch, too much for most everyday typing tasks without introducing errors, but it's superb for gaming.

That light touch means you're hardly pressing a key when it activates, which not only saves moments on the down press but also makes for a much quicker reset too. That's handy for any game where you need to rapidly press a key switch in quick succession.

The other neat feature is the dual actuation. With this you can set any key to offer two functions depending on how hard you press it. It takes some getting used to, though it's something I've used sparingly on other magnetic keyboards, such as the Wooting Two HE, and it's useful if you find the right use for it.

What I've found convenient about the Apex Pro TKL Wireless is how easy it is to set-up and switch between multiple profiles for typing and gaming. On the keyboard I need only hold the SteelSeries logo key (a replacement for the Function key) and hit F9 to roll through all the available profiles loaded onto the board. I've got a profile for typing at 1.8mm and one for Destiny with the cluster of keys around the left-hand, including WASD, set to 0.2mm.

Each profile can have its own image set on the Pro TKL's mini OLED screen, too, which is super handy for keeping track of which profile you're using at any given time.

My typing profile is very on brand with the PC Gamer logo scrawled across the screen. For my Destiny profile I've grabbed a pic of the weapon of champions, Gjallerhorn.

You can upload just about any image to the app and it'll estimate it into the OLED's low pixel pitch. Sometimes with horrifying results. I uploaded my PC Gamer headshot and ended up looking like a character from World of Horror, and my colleagues had a field day making fun of me for that.

But I do appreciate that the SteelSeries GG app will have a go at nearly any picture you throw at it, without some of the finicky resizing and downsizing that other apps often require to throw an image at a smaller screen.

One thing I was quick to turn off in the GG app is the keyboard's default sleep timer, however. It's set to five minutes out of the box, and I find SteelSeries gear can be pretty slow to wake up, especially if it's not the strongest connection to the dongle. I'm sure it helps with the battery life, but after nearly a week of use I've still 50% juice remaining so that's not such an issue overall.

Let's get to the price, then, because this isn't the cheapest keyboard going. At $250 it's really up there for a keyboard of its diminutive size, and going against the fantastic Asus ROG Azoth for the same money. It doesn't win that fight, either, but admittedly they do different things. The SteelSeries focuses on speed and special switches while the Azoth is more your enthusiast's high-end keeb. 

You're also missing out on a numpad here, which is decent for gaming alone, but I do miss having one there for my work day. Though it makes up for it by being very well made and a great fit for compact spaces.

But my biggest issue is how much more you have to pay for this wireless version of the Pro TKL. The wired board seems like a much better buy with all the same switches and features for $60 less. If you must have the wireless functionality then that's a premium you can't always avoid, but for most I imagine the wired version will suffice. Similarly, even if you go for the wired option, you can spend a little more (and wait a little longer for it to turn up) and grab the full-size Wooting Two HE which I still hold is the better board overall.

Overall an impressive keyboard, and one that utilises its clever switches well, I'm ultimately leaning towards the wired version as the better buy.

April Fools' is a weird day for anyone who covers PC gaming hardware. We get slammed with press releases and trailers for joke products and games. The strangest thing is that sometimes I'll see a joke product and think, "Damnit, I'd actually buy that." Well, Corsair decided to send over its April Fools joke to me, and I'm a little relieved that no one actually sells these things.

Corsair calls the FT 100 Keycaps 'elite tactile distractors,' which will replace your more useless keys (looking at you, SCRLK) with something more practical like a full-sized fidget spinner, a knob, or a dial. 

Inside the package are five fidget-friendly keycaps, which include a fidget spinner, a small dial, an on/off switch, a trackball, and a very clicky button. So, of course, I wouldn't be a hardware writer worth my salt if I didn't try out these silly keys, jokes or not. 

I thought I had moved on from fidget spinners years ago but I'll admit having one on the keyboard feels kind of great, especially during long meetings. I put the large spinner on my ESC, and while the build quality of the keycaps seems ok, I did have problems with the fidget spinner flying off the keyboard occasionally after more intense spins. What can I say? I'm an extreme fidgeter. 

I like the feel of the tiny trackball keycap against my fingertip as well as flicking the light switch on and off. The dial and clicky button keycap are the weaker keys and don't deliver the same level of satisfaction as the other keycaps. Though if you plan to annoy people, the clicky keycap is nice and loud, and the fidget spinner has a really good obnoxious hum to it on really big spins. 

The FT 100 keycaps might not actually be for sale, and that might be a good thing since if I had to sit near a co-worker using these they wouldn't be my coworker anymore because I would have murdered them.

However, I'm still annoyed Corsair never sold these giant fans they made for Fan Week(opens in new tab). 

Wooting, the makers of our favorite gaming keyboard right now, has surprise dropped a compact keyboard that is surprisingly adorable for a keeb with only three keys.

Three keys? Yeah, the keyboard affectionately called the Wooting UwU is designed with one game in mind, the free-to-play rhythm game called osu!

If you haven't played the game, it only requires just a few click clacks of a keyboard, along with some swift and melodic movements of a mouse, or even a tablet. The game's become super popular on social media apps, namely TikTok, because it's absolutely frantic at times, and Wooting is hopping on the train with its own specially designed keyboard. If you can call it that.

I'll admit I did think it was a little early for an April Fool's joke when I first caught sight of the UwU, but then I delved a little deeper into this thing and, yeah, it's pretty cool. It comes with support for all the excellent features we love about the Wooting Two HE and Wooting 60HE, meaning fully analogue and highly customisable switches, so even this little keyboard can get a whole lot more done than it lets on with its diminutive design.

Maybe that means it'll be more useful for other shortcuts beyond just frantic tapping in osu! I can see a streamer finding some use for this sort of thing, though there are a million and one streaming consoles available today that are built for that exact purpose. Sometimes less is more, though.

Wooting will have the board up for pre-order on April 6, which is when we'll see how much money the company is asking for to pick one of these boards up. If you order one, expect it to turn up in August this year, which isn't a bad turnaround for a Wooting board.

We all love a bit of wood, but would you pay $745 for keyboard made out of the stuff? We give you the Hacoa Full Ki-Board (via HotHardware), a low-profile mechanical keyboard that's made exclusively from hardwood.

At least, the entire chassis, all the keys and the optional palm rest are. The price? A piffling 99,000 yen, or about $745 in old money. 

Initially offered in either walnut or cherry hardwoods, the keys are carved from a single block of wood, ensuring that the color and grain match and extend across the full layout. Nice.

Speaking of the keys, the caps are laser-etched for long-term durability. As for the mechanics, you get "blue axis" clicky switches with a key stroke of 3mm, an actuation force of 45g and an actuation point of 1.2mm.

Inside, there's a 1,000mAh battery with 240 hours run time and a charging time of two hours. Wireless connectivity comes in the form of Bluetooth 5.0 with a range of roughly eight meters.

There's a USB-C port for charging, but actual connectivity is exclusively through the wireless interface. For the record, it's a full QWERTY plus numberpad keyboard using a US English layout. Oh and the wood palm rest is an extra $85. Ouch.

There is one slight disappointment for those into oiling their wood. The board is covered painted in a urethane protective coat, so there's no need for regular maintenance. Pity.

Even at $745, the board seems to be something of a hit as it's currently listed as sold out. But the Hacoa website says they do offer worldwide shipping. So, if you're interested you can sign up to be notified when it's back in stock.

The Razer Blackwidow V4 Pro is a sturdy keyboard, with the same edgy charm as those that came before it. With a legacy of top-tier keyboards, Razer had a lot to live up to with the Blackwidow V4 Pro. And while the wealth of features certainly makes this a premium keyboard—even a slightly more affordable one than some of its major competition in the premium gaming keyboard space—it has taken some getting used to. Let's walk through it.

Razer has opted for a line of macro keys down the left hand side of the board this time around. At first glance it seems like a great idea and although I admit they're convenient once you get used to them, damn do they get in the way at first.

For context, I don't keep my fingers glued to the home ASDF row when typing, instead I use my pinky and slide up the edge of the board to get a feel for where I am. Thanks to Razer's macro placement, though, I had to type the start of every sentence several times for the first couple of days I was using it as my main board. I'd try slapping the caps lock but would end up hitting the macro keys instead. It's been such a pain for typing, I've even considered mapping the actual Tab, Caps, Shift, and Control keys to their respectively placed macro keys, having had my main method of navigating the keyboard foiled. That said I have gotten more used to it as time's gone on, I'm just not a huge fan of their placement. 

I tried mapping out my GPS, crafting book, inventory, and the like to the macro keys in Sons of the Forest, too, and while it was nice to have my commands all in one place, I could just as easily have mapped my most used commands somewhere more easily reachable with my index and middle fingers. Using the pinky for anything is a little jarring, and I still find myself having to look down at the keyboard before I press them, which almost defeats the object of their convenience.

We've seen similar issues with the Logitech G613, as well as the G915—the macros on which Jacob hardly ended up using either—though as long as you don't mind retraining yourself to pay attention to typing ergonomics there's no doubt these are more accessible than the average placement. MMORPG players with lots of spells will relish the prospect of having everything within reach of their pinky, while retaining the ability to move around. 

Razer has gone hard with the macros too, adding another line of three macro buttons to the left edge of the board. These have meant not only am I pressing the wrong buttons when typing, I'm spamming commands when I'm just trying to shift the board out of the way for my lunch, too. It's just such an uncommon, hidden feature it's easy to forget until the default Xbox Gamebar or Snipper tool pops up randomly, or I get win-tabbed out of my game.

We've only ever seen them placed like this in NZXT's Function boards, and not to great effect there, either.

That said, the media controls laid out along the top of the Blackwidow V4 Pro are much appreciated. With a distinct shine, they do look a little out of place against the rest of the board's plastic, textured facade, but they really are gorgeous. The aluminium knobs are adorned with a criss-cross pattern, too, which means they double as a nifty nail file—and I'm only sort of joking. The command dial in the top left corner is also super versatile.

The command dial is easily the most exciting thing this board has to offer. Its default control is set to keyboard brightness, but should you decide to brave Razer's Synapse software, you'll be met with a host of other options from simple zoom control, to track select, browser tab switching, or horizontal scrolling. I can select more than one of these options, even all of them at once, and clicking the dial itself tracks through each one. Every click is accompanied by a colour coded LED shining out from beneath the dial, and a popup in the corner of the screen to remind you which is which.

The dial is one of only three keys that cannot be remapped in the Synapse software, the other two being the Windows and function keys. What that means is that every other key can be remapped, so if you fancied trying a new keyboard layout—Colemak for example—you can do that. This is kind of standard when it comes to keyboard remapping nowadays, however.

Something that's not so standard, though, is Razer's own key switch choice. With unusual box-surrounded cross stems, they won't just work with any old keycaps. And as for the switches themselves, I'm not overly taken with the linear ones. I'm not a massive linear fan, but the closest I've come to being swayed was by the Logitech G715's linear GX switches.

Compared to Razer's, they not only sound a little less hollow but feel faster. That's even despite the Razer switches requiring less force to actuate, with around 0.6mm shorter pre-travel. There just doesn't seem to be as much bounceback, which makes Razer's linears feel more laborious to use. The only other option for the V4 Pro, is Razer's clicky green switch.

I really do love the new wrist rest, too. It feels super premium and the textured, carbon fibre aesthetic doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. I especially love that it clips on so effortlessly, even without the need to lift the board up, and lights up around the base—a fancy touch.

While the Blackwidow V4 Pro is not too shabby when it comes to price-to-performance. It beats out other premium boards like the Corsair K100 Air by jamming all the same features in, plus the fancy command dial, for $50 less. Though the problem comes in the fact this is a wired keyboard.

Compare it to the wireless Blackwidow V3 Pro that's still going for the same price, however, and there's something of a disconnect. The only major differences between the two are 8k Hyperpolling over the V3's 1k Ultrapolling, a USB passthrough, and the fancy command dial. And although the Hyperpolling does mean I can't blame my board's latency for how crap I am at FPS games, my gut tells me I shouldn't pay the same price for a wired keyboard, no matter how fancy the media dials are. Especially when the macro key placement makes the darn thing so awkward to use.

Alright, I have gotten used to it somewhat after a week or so of non-stop use, but it'll undoubtedly be a pain for some users.

Of course, there are other options if you want finer control over your macros—you could pair an Azeron keypad with a nice TKL gaming board, for example, but certainly not for as low as the Blackwidow V4 Pro's $230 asking price. Alternatively, you could grab the Wooting Two HE for $35 less and get hot-swappable, analogue key switches with adjustable actuation, then put the money saved toward one of the best gaming mice for MMOs. That way you get the best of both worlds and don't have to relearn how to use your keyboard. 

Razer has just announced its newest gaming keyboard with the BlackWidow V4 Pro. From the looks of it, this board is set to carry forward many features we've loved in previous Razer keyboards, but also one we've never been too fond of: the price. Retailing at $US230 or $AU400, this beast isn't cheap.

To be fair, it does look to be a very feature-complete piece of kit, especially for fans of that Razer aesthetic. It'll come with the full complement of individual key-based RGB lighting effects as well as underglows under the chassis and wrist rests. It would be a bright centrepiece of any desktop, though you'll have to deal with Razer's Synapse software for full customisation. 

The BlackWidow V4 looks nice on the keys and switches front too. You can choose between Razer's mechanical clicky green switches or the quiet yellow ones depending on your style. To customise further you've got five dedicated macros with three on the side, and a new knob which has been dubbed the Razer Command Dial.

I'm just going to say it. I love knobs. On keyboards. A tactile, twisty dial is a pretty big selling point for me, and not enough boards feature them. This one boasts eight default modes for doing everyday tasks like zooming or switching tabs, and up to 100 you can customise yourself. This could mean scrolling through documents, media adjustments, or for folks who like to use art programs it can be used to adjust brush sizes and the likes. 

Speaking of media adjustments, there's also a dedicated media roller above the number pad with four buttons set aside for extra controls. I quite like having a setup just for media on a keyboard. It's nice to change those settings without having to go into the individual app. Plus, the roller looks like it'd be fun to use which is really all I care about here.

The last feature I really like the look of is the USB 2.0 passthrough. Sure, it's only 2.0, but any USB passthrough on keyboards is always a blessing. It's so much more convenient being able to plug temporary things in via the keyboard than finding a port on the computer itself. I'm hoping we'll see more USB passthrough on keyboards in the future.

There's tonnes of features packed into this board, but it all comes down to the price. There are after all some excellent budget gaming keyboards out there. The Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro looks like it'll be a much more fancy board for your PC gaming setups, with an equally fancy price to match. 

Listen, you don't need an expensive gaming keyboard. You don't necessarily need a mechanical keyboard, though I would definitely recommend one. PC gaming has a price problem right now, with graphics cards launching with unsightly price tags, without even any help from resellers, and gaming laptops costing as much as a car. But I want to take a moment to say it's okay to save a bit of cash on your keyboard.

The first time I splashed out on a gaming keyboard, it was the Corsair K65 RGB. I spent something like £80 on it, and that's the absolute maximum I could spend on such a lavish luxury. I was working in retail and as a bicycle messenger at the time, and even with both income streams I felt an incredible wave of guilt wash over me for spending so much on something so unnecessary.

I wanted it, though. I'd never had an RGB keyboard, and the backlighting alone kept me occupied for hours as I explored all the entertaining ways to make the pretty lights dance. I'm not here to tell you what you should or shouldn't want. My love for mechanical and marvellous keyboards has only grown over the years—I'm the type of guy to buy limited edition mechanical key switches and these days I only moderately loathe myself for it.

It's just that there's so much marketing and pomp nowadays that aims to make you think you need optical switches. That you have to have a tiny OLED screen on your hardware. You're missing out if you're not clacking away on a board with a hyper-fast polling rate. That you're not a real gamer if you're not a competitive gamer. If you still have cables on your desk then you're doing it wrong.

It's a load of bollocks, really. You don't need any of this extraneous stuff.

I'm not saying the Asus ROG Azoth is not a stunningly lovely gaming keyboard. It offers the silkiest, smoothest space bar I've ever laid a finger on. It's the keyboard equivalent of cutting through freshly opened tofu with a sharp knife. Cor, it's fantastic. It also comes with 75% of the keys you'd expect from a full-size keyboard and costs $250. Eep. But I get it, that's a keyboard pushing for praise from the enthusiast keyboard community. It's not for everyday consumption.

The fact remains, you can get a whole lot of mechanical keyboard for very little nowadays. One manufacturer that offers some great stuff on a tighter budget is Keychron, and you can buy one of its compact boards such as the Keychron K2 for $70/£74—take sky-high inflation into consideration as to why it's still not that much cheaper than when I bought a Corsair mech-keeb all those years ago. Still, it's one of the best gaming keyboards and good on a reasonable budget.

You know what else is still a cracking keyboard? The G.Skill KM360. A $50 keyboard rocking Cherry MX Red switches. A Cherry MX switch is a Cherry MX switch, no matter what board it's in, and this cheaper chassis delivers the mechanical clack that most of us are after on a much slimmer budget than most.

I'm recommending mechanical because I believe that it's a big upgrade over a membrane. Do I know people that swear by the Razer Cynosa V2 for $43? Yep, sure do. Quite a few people actually, including PC Gamer's top brass. But I do really rate mechanical—it's an extremely tangible upgrade to a typing experience—and you don't have to pay over the odds for it.

The companies that have mimicked Cherry over the years have put out some pretty impressive switches. For the linear switches that we mostly see offered up for gaming—those with a smooth travel—there's not much noticeably in it between some cheap Kailh-brand carbon copies versus Cherry's own. Gateron, too, builds some smooth linears that you'll hardly tell apart from the rest.

Admittedly, tactile switches can be night and day from all the manufacturers, but it's actually Cherry's MX Browns that are some of my least favourite key switches. Why are they so grainy?!

My point is you don't need the most famous brand's offering, and beyond mechanical switches, there aren't many features I'd say are 'must-have' on any keyboard. I can think of far more features that are nice to have but massively overblown in importance: backlighting, media controls, optical switches, high polling rates, and wireless connectivity. That last one especially. 

I know backlighting might be high on your list of wants for a board. And yeah, I'll admit it's nice to have light-up switches. But I've been using a Ducky One 3 lately and I've barely noticed its lack of lighting even during late-night Destiny 2 sessions. I'd much rather that absolute tank of a keyboard with long-lasting PBT keycaps over some flimsy thing with all the half-baked bells and whistles any day.

I blame sports

Sports marketing has long been about marketing technological improvements as fundamental to improving your game. Be it a tennis racket, pair of football boots, or golf club, there's always that new thing that promises to level up your actual ability. The power of that marketing is unbelievably strong, even if you get burned by it multiple times. 

Turns out I didn't need the competitive racing-grade swimming goggles for my weekly, 30-length public swim session, but did I buy some two months ago? Yes. I'm a sucker every time.

That marketing ethos has penetrated PC gaming with esports-grade, competitive hardware, technologies, and features. Ultralight, ultra-fast, ultra-expensive. If I spend this cash on a magnesium-alloy Razer mouse I'll land every headshot, right? Right?!

No, probably not. And it's the same thing with optical switches. I'm not saying you won't be if you put your mind to it, but we're not all destined to be esports pros. I'm 30, man, I don't think regular mechanical switches are holding back my response times. My sluggish brain is. 

There's always an early-adopter fee, and admittedly we won't get to faster, cheaper, and more exciting features if someone doesn't bite the bullet and slap them on a new product regardless of price. The 'sportification' of gaming hardware isn't a bad thing, necessarily. My point is, you don't have to be the guinea pig. Or the PC gamer that's paying the way for these optical switches to go mainstream one day. You can get by just fine on the basics.

Sometimes a cheap slab of mechanical keys is all you need. And that's the Jacob Ridley Guarantee^TM.

I've always wanted an ultra low profile gaming keyboard. I'd convinced myself it would give me a speed advantage, and on paper the Corsair K100 Air seems to promise that, as well as covering all the bases a great gaming keyboard should. With its ultra low profile Cherry MX keyswitches, miniscule actuation, and extreme 8k polling, it dangles the hyperfast esports highlife in your face, teasing you with an unfathomable price tag.

Corsair has pulled out all the stops with the Corsair K100 Air gaming keyboard. The thing screams quality, and I was enamoured with the suave charm of its svelte design the second I got it out of the box. It took a day or so to break in the exclusive Cherry MX key switches, but since then typing has been heavenly. These are Cherry's lowest profile offering, requiring just 65g of force and actuating at 0.8mm. Coupled with 1.8mm full travel distance and some incredible tactile feedback, I feel like a maestro plunking away on a wafer thin piano in my daily work.

My only issue with all this ultra-low profile goodness is that my longer nails tend to accidentally activate the wrong keys, with F12 being the bane of my existence right now. Shorten the nails, however, and man do these babies sing—that's both in-game and when rushing to get a month-overdue review done. Pair that with 8,000Hz polling and I could never blame my keyboard for tardiness in work or play ever again.

Bashing out a review on the K100 Air has been met with the rock solid quality of a gorgeous CNC-milled piece of kit. There's no bend when you push the middle, or try to twist it, and the brushed aluminium finish absolutely screams quality. In-line media controls are always a plus on a keyboard, but should be expected for the price Corsair is charging—more on that later.

On top of a slim and durable body that makes even this full-size keyboard supremely portable, Corsair has doubled down on versatility with incredible connectivity, too. Not only can the K100 Air connect to up to three devices via Bluetooth, and one device via the wireless dongle—both with fantastic range and a consistent connection going for them—you can also switch between connection types easily using the Gkeys. I found this a novelty, but for someone constantly switching between different devices, it's going to be a godsend.

The Gkeys double as macro keys as well as another of the K100 Air's tricks: Elgato Stream Deck integration. Now Elgato has been assimilated into the Corsair ecosystem this is the kind of thing we get. And while it's nothing new hardware wise—your average macro already offers this functionality—Corsair can at least say the process of setting it up is a little easier with everything rolled into one.

Corsair's iCue software is easy enough to use, too, and pretty unintrusive which can't be said for some—Razer Synapse, I'm looking at you. The per-key lighting options are multifarious, and maybe a little unnecessary with the option to go 20-layers deep with the lighting effects. I have to say I had fun playing around with it, though. 

The main wireless contender for the K100 Air is the low profile Logitech G915, coming in at $230 it currently sits at the top of our best wireless gaming keyboard guide, though our main issue has always been its price. Compare this $50 cheaper board and you really have to ask yourself what you're getting for the extra cost.

Both offer 40+ hours of battery life with RGB on, superb actuation, and dedicated media controls, but other than impeccable style theres not much in it. The K100 Air's 8,000Hz polling rate is its main bragging point over the Logitech board, but even that ends up being superfluous in most situations—you have to be basically superhuman to detect it anyway.

Sure, the Logitech may not be a full sized board, nor does it come with multi-device connectivity, or fancy Stream Deck integration, but are any of those features really worth the extra $50 over the keyboard that currently tops our pick for the best wireless gaming keyboard?

Similarly the Corsair K100 Air's wireless capability, dedicated media controls, and ultra low profile Cherry MX Switches seem to give it the upper hand against the Wooting Two HE—our current best gaming keyboard. And while those are all great features, the Wooting offers hot swappable analogue switches, with adjustable actuation, for a not-unsignificant $85 less. 

Speed and versatility are evidently at the top of Corsair's priorities for the K100 Air, and exclusive switches from a world-leading manufacturer will put it firmly on the radar for keyboard red-switch likers. But that exclusivity comes at a price. In the end, cost is king. While the K100's smashing spec grants an exceptional experience, bringing it very close to perfection, I would have expected something truly ground-breaking for the $280 price tag. I didn't even get a wrist rest.

Professional keyboard fetishist and comedy YouTuber Glarses has stuck it to Razer and built his own six-foot fully mechanical keyboard. Apparently, Razer turned him down when he offered to buy their own 64x scale keyboard from the 2018 CES show.

His solution? Build his own. Not only that but do it bigger and do it better. The Razer keyboard was a TKL board without a number pad and 87 key switches. Glarses therefore decided to go for a full layout and 110 switches.

He also wanted the best possible key action, so decided to lube all the keys. Unfortunately, it took 10 minutes just to get the first key apart. Ouch.

At the heart of this custom build is Novelkeys 64x scale mechanical MX-style switches, the same ones used by Razer for their big 'board. The rest of the build was done using largely custom 3D-printed parts, plus a huge machined aluminum case and chassis in three modular pieces.

The stabilizers for the space key were also 3D printed and the space key itself is bigger than many actual keyboards all on its own. Time was tight, so many most of the parts were ordered without a test print run, leading to a lot of hand tuning and dremeling to get everything to fit.

Some miscalculations involving the spring strength for the keyboard switch also ensued, plus a last-minute Covid-induced rush forcing Glarses and two friends to do the final assembly in just 24 hours and mad 30 minute dash to hot glue all the key caps on.

If you're wondering about the cost, it all came to £12,000 or just under $15,000. Wowsers. But you can't put a price on keyboard joy on such a huge scale.

As I pound my fingers dutifully into the square panels in front of me to create words, I realise my ignorance. While mechanical keyboards are in my wheelhouse, I don't really know much about how keyboards got where they are today. There's hundreds of years of development behind these things. How did we get from the first commercial typewriters of the 1800s to these wondrous boards of clacky switches and bright RGB lighting? Or even haunted AI typewriters?

Thankfully, this question is being answered by Marcin Wichary, who has a long history of turning keyboard nerdery into truly engaging stories. Wichary has recently launched an already fully funded Kickstarter to turn the history of keyboards into a pair  of beautiful books. To make this project even better, the collection is called Shift Happens.

These two books will delve into the stories behind typewriters and keyboards in all their forms. We're not just talking about engineering and construction, but also the development of typing techniques, and heaps of other related history. It promises to look at things like DVORAK vs QWERTY, spies listening to keystrokes, and the stories of people who've made keyboards what they are today.

If you're not that big on reading, there's also plenty of gorgeous pictures set to fill these books. Shift Happens looks like it'll be a stunning coffee table edition boasting over 1,300 high-quality photographs, over 500 of which were taken for the book. Plu,s four pictures of keyboards that are using comic sans.

Fonts are also a big passion for Wichary which comes through in this Kickstarter. It has fonts that have been made just it harking back to old newspapers for readability and novelty in equal measure. A $5 backing on the Kickstarter will even get you the Gorton font, as well as what's called a PDF specimen. 

For those who may be dubious about Kickstarters, this one does seem like a fairly safe bet. First of all, it's already written. There's still more work to be done to bring the book into production, but none of it seems outrageous. Backing something like a book is usually much less uncertain than tech. If you're not sold on dropping the full Kickstarter price of $125+ USD for the book, you can always go in for a $20 booklet version. 

Those who are already all in on this book about keyboards can go for the highest tier called Ctrl+Alt+Shift Happens. This'll give you two copies of both the complete books and booklets as well as some more unique goodies including a bespoke keycap. Though if GameCube-styled keycaps are more your speed we've got you covered there too.

Regardless of the tier, I think this is a worthwhile Kickstarter for any fans of keyboards, books, or both. The passion and knowledge that's gone into it seems clear from what you can peruse on the Kickstarter page, including full design renders. There's also plenty of wonderful titbits on the official website too. 

Shift Happens is set to ship in October 2023, making for a potentially wonderful Christmas gift for the nerds in your life. It's me, I'm the nerds in your life. Please buy me this book.

Drop's newest collab with Middle-earth Enterprises brings us the Black Speech Keyboard. Not only does this mechanical 60% gaming keyboard come with real Black Speech characters written across the keycaps, it also features the piercing gaze of the Great Eye, lidless, wreathed in flame.

Drop's previous installations of Lord of the Rings gaming keyboards included an Elvish keyboard adorned with the Two Trees of Valinor, and a Dwarvish one featuring the Doors of Moria.

The Black Speech keyboard is built around the same ENTR baseboard as the previous models, and comes with the same Holy Panda X Switches. I imagine the Dark Lord would be thrilled to see this board forged in Black Steel, though it's only Anodized Aluminium, sadly.

And although there are no enchantments here, there are a few keycap designs available to give it a splash of colour. These feature line artwork of the Shards of Narsil, and even a lone Nazgul. Of course it wouldn't be complete without a One Ring artisan keycap, to capture the moment The Precious finally sunk into the fires of Mount Doom.

The Black Speech Keyboard is available for pre-order now from the Drop store, with a price tag of $199. And while one does not simply walk into Mordor and take one of these keyboards, Orcs and Goblins alike should expect their package to appear in mid-April.

Keycaps are one of the easiest, cheapest, and cutest ways to personalise your PC. The world of artisan keycaps goes deep, with designs to suit any gamer or typist. You can get keycaps in shapes like vicious dinos, cute rainbow rubber ducks, and even GPUs. While these are all great, if you're wanting a bit of console gaming nostalgia then we've found the perfect keycap for you.

These GameCube-styled caps are perfect for those longing to bring back the '90s. While not named after the Nintendo console no doubt for legal reasons, the MMI Keycaps Video Game Console is the spitting image of the portable Super Smash Bros. Melee machine we all remember. 

The models look to have a fair amount of detail despite their tiny size. You can see the top disc tray is molded into the plastic as well as the front panel complete with controller ports. There's even venting on the side. Plus they come in some of the most iconic GameCube colours like not-quite-purple blue, orange, and black. Seeing a stack of them together is almost like walking into Akihabara's famous retro gaming Super Potato shop.

The caps are listed as being handmade with resin and acrylic paint and should be compatible with most Cherry-like switches. As an added bonus they're on sale at the moment down from $55 down to $35 USD on Drop.

You can find a bunch of other nice-looking keycaps on the store too, including these $20 kitty paw ones complete with toe beans. Though if you're looking for more retro Nintendo inspired caps, perhaps these ones modelled after Game Boys are more your speed. They're also included in the current sale with $5 off making them $40.

There are a few really wild keycaps up for sale on the website at the moment too. There's a clear resin cap with Marvel's version of Thor's hammer Mjolnir encased within. Or this refreshing succulent-looking cap. Of course they do tend to get a bit pricier with the added level of detail but I think getting to look at one of these on your keyboard every day makes it very worthwhile.

Of course, if you've blown all your cash on sweet keycaps you're never going to use, they even sell some keycap holders themed after Dwarf Factory. Of course, the other option is investing in a nice new gaming keyboard to go with your keycap obsession.

For fans of cute keycaps, I have some bad news. HyperX dropped its monthly collectable keycap for the end of January, and it sold out almost immediately. This month's keycap featured a snuggly kitty all rugged up in his winter's best, and if you're anything like me you're a little annoyed that you missed your chance to bag one of these cuddly kitties. 

The aptly named HyperX Cozy Cat Keycap Coco features a little striped tabby to sit atop your key of choice. This light brown kitty has darker stripes, a little pink nose and ears, and a white tum just daring you to rub it. He'd look perfect sitting atop your Escape key, ready to knock something over.

Wrapped around Coco's neck is a teal scarf with knitted line details, a snowflake pattern, and his name printed across the back. Off to one side atop his head is a matching HyperX themed beanie with white pom-pom. Honestly, at this point I'm not sure if I want the keycap or to steal this cat's winter drip for my own. It's a moot point given I can't get my hands on either of them, and it's summer here in the southern hemisphere anyway. 

While Coco may have slipped through my fingers, it's still very cute and a welcome reminder about this keycap collection HyperX is working on. Had I known this cute little guy in a scarf was going to be on offer, I'd have kept a closer eye on the site. With a new cap every month I'm keen to see what's next. The silhouettes teased hint at what looks like a frog, a duck with headphones, and a shiba inu, so I'm pretty hyped for any of those.

Something worth noting is that these HyperX keys are 3D-printed using the HP's colour 3D-printing techniques. They're really cool, but in my experience do look 3D-printed and not as smooth they are in promo images. 

I happened to snag a couple of HyperX's own printed keycaps back at PAX Aus where I also checked out a tonne of cool computer builds. These caps included the 20th birthday cake keycap you can see you in the display picture at the top of this page. These pics look pretty accurate to the end product to my eyes, so you can get a fair idea of the product you'll be receiving. 

Still, if HyperX's monthly keycaps releases aren't for you then maybe take a dive into the world of artisanal customisable keycaps. You can find all sorts of things from finger-biting dinos to friendly rubber ducks. Most gaming keyboards are compatible with swappable caps you can customise to your heart's content. Even if they might not be cute little kitties snuggled up in tiny winter clothes.

It's been the perfect time to test out SteelSeries Apex 9 TKL gaming keyboard over the past few weeks. I've not had to work, which means I've not had to rely on a full-size keyboard for all the alt-codes I'm pulling off on a regular basis. This is a tenkeyless keyboard, after all, so there's no numpad for all that malarkey, but what you do get are some super swift optical keys that are great for gaming.

The Apex 9 TKL has a pretty compact footprint even for a tenkeyless keyboard. There's no bezel to it, for lack of a better word, and what I mean by that is there's very little outer edge to the keyboard face that extends beyond where the keys end. It's pretty much as compact as you're going to get without buying a 65% board or one with all the keys smushed together. I'm not a fan of the typing experience that brings, and this already seems plenty small enough.

If you're after a space saver, then, this sure is one. For gaming it offers up a little more desk space for throwing a mouse around, and I do that in most FPS games I play so there's some benefit to the compact fit. Though I have to say the lack of a numpad still isn't my personal preference—perhaps that's where a keyboard like the Mountain Everest 60 offers a little more flexibility thanks to its bolt-on numpad accessory.

The Apex 9 TKL's small stature has another benefit, however. It's generally cheaper than some of SteelSeries' full-size wares. The Apex 9 TKL asks for $140, whereas full-size SteelSeries boards of this calibre can go for upwards of $160. The Apex 9 TKL's price tag still pins it as a pricey option versus other more standard-issue tenkeyless boards, however, and that largely appears for the inclusion of optical key switches and PBT keycaps.

If you don't already know, optical key switches use light to actuate on a key press. That's instead of the more traditional mechanical contact point you'd find on, say, Cherry MX switches. The benefit of optical over mechanical often comes down to things like debounce, actuation times, and response times. SteelSeries' OptiPoint optical switches do all of these things very well.

These OptiPoint switches also allow for a choice between two actuation points for all the keys. You can go for the more standard 1.5mm or the rapid-fast 1mm. The latter the choice for fast-paced gaming, the former more for meticulous typists. You can switch between the two modes (Gaming Mode and Typing Mode) with either the SteelSeries GG app or via holding down the SteelSeries logo key and hitting either I or O. Thankfully you don't really have to remember that exact shortcut, as if you hold the SteelSeries key the I and O keys light up orange. 

Ultimately, it's one of those features I tend to not mess around with too much. I mostly just leave the keyboard on Gaming Mode and live with my typing mistakes. Not that I make any, of course.

The OptiPoint switches also offer the benefit of being removeable in the Apex 9 TKL, though the optical-ness of them does limit that hot-swappable functionality somewhat. You have to replace any removed switches with some to match, and that means more OptiPoint switches. Whereas regular hot-swappable mechanical switches can be swapped for all kinds of flavour and feel.

Admittedly, I still find many major firms using optical switches to not quite offer the flexibility that the original Wooting One did. That was my first real taste of what sort of expanded functionality an optical switch could offer, and it did it all very well. Actuation points, special keystroke shortcuts, and analogue input are all on the cards while also netting the other benefits of optical switches that the Apex 9 TKL maintains. Wooting doesn't use optical switches anymore, preferring instead to use Hall Effect switches with a similar feature set, but that experience with a board that really took advantage of optical inputs has always left me wanting more out of the bigger brands' more recent optical keyboards.

The Apex 9's typing experience also isn't my favourite. While quick and responsive to game and type with, the empty clack of the Apex 9's keys as they hit the switch housing just doesn't resonate with me. It sounds like a small deal, but a keyboard's clack is kind of a big deal to some. Myself included.

There is something I absolutely adore about the Apex 9's construction, however, and that's the inclusion of PBT keycaps and a neatly hidden PBT keycap puller. If you lift up the rubber tab on the underside of the board you'll find a keycap puller underneath, handily stored for future use. I've never needed a keycap puller in an emergency situation sorta way, but I've definitely been scrambling through my desk organiser for one at times.

As for the PBT keycaps, you're basically getting a longer-lasting plastic construction that shouldn't break too easily. Similarly the legends shouldn't wear off over extended use.

On the flipside, I'm not hugely impressed with the volume wheel on this board. It's very thin versus a lot of others on the market, and there does appear to be more space around it to expand out further. Similarly, I had initially thought the independently lit button beneath the volume wheel to be some kind of multifunction button programmable in the GG app, but it's not. It's just a play/pause button that's oddly illuminated with a white LED and is not programmable to any other colours in the app. I think I'd probably prefer it to not be illuminated at all if that's going to be the case, as the rest of the board lights up in whatever colour and pattern I prefer.

Ultimately the Apex 9 TKL is a mixed bag. It's certainly not a bad keyboard by any means, and functionally as a compact gaming device it delivers the core functionality I expect of it very well indeed. It's just not all that spectacular, either. There's definitely some further functionality I'd love to see out of SteelSeries' optical switches, at the very least a more granular actuation adjustment setting to get that set just right for me, and I think the GG app could be a little smarter looking. But as I say, it does deliver the bare essentials for a competitive tenkeyless keyboard, and with a good discounted sale price I wouldn't be too afraid to recommend it.

Keyboards don't have to be purely functional. They're potentially one of the biggest statement pieces a desk can have. They sit front and centre for one, and are often one of the most visually interesting peripherals, especially if you're a fan of artisan keycaps, or fun ones like these adorable rubber ducks. 

Modern keyboards are often a colour-shifting RGB feast sitting right at the front of your desk. So why not just make the whole thing a screen? Or include a CPU and GPU that can run Unreal Engine? Why not indeed, says Finalmouse, makers of the upcoming Centerpiece keyboard that does exactly this.

The announcement video for the Centrepiece (spotted by The Register) is embedded at the top of this article, and really shows off the idea. Displaying a whole interactive screen behind crystal clear keys gives an amazing visual. Not only are the animations beautiful, but it can respond to key presses. LED-lit keyboards can have modes to do this today, but it definitely hits different when the result is rippling water as opposed to just coloured lights.

Aside from looking really freaking cool, Centrepiece doesn't give us a lot of info in this video, which is a bit of a red flag, but the switches are set to be the result of a collaboration with Gateron, a Chinese brand that fans compare to some Cherry switches. They're featured in some of our favourite cheaper gaming keyboards on offer. Analog switches are also planned down the line, but for now we're just waiting to see one of these in action at all.

Featuring a CPU, GPU, and clear graphical capabilities, the Centrepiece ends up looking a bit more like a weird all-in-one PC rather than just a keyboard. When you consider that, the $349 USD price tag makes a bit of sense. That's a pricy keyboard, but given how flashy it looks it could be worth it. Or, depending on the actual capabilities of this unit it could be a very cheap and unique PC. 

Either way, I really want one. If it is anything at all like the video, the Centrepiece will be beautiful. There are little minigames you can play in the keyboard, and it even boasts a skin store, though that seems a little early. Still, it could take those in-game keyboard effects to a new level I'd be very keen to see.

Even if it's not everything the video promises, which is very likely, it's a cool idea and I'm always keen to see more of those. Especially if they help to bring a nice aesthetic touch to the world of gaming. I'm hoping to have digital fish swimming around my keyboard when the Centrepiece launches sometime in 2023.

Custom keycaps are a great way to add a personal touch to your keyboard at a relatively low price. The artisanal keycaps rabbit hole is deep and you can find all kinds of caps to suit different setups or tastes. You can get super bright ceramic RGB keycaps, or go the other direction completely with some nice Noctua brown and beige keys. With so many options, keycaps make a great gift for the PC gamer in your life, and often at a reasonable price.

While Dino caps that look like they might bite your fingers off are a great choice, friendlier rubber duck keycaps are currently a favourite. They add a cuteness and levity to an otherwise serious board, and of course they pair especially well with keyboards like the Ducky One 3, which happens to be one of our all time favourite mechanical boards. Some sweet, duck-key on Ducky action.

Duckeys is a cap seller out of Boston that specialises in these viral duck keycaps. They're known for the bright yellow little rubber ducks, sometimes in hats, and often with bonking sticks of some kind. Yellow was never really my colour of choice, so it's great to see Duckeys has finally released its second series of little cuties, which comes in a range of hues.

The new series of ducks are still solid colours, beak and eyes aside, but this time you can choose between a rainbow of options. That makes it a little easier to match your duck to your setup, as opposed to having a little yellow guy looking a bit out of place. Imagine a rainbow of ducks, right there on your keyboard.

The new mystery box options are also very cool, with a special shout out to the frozen-in-ice duck that looks a bit like an Eiscue Pokémon. The quackbar space bar option is also a long delight, but is currently sold out, so might make for a better birthday gift than a stocking stuffer.

What's even cooler about these keycaps is they can quack. You'll need to grab the Duckeys Voicebox software from the website, which is currently only available for Windows. But once installed and set up your ducks should be quacking away as your fingers pulverise them into oblivion. 

The Duckeys range in price, but they're a relatively inexpensive little gift starting at $US10 no matter your preferred colour. The Mystery Keycap packs go for a little more at $US12 and contain a randomly hatted duck from the allocated series.

If you're not quite sold on these little keycap cuties make sure to check out the Duckeys Instagram to see them in action. Or have a look at our other great list of holiday gifts for the PC gamer in your life.

Enthusiast keyboard manufacturer Drop recently paired with everyone's favourite makers of brown PC components to bring us its blandest offering yet: the MiTo MT3 Noctua Keycap Set. A Drop x Noctua exclusive for sad beige gamers.

The keycaps aren't exactly to my taste, though, after complaining about them in the office for about ten minutes, Twitch streamer and cosy game enthusiast MahinTheMachine—who just happens to be on PC Gamer's video team—may have somehow managed to bring me around to the beige colourway.

I'm now convinced these could make for a pretty cosy setup, under the right circumstances. And looking at the photos people have been posting on the Drop community of their Noctua-based peripheral game, it's easy to see the appeal.

It's not just keycaps Noctua has been pulling out to match its iconic brown PC fans, either. The company recently announced its $10 screwdrivers, and yep, they're also brown.

Aside from being cosy as anything the keycaps are compatible with Cherry MX stem switches, are double shot ABS, and come in the MT3 profile, though they don't allow for RGB to shine through the lettering, of course.

That would be too flashy and non-utilitarian for Noctua.

The base keycap set is currently $99, though it's usually going for $130. The matching, curled beige connection cable is $75, and the Drop + Noctua Desk Mat will set you back another $35. 

I think I'd have to be worryingly obsessed with the colour brown to spend that much on my setup.

Gaming keyboard makers, Mountain, just became a subsidiary of the Listan group, the same company that owns cooling, case, and power supply manufacturer be quiet!. That means two of our favorite makers of gaming PC gear are now sisters—essentially it's a great day to be a PC gamer.

The Mountain Everest Max has been high in our list of best gaming keyboards for some time, and as an avid wanderer, I've always resonated with Mountain's take on gaming: "Much like climbing a mountain, gaming takes you on a journey that can be fun, challenging, and exciting … It doesn’t matter what games we play; the ascension creates the experiences and memories that we love to share, our way to the top of the mountain."

Having been acquired by Listan, the 2018-founded company is taking more than just another step in a long journey to create gaming memories, it's pairing with one of the best makers of silent fans, and other PC components, we've seen in all our years in the industry. Right now, be quiet! has entries in our best PC case guide with the Dark Base Pro 900, our list of best CPU coolers with the Pure Rock 2, and even our guide to the best power supply with the Pure Power 11 FM 550W.

A marriage made in PC gaming heaven. And Listan's CEO Stanislav Minkin is rather enthusiastic about the acquisition.

"The peripheral market has above-average growth potential in gaming, streaming and content creation." He notes that Mountain "has an impressive roadmap of new products that are sure to make a big impact. With Mountain in our ranks, we can confidently target our next goals."

With the Listan group bringing the two together with Xilence, another well respected component manufacturer, we could well see a full PC setup takeover on our hands, then. Now that Listan has top input devices in its repertoire, there's surely no stopping the company.

Peripherals manufacturer Higround has revealed a collaboration with Bandai Namco to produce a Gundam-themed line of mechanical keyboards and accessories. They will be available for purchase starting December 9.

You may remember Higround for its rad Sonic the Hedgehog collection, and the Gundam swag is similarly eye-catching. The Summit 65 case has a clean, all-white look, but I'm actually way more taken with the cheaper Basecamp 65 model⁠—both variations of the Gundam Basecamp case feature my one consumer electronics design weakness, translucent plastic.

On the keycap front, the set with the more zoomed-out, full body image is the clear winner in my book, though all of the sets boast a "best of both worlds" design when it comes to function and aesthetics. Blank keycaps are hard to type with, after all, so Higround's offerings have side-print legends for when you need to cheat.

I'm also quite happy with what's going on under the keycaps. Mechanical switch choice can be a very personal matter, but I definitely appreciate Higround's use of custom switches in both boards. In my experience, more nonsensical names are indicators of quality in the keyboard switch world, and the "Thin Ice" and "White Flame" linear switches offered by Higround in this collection are right at home among the "Holy Pandas" and "Gateron Oil Kings" of the world.

The collection also includes desk mats and a tote bag, and I'm a big fan of the all-black mousepad. The art of the mobile suits has that kind of fuzzy look like it was ripped straight from a Toonami broadcast in the early 2000s, and the accessories are probably going to be your more wallet-friendly options among this spread.

Pricing is likely in line with Higround's previous offerings, with Basecamp boards going for $145 and the Summit 65 commanding $290. The Basecamps and other accessories go on sale December 9, with the Summit 65 being available for pre-order then, and you can sign up for a first crack at the collection on Higround's website.

There is much about the MelGeek Pixel that ought to speak to me on so many different levels. The first, quite obviously, is the LEGO styling. Though equally obviously MelGeek cannot claim any affiliation with the famous Danish brand. What it can do, however, is be "brick compatible" and by that it means a stud width and depth equal to the LEGO standard.

More or less.

Every part of the design is LEGO, sorry, brick compatible—from the keys, to keycaps, to indicator lights, to feet, to the entire surface of the board. Included in the $199 package are a bunch of extra bricks with which to adorn your Pixel keyboard, with funky pixel art style shenanigans, or cutesy messages.

Or you can use the bricks to add some extra height to the board at the back to give you a better angle to type on. 

Then, when you get past the definitely not LEGO stuff, you end up with an enthusiast-class keyboard with hot-swappable mechanical switches that you can just pull out and replace at will. So long as you have a switch-puller, that is. You only get a keycap puller in the box. It's also a wireless board, too, with RGB lighting playing around the brick compatible edges of the chassis.

And that, sadly, is where all the positivity ends. Yes, it looks funky in that LEGO geek-chic way, but when something looks this much like a toy you'd be surprised if it didn't end up feeling like one. And I am not surprised by the Pixel.

For one, it is a genuinely horrible typing board. The actual Kailh Pixel T switches supplied in this review model are fine, but that's not the problem. Let me elaborate via a slice of unedited typistry:

The biog problem is that the keyus are just far too closer tgogerther to bve able nto deliver a particulartlty accurate touch-typing experience. They literally butt against erach other with the smooth, though concave brick compatibvle keycaps not really keeping your digits in check. IU munich prefer a board where there is at least a little separatiofg between the keys. 

Also, with no palm rest, your hands are stuck at such an obvlique angle thatg you can'tr help b ut end up regularfly hittiong the key directly below the one you'rte aiming for.

So yeah, not ideal by any stretch of the imagination. Especially if you spend most of your working life writing copy. 

I get that MelGeek wants to nail the pixel aesthetic with the Pixel keyboard, and make it look for all the world like the sort of keyboard you'd actually find in a LEGO set, but for me it's just not worth it for the ultimate sacrifice in ergonomics.

There is one thing I do like, though, and that's the USB Type-C cable. It's a nice blue, flat one, and I appreciate the brick elements on each end of the wire.

My final issue, however, is all to do with its brick compatibility. There are a lot of things I can forgive in the name of LEGO, and if it was built with the same absolute rigid quality that has become the byword of the Danish megatoy then maybe I'd feel a little softer towards its overall failings as an actual keyboard. But the Pixel keyboard suffers from the same sort of QA issues as every other not-LEGO set I've ever experienced.

The often-unsung quality of LEGO is its rock-solid reliability. You 100% know that a brick you pick up today will be compatible with one from fifty years ago, and almost more importantly, it will have the same level of stickiness. The way LEGO blocks hold on to one another is key to its power as a building block, and that's something the knock off versions don't have.

Maybe that's not a huge issue most of the time, but when you're relying on that strength of connection to form the feet of a keyboard, and the only way you can actually engender a vaguely effective typing angle, then having a set of legs that will just break off at the slightest motion is a problem.

The build quality problems extend to the chassis, too. This is a $200 keyboard and yet there is an abhorrent amount of give in the plastic chassis. There is no rigidity to it, and I don't have a lot of confidence in the device's longevity. And that's not a place I want to be when I'm being asked to spend this much on an enthusiast keyboard.

So yeah, for me it's a no. A strong no. 

Mountain's Everest 60 RGB keyboard maybe comes from a company you've never heard of but it just so happens to be one of our favorite 60% keebs here at PC Gamer. You can grab the keyboard today from Mountain with a hefty $60 discount, making the premium wee board just $80 for the standard black RGB number. 

But if you want to bling it up the discount means it's $99 if you want some extra fancy colored PBT keycaps, or $115 if you want the detachable numpad too. I think it's definitely one of the best Cyber Monday keyboard deals going. These sorts of 60% keyboards are perfect for those of you with tiny hands like me, or if you're working in a limited space, and you'll find very little sacrificed with the Everest 60. 

• We're curating all the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals right here.

In his review, our hardware overlord, Dave, called the Everest 60 "the best 60% keeb we've ever had the pleasure of testing" and he's not wrong. I've been using the Everest 60 since April and it is by far the comfiest keyboard I've ever used. 

There are several colour schemes to choose from and replacing all those plain black keys with the colourful optional keycap set of your choice is oh-so-satisfying. The tactile switch has just enough click to make it sound like I'm doing something important and you can switch up the RGB pattern easily enough to keep things spicy.

The optional modular numpad is definitely worth getting, in my opinion, and you can choose whether to have it on the left or right, so you can create a gaming setup that's right for you. Whether you just want a fancy board just to type on or a swish new gaming keyboard, grabbing this baby for $80 is well worth it.

Mechanical keyboards are a pretty big staple for PC gamers in this day and age. We can't get enough of those sometimes very clicky keys with actuation that just feels so much more certain than non mechanical variants. This is all thanks to the switches that sit under the keys, which come in all different variants and brands. There's not really a bigger name when it comes specifically to key switches than Cherry MX, and the brands just launched a new official switch from a community based design.

The Cherry MX Ergo Clear is a quiet switch that came about thanks to DIY efforts from the community, and now it makes its way to the official Cherry line-up. The Ergo Clear first showed up back in March 2011 when a user going by mtl showed off their modification on the Geekhack forums. 

The mod involved swapping out the springs that came with the MX Clear board at the time, and replacing them with springs from the MX Black switches. You can still go see the post now, which details how they came to this combination. It provides a smoother typing feel, and changes the bottom-out force, making for something a bit like a cross between the MX Clear and MX Brown Cherry switches. More importantly, it was a big hit in the keyboard community.

It's almost a surprise to see Cherry take so long to bring these fan-made switches into the official rotation, but it's a lovely special edition touch for enthusiasts. Plus, the modification process is rather fiddly, and this gives less experienced users a much easier way of getting their hands on Ergo Clear keys. 

Of course, these official MX Ergo Clear switches have a few professional tweaks from Cherry MX as the brand is a fan of sneaky upgrades. The original version used a PTFE lubricant coating which has been replaced with a high-performance grease at specific points. It allows Cherry MX to guarantee more than 50 million actuations, and is probably a bit safer for the life of the switch. 

Furthermore, the Cherry MX Ergo Clear will come in different variations. There's the RGB version for gamers who want their keyboards to shine as brightly as their kill streak. These have a translucent upper portion of the keys which will let LEDs show through. Or you can rock the standard darker switches for a more discrete look.

Both kinds will be available in both 3-pin and 5-pin configurations, as well as built into upcoming keyboard models. If the community is anything to go by, these are going to be some lovely, smooth, quiet typing experiences, great for gaming and office use. I can't wait to try out some official Cherry MX Ergo Clears myself, and feel the difference.

Gaming PCs aren't cheap, so it's important to keep your machine protected from any possible damage. Yet while it's easy enough to tuck the tower under your desk, looking after your keyboard is much more difficult. Sprawled across the middle of your desktop, it's potentially the most exposed part of your setup, constantly accumulating dust and dirt and always one spilled drink away from needing to be replaced entirely.

But now there is a way to reduce the risk of putting an unnecessary dent in both your gaming time and your bank account. Enter Decksaver's series of protective covers, designed to keep your keyboard safe from dust, liquids, impacts, and anything else that might turn your keyboard into an expensive dinner tray. For the last fifteen years, Decksaver has dedicated itself to safeguarding the electronic gear of DJs, music producers, pro audio specialists; and now gamers.

As a result, Decksaver's protective covers are no simple or flimsy plastic covers. Each cover is fashioned from the company’s specification smoked clear, ultra-durable polycarbonate, the same material that's used in bullet-proof glass! These super-tough covers are not one-size-fits-all affairs either. Each cover is designed to fit precisely onto your specific keyboard, with a wide range of covers available for keyboards from established brands such as Razer, Corsair, Logitech, Roccat, SteelSeries, and Hyper X.  Many hours of design, prototyping, and testing go into every cover, ensuring they provide the neatest possible fit over your keyboard while maximising protection.

If your cup of coffee slips out of your hand when you sit down at your desk in the morning, not only will a Decksaver cover protect your keyboard from the liquid, it'll protect it from the heavy ceramic too.

But the usefulness of a Decksaver cover stretches far beyond preventing occasional accidents. As well as keeping your keyboard safe, Decksaver helps to keep it clean. The average computer keyboard has 104 keys, which is great for playing complex strategy games or nuanced tactical shooters, but less ideal when all those keys start to get gummed up with dust and grime. Nobody wants to lose an entire afternoon to cleaning a keyboard, prying out every single keycap, clearing out whatever horrors have accumulated beneath, washing the keycaps, and waiting for them to dry, before having to painstakingly reset every single one. It's a fiddly, time-consuming, and precarious task, one that can be turned into a thirty-second wipe with a dust-cloth with a Decksaver protective cover.

The polycarbonate shell of a Decksaver cover also makes them ideal for transportation. If you're moving house, for example, you don't want to spend an hour unpacking and setting up your PC only to discover your keyboard doesn't work, and a Decksaver cover is much more durable than a roll of bubble wrap or a few packing peanuts. But the covers are also suited for more general travel. Their bespoke slimline fit adds minimal bulk to your keyboard's existing dimensions, making it much easier to sling your keyboard into a case or a rucksack for easy, convenient, and safe transportation.

Indeed, Decksaver's covers complement their protective qualities with a distinctive flair for style. Each cover has a subtle smoked clear colour that perfectly complements your keyboard's particular design, letting the specific qualities of your keyboard (such as LED backlighting) shine through. Decksaver's cover design also accounts for the positioning of any wires or ports on your keyboard, ensuring there's no need to unplug or make any alterations to your setup when fitting the cover after your latest gaming session.

Prevention is always better than cure, so if you want to maximise your gaming thrills while minimising the risk of spills, head on over to Decksaver's official website and check out their full range of keyboard covers. Your keyboard might be peripheral in name, but it's an essential part of any PC gamer's setup, and a Decksaver cover ensures that your keyboard stays at the centre of your gaming until you decide that it's time for an upgrade.

I'm not usually one to say such things, but hot damn, Corsair just dropped one of the hottest-looking ultra-thin keyboards I've ever seen. The K100 Air has just been announced and it's a beautiful-looking piece of kit with a brushed aluminium frame and ultra-low profile keys. This might be the most stylish keyboard we've seen released all year, and it looks like it'll fit the bill for PC gaming and typing.

This keyboard looks so low profile that it would easily be at home on any desk and add a layer of class. Corsair boasts the K100 Air is only 11mm thick at its thinnest point, and the keys barely appear to go much higher than that in the images. This combined with that cool brushed metal finish and metal grey keys means this keyboard looks super slick, and the specs are equally nice.

Those low profile keys are none other than Cherry MX Ultra Low Profile key switches which are some of the most popular on the market. Cherry makes great feeling, durable switches which have long passed the test of time. These switches can be found in many of our favourite mechanical keyboards, including our front runner for typing, the Ducky One 3. It's easy to have confidence that this keyboard should feel great to use, even with such recessed keys.

The Corsair K100 Air supports slipstream wireless as well as Bluetooth connections, or you can just use it wired. It can be connected to up to three devices at once and is built to deliver gaming-level response times and performance. Those who love to game on mac style boards, or laptop keyboards are likely in for a real treat. There's a clear bent that this keyboard is aimed towards gamers, with a little bit of added chic. 

This means it also comes complete with some RGB backlighting which nicely illuminates the title of each key. It sounds like Corsair has gone pretty hard with the options here, stating there are 20 complex hardware RGB lighting layers working at once, though it's hard to know exactly what that means. 

Sounds like there'll be plenty of customisation for those willing to sacrifice the battery life to get it. With the lights on, Corsair promises up to 50 hours of battery life, or you can turn them off to get up to 200 hours.

Aside from that the K100 Air looks to sport all the other bells and whistles you'd expect from a higher-end keyboard. It can support macros, save profiles, remap keys, and hopefully even be typed on.

That sleek design and feature-rich pedigree attract a hefty price, though. The Corsair K100 Air will set you back a whopping $280 for the honour of having something so good-looking sit on your desk.

"Hey you! You with the short keyboard! Look how short your keyboard is! Look and weep." - Google, probably.

Google has released a new keyboard with a unique take on ergonomic design. Rather than group the keys up in stacked rows like we're used to, this keyboard cleverly places all the keys in a line from left to right. It makes for a stick shaped board that's 1.65m long, sporting all the keys you'd see on a normal keyboard positioned in series. 

In a delightful video from Google Japan, (via Tom's Hardware) you can see this new design in action as well as have the rational explained to you in increasingly unhinged methods. First it explains that it's far easier to find the key you're looking for when they're all lined up, as you only have to look along one axis instead of two, but it just gets weirder from there. You see, not only can this new board serve as a keyboard, but it also gives you a very handy stick that can be useful in a wide range of scenarios. 

The GBoard stick is described as "wide enough for a cat to walk across," but also explains that a cat is far less likely to snooze on this long contraption, and that its form makes it far easier to clean in one swipe. The height is also noted to be a "comfortable thickness," and it can support up to three t-shirts if supported at both ends, all of which is equally important. Though it does make me wary about using it as a walking stick as shown in the video.

A wonderful whimsical joke though this may be, you can actually get your hands on this extra lengthy board. Google isn't selling it, but instead has uploaded the DIY project to Github so anyone can have a go and looking at the listing it's immediately clear that way too much thought was put into this project. You'll need a 3D printer and some know-how, but you can soon have your very own stick keyboard, specifically designed for catching development bugs with net attachment.

It also may not be an entirely silly thing in its own way. While ridiculous in the video and on the official website right down to the URL, a shared keyboard for coding or gaming purposes isn't exactly a bad idea. There might be merit to a keyboard that's spread out enough to get people moving at their desks, have more than one person use it at a time, or just in shaking up a prevalent design.

That being said, I'm not sure if laying them out quite like this is the way to go about it, but I'm down to try some typing duets. After all, they say that heaven and hell for writers are the same. All of us are given metre long keyboards, but in heaven we work together to use them, and in hell we are set on fire and repeatedly beaten with them.

Keyboards are one of the easiest parts of your PC gaming setup to really dial into your own style. First you get to choose what kind of feel you're after, whether you want something specifically for gaming or you're a die-hard mechanical deviant. There are even analogue solutions like our favourite gaming keyboard the Wooting Two He, for those who really want to feel their keys. But the choices don't end there.

Artisan keycaps are a great way to go that extra distance in keyboard customisation. They range from the very simple, like these G-Skill caps that let more light shine through, to the truly terrifying, like these finger-hungry T-Rex caps. Sometimes hardware companies even come out with their own bits of keyboard bling like these RTX ON caps from Nvidia, or the tiny GPU keycap released by Asus.

But the biggest problem with all of these solutions is that they're weak. Sure, a Kerbal-themed keycap might look cute, but it's also safe, boring, and uninspired. Buying sweet keycaps off the internet may be fun, a great way to support small artists, and stylish, but where's the risk? Where's the adventure? Where's the permanent destruction of property you were trying to enhance?

That's why I'm glad someone with some keyboard balls has finally decided to show their face to the modding community. Redditor lady_renari has posted this frankly so-good-it's-upsetting glitter mod video to help inspire us all. Finally, a challenger who knows what they're doing and has a little sense of daring has appeared.

The video takes us through the step-by-step process of this extremely skilled build. It's fair to say you probably shouldn't follow along with this one, not unless you're incredibly certain of your ability—but it's still nice to watch a master at work.

First, we start with a detailed look at how the specialised glue is applied carefully around the edges of the keys. The glue is expertly applied so as to slide between the keys, leaving the caps as free from mess as possible for a smoother typing experience down the line. The technique used here is just so impressive to watch, it had me holding my breath through the entire application. 

modding_your_keyboard_is_super_simple from r/MechanicalKeyboards

Once the layer of glue has been applied and has evened out, the keyboard begins to resemble membrane-based boards. It's already amplified the look of the original basic board, elevating it to a new category. Despite this, that's not the end of this impressive mod. The final shine has yet to be added.

With an absolute masterclass of brilliance, modder lady_renari then coats the glue with glitter. Different sections of the keyboard all have their own color themes that, when the glittering is complete, show off a clearly segmented board. It's so easy to tell which part of the keyboard is which thanks to the large blocks of glittery colour. A build this good-looking and functional is a rare site.

And of course, they finish the build with a step so many modders forget: a good rinse under the tap. It's a great way to get rid of any loose bits of glue, glitter, or whatever you happen to choose to work with. Unfortunately, the video abruptly ends here, so it's hard to get a look at the final product, but the process was a clear educational treat. I learned so much I can put to use in my own future keyboard-modding projects.

Here at PC Gamer we see our fair share of keyboards from all different makes and styles. We often split them into categories like wireless or mechanical to help rank them for different use cases. However, we do have a top spot overall for gaming, and that belongs to the analogue master, the Wooting Two HE.

If you've been eyeing off our favourite gaming keyboard ever, you might want to get in quick. According to the official Wooting Keyboard Twitter account, the company is expecting to be out of stock of the keyboard by October. It also doesn't anticipate having stock again until the beginning of next year, so it'll be a long wait if you miss out.

The Tweet also states this is partially due to diverting parts to Wooting's new 60% keyboard which is currently up for preorder. The website explains that while this keyboard is being mass produced, it is currently still receiving tonnes of preorders with the latest batch to ship in October. It's likely this will be an excellent TKL board but if you're looking for full size you'll want to get in quick for the Wooting Two HE.

Now, you won't find the Wooting Two HE on our best cheap gaming keyboard list. These go for $167 USD, but you're getting something a bit unique compared to most others on the market. The analogue switches mean they can measure distance being pressed, which some games and programs can read as more specific inputs. You can get a look at how these features can work in the video at the top of the page, and the ever excellent Jacob Ridley goes into a fair bit more detail on how they work in our review.

While it's pretty rare to find games that use the feature, it's certainly nice to have, but it's not the only thing that makes this keyboard our top pick. The Wooting Two He has hot swappable keys, so if you ever need or want to replace any it's an easy affair. Plus there's a two year warranty if you're really concerned about durability.

As an added bonus the Wooting keyboards also have excellent software. The wonderfully named Wootility program can let you adjust your RGB profiles, analogue switch settings, and other little tweaks. It's clean and simple which is a big departure from many other similar software offerings making it surprisingly nice to use. Plus you can store the profile and software on the keyboard itself, making it able to load on other PCs instantly.

If you're already in possession of the keyboard of your dreams, don't forget you can still up your game. These shortcuts will give you the skills to elevate your keyboard mastery to a brand new level.

Youtube channel RKade is all about "gaming like you've never seen it" and I have to admit that I have never before seen two people build a 16-foot long keyboard from scratch. The build seems to be taking a tilt at the (currently vacant) Guinness World Records spot for 'biggest keyboard' though, as the RKade pair would find out, Guinness World Records are a load of rubbish.

The breezy video takes you through a sped up version of the labour-intensive process by which the channel's hosts first build the keys—constructed from cardboard before being painted and having lettering decals applied. They've designed an unusually large layout, 3d printed a tonne of custom component parts for the mounting, and installed 'springs' to make the keys pop back up.

It's a build that is equal parts technical ingenuity and good old-fashioned getting your hands dirty. There are a few hiccups along the way, though the largest is when the wood they've used to construct the frame begins warping, necessitating a complete teardown and re-making the keyboard frame with particle board.

The whole ginormous structure works through a standard keyboard circuit board, which sits under the edifice with each key activating a lever switch that is wired-up to it. The moment one of these giant keys is pressed and an 'a' appears on-screen is kinda magic.

Needless to say, RKade used their creation to play a typing game: the twist being that the host with the lowest score had to then type out 'Never Gonna Give You Up' as punishment. It's actually quite nice to see a rickroll used in a somewhat creative way for once. As you'd guess, it's much easier to type out the whole thing with clever use of keyboard shortcuts. When the keys are several feet apart though, time to get some exercise.

Oh and: the pair didn't get the Guinness World Record. Apparently because it's not based on an existing keyboard. But who cares, this thing justifies its own existence.

This isn't the first and will certainly not be the last attempt to build a giant keyboard. Razer brought a giant one to CES 2018, which was around ten times bigger than the standard size, but next to this it looks itsy-bitsy small.

Stiffer competition in every sense comes from Russian artist Anatoly Vyatkin’s beautiful concrete 'Keyboard Monument,' installed in the city of Yekaterinburg in 2005. This is the largest keyboard in the world, at 50 feet wide and 13 feet high, though unlike RKade's build this is a non-functional tribute.

Thanks, Keyboard Builders' Digest.

Such 20% keyboards, or keypads, have been around for a while, but here comes Nordic Game Supply with "The Shrimp" mechanical keyboard to shake things up, or rein them in as the case may be.

When I first spotted this teeny little keyboard from NGS it took me a while to figure out the selling point. As a gaming keypad there are of course the standard benefits: not being relegated to using the WASD keys on your gaming laptop—great for a bunch of reasons including avoiding sweaty fingers in a heatwave—and of course they're a lot more portable than even their 60% counterparts.

But there's something about this keyboard that stands out, something it does differently to a lot of gaming keypads on the market today.

Consider the Razer Tartarus Pro gaming keypad with its super ergonomic wrist rest, thumbstick and pressure sensitive keys; or the frankly immense 26-key, hand-conforming Azeron Gaming Keypad. Both are ergonomic to the max and kitted out with more greebles than a Star Destroyer. But what's different about The Shrimp keyboard is that it's just a standard keyboard chopped in half. 

No frills or funky shapes, just good old fashioned cuboid click clacks.

"The Shrimp gives you the freedom to position your hands as you desire," says product designer Kari Viljanen. "No more twisting your keyboard, hands and shoulders into awkward angles to find a feasible gaming position."

I'm not exactly sure how holding back on ergonomics can make something more ergonomic, let alone be considered a selling point, but there must be a market for it. The keypads out there were getting a little ridiculous, I have to say.

"There have also been keypad sized gaming devices before the Shrimp but they have either been non-standard layout, made to adapt keyboard & mouse on gaming consoles or have had some off-putting futuristic 'space-captain' designs. I believe we have made a design that is both comfortable to use and looks great on your desktop."

The Shrimp comes in a 25-key global keyboard layout, with Cherry profile which means the keycaps are shorter and less angular than that of standard OEM keyboards. There's Gateron G Pro mechanical switches packed in there, and even RGB lighting that shines through some intensely large lettering.

Nordic Game Supply also boasts about The Shrimp keyboard's "Cool gadgety knobs," which is going on my list of potential band names. 

To be fair, multimedia controls are always well received in my book, and I appreciate the snazzy colour ways. These include pink, blue with a monkey on the wrist rest, and one with a sticker-bombed wrist rest. There's still no word on pricing and availability, however.

Drop has just brought to us something I didn't know I needed, but will forever be grateful for the existence of: Elvish and Dwarfish Lord of the Rings mechanical keyboards. Like a twinkling white star above the dark mountains of earth, the beauty of these glorious tenkeyless keyboards has truly smote my heart.

With a refined, muted green facade, the Elven keyboard is adorned with custom Two Trees of Valinor artwork from Oshetart above the arrow keys. The broken blade of Andúril sits upon the enter key, surrounded by Tengwar (as well as Latin) glyphs, and Sindarin phrases such as "speak out loud" for the caps lock key (thanks for the spot Golem.de).

The Dwarves have been graced with shades of rock and stone, and Doors of Moria artwork sits in the space above the arrow keys, so you can feel like a king under your mountain. Cirth and Latin legends, as well as Khuzdul phrases, are littered across the keycaps, and the left Windows key is marked by the One Ring.

Both are built around the ENTR anodized aluminum case as a base, and come with Holy Panda X Switches, tactile switches designed by Drop and produced by Gateron. 

Some things to be aware of: while the switches are MX compatible, they aren't hot swappable. The Elvish and Dwarvish lettering doesn't really correspond to the Latin lettering either. And just so you know, the artwork sadly doesn't glow with under-key lighting as if touched by the last light of Durin's day.

Each keyboard does come with some novelty keycaps and a few from each one's respective orange keycap set: a scorching Durin's Forge orange for the Dwarves, and an airy Autumn in Rivendell orange for the Elves.

I can't decide which one is more beautiful, but I'm sure either will go exceptionally well with the One Ring artisan keycap or this handcrafted Smaug wrist rest, both of which are also a part of the Drop x Lord of the Rings collection.

Pre-order prices are $169, down from $199, and the boards are expected to ship in mid-October 2022.

Henceforth I will call nothing fair unless it be these keyboards.

The Wooting 60HE has a party trick: each key on this compact keyboard is completely analogue and can deliver a range of actuation far beyond the pedestrian on or off we're used to. That makes for a breadth of uses in heaps of games and genres that you wouldn't otherwise expect from a mouse and keyboard.

With the Wooting 60HE you can set your own actuation point, anywhere from 0.1mm to 4mm; something which only a few clever keyboards have manually offered before. There's even the option to set this on a per-key level, so your WASD and spacebar could theoretically be quicker to actuate than others around them. Great for mitigating mistypes, but there's also the opportunity for even more specialised set-ups.

You can enable the 60HE to rapidly register a key press on a downstroke and then intelligently reset that press when you release the key, a feature called Rapid Trigger. This makes for practically light-speed response times for competitive shooters.

You can enable something called Tachyon mode to run the keyboard at super speed to reduce input lag, potentially halving latency to around 1ms though disabling the per-key RGB lighting.

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You can finally steer a horse with some semblance of accuracy in Red Dead Redemption 2 without using a controller, which feels worthy enough of mention all on its own.

You can even have key macros that toggle differently depending on how far or how many times you tap a key. Though these do take some getting used to.

There really are a whole bunch of uses for analogue keyboard inputs that are only a few clicks away with the Wooting 60HE. Not forgetting this board's ability to mimic an Xbox gamepad with left and right analogue stick functionality. 

It's also possible to adjust the response curve of these analogue features from a gradual curve to an extreme turbo mode, making for a universally flexible option for whichever game you choose to use these analogue features in. I tended to stick with the standard curve here, but the smooth curve is handy while you're getting to grips with the analogue inputs.

Admittedly it does take a while to learn how to not smash the keys as I would usually. That's true for even someone like myself that has used an analogue keyboard multiple times in the past. First, you need to break down the years of muscle memory telling you how to type, then you need to actually get to grips with how to best use the 60HE to get the most out of its uncommon feature set.

Though once you are familiar with the keyboard it's easy to get the most out of it while gaming. I also hold that some of its most useful features, such as Rapid Trigger, don't require you to adjust how you play all that much. Over time, I found I began feeling out the way to actuate the switches most effectively and I wasn't all that conscious of the change in play style.

There are four profiles that can be stored on the 60HE, and by default one of these is a more standard setup for typing. The others come set up for rapid gameplay (basically your FPS mode), racing games, and a more generic 'mixed movement' mode. That last one replaces your WASD with left analogue stick movement in controller terms. All of which can be swapped between easily through built-in shortcuts.

Below: The 60HE's Rapid Trigger feature is enabled; green is when a key is actuated, red is when the key resets.

This analogue input is made possible by Wooting's impressive Lekker switch. These are smooth linear feel switches with a 100 million click lifespan, so as much a match for more traditional switches we're used to seeing in gaming keyboards, such as Cherry MX Reds. They also feature a similar cross-style stem as those popular Cherry switches, which means most third-party keycap sets will fit the Wooting 60HE.

Where these Lekker switches differ from Cherry's is that there's no metal contact point. Instead, these switches use a magnet switch harnessing the Hall effect for contactless operation.

All of which is very impressive, though these features are also shared by the Wooting Two HE, Wooting's first Lekker-powered keyboard. That said, there is more to the Wooting 60HE that impresses me about this model alone.

Quite simply, the 60HE is the best feeling keyboard that the company has produced to date. There's a respectable thud from every key when pressed, and the stabilisers have been lubed to keep them from chattering too much in use. It's relatively quiet by mech standards, helped along by sound dampening foam beneath the PCB. That's a hot-swappable PCB, by the way, though only replacement Lekker switches will work—a couple of spares are included in the box.

The compact case has absolutely zero flex and stands firm on the desktop with no hint of wobble. The lack of adjustable feet does mean you're locked in at the height and angle that Wooting has designed the 60HE to sit at, however, it is comfortable to type on nonetheless. 

That's especially true when combined with the black soft-feel wrist rest, which is a $27 add-on at the moment (usually $30). This is a chunky wrist rest that really props up your wrists, which I've found surprisingly few wrist rests do quite as well as this. It's similar in its feel and effectiveness to those included with the Ergodox EZ, a high-end keyboard designed very much for ergonomic use.

The UK version I was supplied for this review comes with ABS shine-through keycaps as standard, though the US version comes with PBT caps. I've not tried them out personally, though I'd usually consider PBT to be the more premium option, so it's a bit of a shame not to see those offered globally. I asked Wooting for details on why this was the case, and it told me that "The main reason is that it's very expensive and difficult to get local language double-shot PBT keycaps with specific branding due to the high mold fees required."

PBT keycaps should be on the way for Nordic, UK, and German layouts "soon", anyways.

Above: with the Wootility app open you can see how sensitive the analogue inputs are and adjust them if necessary.

The ABS keycaps do light up wonderfully with RGB lighting enabled. Though the best bit is how Wooting's added a white backing board for the keycaps to sit inside, which reflects the per-key LEDs 

Generally, the keyboard looks relatively plain and simple with the RGB disabled, though Wooting's signature has to be the massive strap attached on one side of the board. I don't imagine many customers will be using this strap for any practical means, but I do appreciate the touch of colour it adds. There are similar splashes of yellow around the board, including the four rubber feet and the included cable, which is braided in a very fitting black and yellow get-up.

For all its successes, and I do truly think this is a wonderful keyboard, I also posit it's not necessarily the right size for everyone. During work I find myself using a numpad a lot, and that's just not something that's setup by default on the Wooting 60HE. Similarly, the function keys are only available by switching layers via the Function key, much like you might find on a gaming laptop's keyboard. It's the same deal if you want to access the arrow keys.

But for any concerns I have about using a 60% keyboard, they're not exclusive to the Wooting 60HE and are commonly shared by all compact keyboards I've used. In customising the 60HE to suit my needs for gaming and work, it's actually one of the easier to do so with. 

What the 60HE lacks in keys it makes up for in how easy it is to program them. The snappy Wootility software makes sure of that. The 60HE requires the latest version of the Wootility, V4, in order to work as intended. Though when you have the software installed it brings this keyboard to life.

I've spoken plenty before about how the Wootility is one of very few good gaming peripheral applications, previously noting in my Wooting Two HE review that "It puts some other larger manufacturers to shame with how easy and smart-looking it is." It's also now available on the web, so you don't even need to install anything to use it. 

That all remains true with the 60HE, but where it was of moderate importance with the full-size Wooting Two HE to easily navigate its menus, it's of the utmost importance for the 60HE.

The process of remapping the 60HE is a breeze. There are three layers of keys to program, the main layer, Fn Layer 1, and Fn Layer 2. You can switch between them by hitting the Function key in the lower right for Fn Layer 1, and then while that's depressed hitting Caps Lock for Fn Layer 2. 

For once I found the default programming worked generally well for my needs, though I did make a couple of adjustments on Fn Layer 1, such as removing the shortcut to Fn Layer 2 and replacing it with the Scroll and Pause keys, which I use for screenshot shortcuts fairly regularly. I just don't find much use for a second layer of shortcuts, and by default, the second layer isn't actually useful—you'd have to program it to be with your own keys or macros.

Speaking of macros, you can store up to 20 on any one profile. These aren't your usual macros, however. As I mentioned before there are three special analogue functions that allow you to have keys that function differently depending on how you press them. You can have a Dynamic Keystroke (DKS), which actuates a different function depending on how far you press a key. There's Mod Tap, which changes the key's action depending on whether you tap it or hold it down. And finally, there's Toggle Key, which actually locks an action on or off when you hit that key.

I've still been trying to figure out how to get DKS shortcuts working in any effective manner in Destiny 2, my go-to game of the moment. I've tried varying combinations of melee and class ability on certain keys, only to find I couldn't quite get to grips with the half-press in a high-pressure situation. Certainly not a raid. Though for the right genre, the right game, I can see a dual-actuating key coming in handy.

Above: in the bottom left of the app you can see different keys being processed depending on whether a key is tapped or held.

The Mod Tap function is generally more useful both in and out of games. I've set my number row to function as such when tapped but to act as the function key when held down. The only downside is that this uses up 12 of the 20 total advanced key binding slots available on the keyboard, but otherwise it's a neat trick.

Some of Wooting's feature set is what you make of it and its usefulness is going to depend on your willingness to invest time into figuring out what works and what doesn't. Though I have to sing its praises for its general utility and inventiveness; the features that you need only enable and perhaps never think about again could really help you out in-game, namely Rapid Trigger and the adjustable per-key actuation.

For fans of first-person shooters, it's these features that might make much more of a difference to your gaming experience, in the fluidity and responsiveness of how you move and aim in-game, than the more obvious uses of analogue movement that the keyboard also offers.

The Wooting 60HE is also a success in once again proving a company needn't be a massive operation to create a practical, fully-featured, and fairly priced product. The Wooting 60HE certainly isn't cheap at $175, though it feels a fair price for what you're getting: a supremely well-rounded gaming keyboard with unmatched flexibility. 

Though I will say if you're unsure about the 60HE's compact size, the Wooting Two HE is as fully-featured but not quite as petite. The full-size board is also available today for $173, whereas the 60HE is on preorder and likely to be fulfilled around October at the time of publishing this review.

Apple has agreed to pay $50 million in a class action lawsuit from customers that claimed it knew the butterfly switches it designed for some models of MacBooks were prone to failure and the company tried to conceal that.

The class action, filed by customers in seven states, claims that MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro keyboards made between 2015 and 2019 were affected by the faulty switches. Apple denies any wrongdoing, however, it will pay damages to settle the case (via Reuters). 

This settlement hasn't been finalised yet, as a judge will have to sign off on it, but the settlement should mean customers in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington can claim a payout.

The payout will vary depending on how many times the customer has had to replace their keyboard. It really does all come down to that. Laywers expect the maximum payout to be around $395 for the unluckiest customers, while those that only replaced their keyboard a single time (so lucky) will receive around $125.

For customers that switched out their keycaps, it'll be around $50.

Though these final payouts will likely vary a bit once fees are paid out. 

Customers are still eligible to receive four years of free keyboard repairs, too. A keyboard service program was agreed to by Apple preceeding this class action and it offered customers an extended warranty on keyboard repairs for affected devices (which you can find in this list). This is a worldwide program, so even if you're not in line for a payout you still have this option available to you.

Apple's butterfly switches were kind of a big deal for the company when it first announced them back in 2015–16. They are ultra-thin switches yet it claimed could deliver a decent keypress and travel. That's a matter of opinion, and personally I can't stand the things. Anyways, Apple's claims were down to a winged hinged mechanism, which was wholly different in design to the more commonly used scissor hinge switch. 

When it comes to gaming laptops, you'll likely find scissor switches, but sometimes full mechanical switches (low-profile ones) will be used. Though even low-profile mech switches are still quite chunky.

The problem for Apple, however, is that for years now customers have been running into issues with these butterfly keys, such as repeated key strokes or them become unresponsive. Basically, the butterfly switch has become a big problem despite its compact size, and while Apple has replaced these switches on more recent MacBooks with the more traditional scissor switch, it still has to cough up for its previous mistake.

Want to get peak RGB from your gaming keyboard and the ultimate thocky typing feel? Ceramic keycaps are what you did not know you desired. But they are going to be a thing now that Cerakey has had its Kickstarter campaign (via Sweclockers) funded to the tune of half a million dollars.

Considering its original goal was just over $6,000 I'd say there's been a fair bit of interest in what it claims is an enhanced backlighting experience. 

And if your keyboard doesn't have RGB LEDs illuminating your digits, can you really call yourself a gamer? I would suggest not. But the problem is that no matter how you do it, the plastic keycaps of today just can't do justice to all those colours. 

Well, I guess you could go transparent, but that's just gross, and honestly, pudding keycaps don't do anything for me except make me hungry. Mmm, pudding. Anyways, the main selling point for us RGB-obsessed gamers is the extra light transmittance properties of ceramic as a material.

"For plastic keycaps," reads the Kickstarter page, "to get a better typing feel, you need thicker keycaps, but a better RGB backlit effect requires thinner keycaps. But ceramic has better light transmittance than any plastics, allows more light to shine through, leading to more vibrant RGB illumination, and without influencing the solid typing feel."

Which leads into what matters most to keyboard enthusiasts most likely to be the ones swapping keycaps outside of peak LED fun: the actual typing feel. I'm writing this on a cheap mechanical keyboard, with brown Utemi switches and it doesn't feel great, so I am most definitely someone to whom typing feel matters—one of the reasons I love the Mountain Everest 60 so well.

There's a wee demo from the Kickstarter page which just sings to me, in a thocky baritone. The deep sound of those ceramic keys hitting the base… yeah, I'm in. The description of "a warm jade-like feel and silky-smooth texture that no other material could compare with" is also working for me.

Which I guess makes it sad that the campaign is now over, and all pledges are done and dusted. Though with such a huge level of support you can bet that Cerakey will be filling out its online store with full sets soon enough.

Ducky has one helluva reputation in the mechanical gaming keyboard world. Even in an age of dazzling keyboards plastered in flashing lights, it's kept up its no nonsense design philosophy (which it calls "Quack Mechanics"—no joke). But even dear ol' Ducky is also leaning into the weird and wonderful a little more; the Ducky One 3 Fuji is prime example of a more stylised and vibrant Ducky at its best.

Look no further than the One 3's wonderfully colourful design for proof. This is Ducky's latest flagship keyboard and it comes in many different colours and styles, but this one is called Fuji. Every key you see in my images of the One 3 is included in the standard Fuji design, which makes it feel like I've received a keyboard with a custom keycap set pre-installed for $124/£143.

Doesn't it just look fantastic? The legend on each and every key is matched to the colour of the key itself and to one another. Take for example the large ISO Enter key. It matches the legends on the letter and number keys, while its smaller Enter legend matches the surrounding blue special keys. If you don't like that exact colourway, Ducky also includes 11 spare keys in an alternative finish.

Every keycap on the Ducky is made from strong PBT plastic. Unlike ABS plastic, PBT tends to last a little longer, reject stains, and keep its colour-matched legends from rubbing away. These are double-shot so there actually shouldn't be much of a risk of rubbing the legends off at all. They also feel great to type on, so that's a plus.

If you're a particularly heavy typer you shouldn't find it quite so easy to smash these keycaps to pieces, either. No promises, though. I have seen someone do the professional writer equivalent of Hulk smash a PBT keycap in two. Just try to take care of your things and they'll take care of you.

From the superb quality keycaps to the rest of the board the Ducky continues to impress. The surrounding plastic case is a match for the colour of the keycaps with a sleek two-tone finish in pink and blue, and that attention to detail continues down to the adjustable feet. Yes, even the feet are a matching hue, not that you'll see much of them. They certainly do their job well, anyways; there's absolutely no wobble to this board on a flat surface.

The blue underbelly of the Ducky contains cable runs for the included (and removable) braided USB Type-C to Type-A cable. The cable on the One 3 Fuji is a perfectly matched shade of pink to the rest of it, of course. There are also four DIP switches that offer a couple of hard-coded shortcuts for various keyboard modes, however, I couldn't get them to work. I tried unplugging and waiting a little while before trying again, but couldn't get them to do anything at all.

You won't find full media controls on the Ducky One 3, either, but there are volume up, volume down, and mute keys in the upper row. There's also the all-important calculator shortcut, which does what it says on the tin and opens the calculator in Windows when pressed. 

What can I say about the calculator switch: I didn't think I needed it, but I'll miss it when I move on to the next keyboard for review.

The One 3 is primarily made out of plastic, although I've never seen that as much of a downside with a Ducky. It's built like a tank and there's absolutely no flex to it whatsoever. Perhaps it wouldn't love a drop from a high place, but I don't dare to try it with this gorgeous review unit.

I will, however, paw under the keycaps at the switches below. I opted for Cherry MX Speed Silver switches, which are some of Cherry's finest for gaming. They offer a smooth press with only 1.2mm of travel before actuation and a total distance of 3.4mm. The swift actuation helps with the sort of snappy response I want while gaming, while the linear press without a tactile bump or click makes for moderately low-noise operation. I will admit they're not the quietest switches but they far from the loudest (clicky blues with rattly stabilisers).

The Ducky barely rattles whatsoever as I'm tapping away at its positively pink caps. The spacebar and enter keys have a certain tell-tale thud to them, but beyond that the switches, including those with stabilisers, are impressively uniform in sound. There's a whole lot of sound dampening going on with the Ducky under the surface, and that satisfying mechanical thud as a result is amicable to my ears for a day's worth of constant typing, or gaming with a microphone nearby. That might not be the case with every key switch you can have installed on the One 3, but it is likely the case with all the linear options.

The One 3 is available with Cherry MX switches of various colour and tactility so you have a few to choose from. I believe you can also find boards with Cherry MX Silent switches if noise is a cause for concern.

But I haven't mentioned the best bit yet: the Ducky One 3 is hot-swappable. A key switch breaks? Swap it out for another. You bought some new key switches online because they looked nice even thought you'll never really see them once they're installed? Just pull the old ones out and slot the new ones in. The keyboard comes with a metal keycap plucker included, so you're sorted for all the tools you need. It really is a simple procedure.

Plenty of gaming keyboards are hot-swappable nowadays, but this particular inclusion with the Ducky One 3 really feels like icing on an already extremely tasty cake.

There's a confident simplicity to the Ducky One 3. Ducky has made small but calculated adjustments with the One 3 over the Ducky One 2 instead of reinventing the wheel. Nor did it need to. I adored the Ducky One 2 as my go-to office board in my previous haunt—I couldn't name all that much wrong with it. The newer One 3 largely keeps what worked and improves on a small number of things, namely the hot-swappable keys and some new vibrant styles. It's a neater looking package, too.

Importantly the fundamental tell-tale Ducky features have been left as is with the One 3, and that's really reflected in the quality of the build here. I'm convinced this new Ducky would still be intact and beautiful as ever if you found it scrabbling through the dirt outside New Vegas. That's "Quack Mechanics" for you, I suppose.

You may have to leave RGB lighting on the table with this particular model, but I'm not torn up about it. There is a Ducky One 3 with RGB LEDs, sure, but you would forgo the more interesting designs on offer to have them. For me, it's that blend of looks and brawn that really make this Ducky One 3 the whole package.

We've seen a bunch of cool DIY terminals lately. From this Pi powered Palmtop to this retro circular screen machine. All of these designs are very cute, but this next DIY project has resulted in one of the teensy adorable little terminals I've come across.

Tech tinkerer James Brown shared one of his recent experiments on Twitter which shows off a little monitor screen working on a tiny Lego piece. The display is designed to mimic the Lego terminal pieces that slant downwards and have designs painted on them. 

In this case, the screen is actually behind a transparent blue piece for now. Brown uses these tiny and affordable controllable OLEDs to make it mimic the various old Lego control pieces. One example has block text scrolling and lights flashing, and another shows a moving circular radar. 

It would be especially neat to see some of these with bespoke Lego piece designs. They already look very cool, and present a vast amount of opportunities for future Lego screen mods. In fact, these tiny screens have plenty of other applications and Brown is already playing with some of them.

Another Twitter thread features a keyboard that he's working on which has a screen behind every key. It sounds like an expensive endeavour but thanks to the affordability of these screens it may not be too bad. In most examples Brown has them displaying letters, and in one case they visibly change two and from capitals when the caps lock is pushed.

In theory it could be an easy way to change the visible keyboard layout, or set image buttons for games and macros. They could potentially be paired with neat artisan keycaps for even more visual effect. Or just lots of screens, kind of like a whole keyboard made of a DIY Stream Deck, which sounds pretty damn useful. 

This could lead to some seriously next level RGB, especially if all the keys are programmable in tangent. Hopefully they can take the punishment of having fingers constantly bashing them into a board if gamers are going to have any use for them. Still these look like some wonderfully fun DIY projects with tonnes of potential. Or maybe we'll just see more cute Lego consoles like this PSP. I think we'll be seeing these tiny OLEDs pop up in a few more projects around the place. 

This mechanical keyboard isn't really called the cheeseboard but I couldn't resist the pun. It's called the 'Ajazz AC067 Cheese Gasket RGB Mechanical Keyboard', which actually might be even better solely for the phrase 'Cheese Gasket'.

This 65% keyboard is made by Ajazz, a Chinese gaming peripheral company, and for its cheesy exterior is still as much a mechanical gaming keyboard as any other. It comes with Kailh Box Yellow switches, specially designed alongside the well-known key switch manufacturer, which offer a smooth linear keystroke. That's a good choice for gaming, but you're not locked in with these if you want something different. The PCB is actually hot-swappable, which is a growing trend with mech boards today and a welcome one at that. It means you can pull these switches out and swap them out for others of your liking, if you prefer. Or just swap out a dead switch in the rare instance one breaks.

This board comes topped by a mix of yellow and white keys, including a handful of cheese-themed special designs for the Esc, Spacebar, and Enter keys.

The whole design is inspired by Tom and Jerry, which has made a wedge of Swiss cheese the de facto cheesiest cheese. No doubt that cartoon did wonders for the Swiss cheese market. Take that, Edam.

I've not tried any Ajazz keyboards so I cannot attest for the quality of the board itself. With a decent hot-swappable PCB you'd hope it would be able to stand the test of time like most mechanical keyboards. The included PBT keycaps should help with that—PBT is usually a stronger plastic than the more common ABS plastic found on many sets.

The cheesy exterior is also made using CNC machining from aluminium alloy, and isn't plastic as I had expected. That more durable material makes sense, though: this keyboard retails for $219, which puts it right up there in terms of cost for a board of its size.

A small price to pay for a Gouda setup? It's the price you pay to make endless cheese puns, at least, along with losing all of your friends.

If you want something similar to the cheeseboard but one that is not so directly dairy, it's highly reminiscent of the Ducky One3 in Yellow Ducky. Granted, that keyboard is more duckbill orange, but you get the idea. They're both sure to make a vibrant centrepiece to your gaming desktop, that's for sure.

There's a tendency among PC gamers to just love customising things. Many of us build our own rigs to suit our needs with fairly modular parts. There are even modular Intel laptops now. Add to that choosing peripherals like keyboard and mouse combinations, and it's fair to say we can be a fairly demanding bunch when it comes to customisations.

Keyboards are often one of the biggest choices when it comes to customisation. There are plenty of different types, sizes, keys, even styling keycaps. Plus, many of us use our keyboards for more than just gaming, so there's plenty to consider. A modular keyboard sounds like it could be a smart solution, and this one from Work Louder looks like it has all knobs and dials you could ever want. 

Work Louder is making modular keyboards designed to be customised to your workflows and they're currently available for preorder. They feature 3 primary boards in a modular grid system which can be arranged and customised. They consist of a work board for the main familiar keyboard portion, as well as a nano pad and loop pad. These can then be outfitted with different keys or knobs, depending on what you want to achieve with this set up.

Many of these customisations are aimed more inline with creators than straight up gamers. There seems more usefulness in some of these components for specific tasks, like zooming or changing brush sizes in digital art apps, or changing settings while editing music. Though it does also boast robust macro potential for apps and games alike.

The Work Louder website boasts some of the most used apps with these modular keyboards are programmes like Adobe Creative Cloud and Final Cut Pro X. But the list also does include prominent streaming apps like OBS Studio, which would definitely take full advantage of such a keyboard.

The modular keyboards come in several different variants starting with The Starter which can be preordered for $259.98. This configuration includes the base hub with the standard work board. Bumping up to The Worker adds the side nano pad whereas The Maker option adds a loop pad at the top. Lastly is The Creator, which is up for preorder for $399.99 and appears to be the complete keyboard with all pads.

No matter the config, each level of keyboard is designed to be upgradeable to The Creator level, and are promised to work with future modules released. Whether or not they're any good for gaming needs to be tested, but they do have customisable RGB so we're at least being courted. 

Right now Work Louder is also doing a competition where you can win a keyboard by sharing your creativity over on the company's discord.

If you're after a more traditional modular gamer keyboard, check out something like the Glorious Modular Mechanical Keyboard or perhaps the super budget friendly customisable Vissles V84 gaming keyboard. Regardless, these keyboards seem like a neat modular solution for the PC all rounder.

The world of gaming keyboards is a funny old business. In the last few years, we’ve seen everything from analogue switches to low profile ones, to ones with OLED displays and a shedload more. So, essentially it’s become a case of anything goes.

In the past, I’ve recommended you try out 60% keyboards for gaming, as well as to join the club of electro-capacitive keyboards. It seems I’ve developed a small reputation at PC Gamer for being the freelance lad to test enthusiast-level keyboards for gaming and report back my findings, trying out an ergonomic keyboard for gaming seemed to be the next logical step.  

First things first: what makes a keyboard ergonomic? Well, in the case of candidates like this Truly Ergonomic Cleave I’ve had the pleasure of using for the past couple of weeks, they usually offer a different style of layout. This comes in the form of splitting the keys into clusters in part so you don’t have to reach your wrists over too much so they don’t get strained, as well as angling the individual keys slightly to suit a more natural wrist position. All things considered, there’s a bit of a learning keyboard from moving to a bog-standard keyboard like Unicomp New Model M I’ve been using to using an ergo-specific board like the Cleave.

“Alright keyboard boy, get to the point”, you’re probably requesting—okay then, can you game on an ergonomic keyboard? In short, you can, with practice. It’s not a seamless transition by any means, in the same way moving from a standard keyboard to an ergonomic board to simply type requires a bit of practice. However, once you’ve learned to use the keyboard in a couple of weeks and learn the quirks of the layout, you certainly can give it a go.

The reason for there being a bit of a learning curve is majorly down to differing key placement and the large split in the middle of the board itself. For the first few games, it may be natural to contort your hands a little to try and reach some keys, especially if you don’t type in a traditional way. For instance, I majorly use the index and middle fingers to type and move my hands across the invisible split of keys between G & H on the home row to mash keys when writing. As such, learning to game wasn’t half a bit fiddly at first, but that’s down to the quirks of the Cleave I’ve been using. 

All in all, it probably took a good two to three weeks before I felt somewhat confident in using this Truly Ergonomic board to type on, and even now, a little bit later, I'm still not fully comfortable. Once I'd got a couple of weeks in and learnt where the keys were, gaming became a lot easier, and it only took a matter of days to become vaguely competent.

Ergonomic keyboards can come in all shapes and sizes, and the Cleave is perhaps one of the weirder looking options. Other candidates, such as the Kinesis Freestyle 2 simply split the traditional keyboard in half, as opposed to offering an adjusted layout designed with productivity in mind that follows the natural line of your wrist. Using one of these to game is likely to be easier, given everything looks a lot more familiar - there’s just a hinge in the middle so you can adjust the actual angle of the keyboard, if you want to. You could opt to use a sculpted keyboard, like the Kineses Advantage 2 if you want, with a deep dish style layout, although this would be extra fiddly, and you probably wouldn’t be able to game on it at all.

Of course, your user experience will depend on the types of games you're playing. For FPS games, these will be a little more fiddly than if you’re playing a simulator where the pace is a little slower, and hitting certain button combos is of little importance, for instance.

All things considered though, you can definitely game on an ergonomic keyboard, as long as you’re willing to put the hours in to try and use the board properly. My best advice would be to set aside upwards some time just typing random things into a Word document to just get used to typing on it, and then once you’re feeling comfortable, load up some of your favourite titles and give it a go. With time, you’ll become more acquainted with the keyboard itself, and therefore with how to get the most out of it when gaming.

But, here arises another question: should you game on an ergonomic keyboard? Whilst it’s certainly possible to, more ergonomic boards aren’t majorly designed with gaming in mind. Sure, they may have optical, mechanical switches inside, as the Cleave does, which is becoming a key part of the gaming keyboard canon these days, but it doesn’t have the high polling rate than other gaming keyboards have. Sure, it has full NKRO and anti-ghosting which is incredible generally for gaming keyboards, but here, it’s more for peace of mind than precision. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should, after all.

So, to sum up, am I telling you to go down to your local hardware store, or head online, and pick yourself up an ergonomic keyboard just for the sake of slapping up the competition in your favourite games? No, I’m not. Ergonomic keyboards are, after all, designed to provide a comfortable typing experience chiefly, and if this is what you're looking for, you’re more than welcome to pick one up. What you do with it after that is completely up to you.

Cherry, long-time maker of the old faithful MX switches, is back with a new mechanical gaming keyboard. May I present to you, the MX 10.0N RGB. It's a full size, sturdy beast of a keyboard with one very special party piece: low profile switches.

It may not sound like much to anyone, but low profile switches can allow for an even snappier typing experience and quicker inputs when gaming. This puts the MX 10.0N RGB in good stead, especially considering it utilises some light, linear MX Low Profile Speeds, a particular favourite for FPS gamers in their normal, full-size configuration.  

They feel great for gaming exploits, be it for pwning noobs in the ol' classic of CS:GO, or otherwise, especially thanks to a slightly higher actuation point of 1mm, compared to the standard 1.2mm of MX Low Profile Reds. You will also find full NKRO and anti-ghosting here to ensure maximum precision, as if the MX 10.0N RGB needed to flex its gaming muscles even more. 

As for the typing experience, these Speed Silvers have never been my preferred option, being a little too light, and also being linear switches with no feedback. But in actual fact, the MX 10.0N RGB felt pretty good for day to day working, even though the short travel can take some getting used to. If you're used to using laptops though, you shouldn't have too much of an issue.

On the point of laptops, it's worth noting that these MX Low Profile switches aren't the lowest Cherry makes. Oh no. If you go out and pick up an Alienware m15 R4 gaming laptop from last year, chances are it'll feature what the German brand refers to as ULP, or ultra-low profile switches, inside. How long it'll be before these get put into a keyboard is anybody's guess, and would be pretty interesting.

Anyways, back to the MX 10.0N RGB. Cherry isn't the first to release a low profile gaming keyboard into the wild—that honour most likely goes to Logitech with their G815 and G915 models from a couple of years back that I loved. On the design front, there are some similarities between the pair with a sleek construction and metal frame that makes the MX 10.0N RGB feel like a properly premium product. It’s incredibly slim and just looks fantastic, as well as being nicely weighty, even with its low profile design. You could also take this ‘board on your travels, given the USB-C cable is detachable, which is a nice feature, too.

A lot of the more modern, premium gaming keyboards these days are jam-packed with loads of extra stylistic choices to make them stand out from the crowd. For instance, Steelseries’ Apex Pro features a nifty little OLED screen, or Razer’s Huntsman V2 Analog features large multimedia controls, a wristrest and analogue switches. 

Sometimes, though, simpler is better, and that’s definitely the approach that Cherry has taken with the MX 10.0N RGB. There are no extra bells and whistles here with additional macro keys, screens or anything of the sort. Not that you need them, though. Those wanting a typical ‘gaming’ looking keyboard will find plenty to like with some suave-looking RGB lighting and sturdy metal construction, but if you’re wanting more of a professional aesthetic, then Cherry also has you covered.

When it comes to RGB lighting, the way manufacturers choose to implement it within their keyboards either goes one of two ways. For some, it can be there to improve looks, and when well-executed, can make a keyboard look fantastic. For others though, it can leave a sour taste, making an expensive ‘board feel cheap and lacklustre. In the case of Cherry’s latest candidate, I’m pleased to say it’s the first option. The lighting on offer is bright, vibrant and just adds an extra air of class. If I squint enough, I could be looking at a keyboard made by Razer with lighting this good.

Everything is nicely configurable within Cherry’s Utility software which also looks to offer as easy a user experience as the MX 10.0N RGB itself. All the different options are laid out on  the software’s main screen and within easy reach, whether you want to program keys or change the lighting around. This contrasts with other peripheral manufacturers’ software that takes an age to install and may be looked upon as bloatware by some with all its unneeded functions.

All in all, the Cherry MX 10.0N RGB offers a back to basics approach that ticks all the right boxes for those wanting a powerful gaming keyboard without any unneeded features or functions. It is expensive though, it must be said, and the high mark-up is of course something to consider, especially when you note what you can get for your $160 or so these days. If you are after the power of low profile, speedy switches in a gorgeous-looking chassis with none of the fuss of any unneeded gimmicks, then this is an amazing option.

Mechanical keyboards have become a bit of a staple for PC gaming life. It’s by no means necessary, as a normal keyboard will still provide full functionality, but once you’ve typed on mechanical switch keys it can be difficult to go back. Plus, they’re a lot cheaper than they used to be. 

Mechanical switches come in all sorts of variants to suit different tastes. Some are loud and clacky while others go for muted tones and all have a different feeling. By far the most popular switches around right now are made by Cherry, and they secretly went and got even better behind our backs.

According to TechPowerup, the Cherry MX low-profile RGB mechanical switches have seen a sneaky upgrade. The gold cross point contactor has been significantly improved, and now supports a lifetime of 100 million actuations as opposed to only 50 million. The improvements require the metal to include a particularly thick layer of gold on the top, and have a precise welding diode to do the job properly. Cherry claims that most competitors don’t use these processes and skimp on the gold, making their switches more reliable for long term use.

The other big improvement to come from these refinements is a lower bounce time. Mechanical keys feel like they jump right back up to your fingers and that’s part of the joy of using them. Cherry claims that this bounce will now typically take less than a millisecond, allowing for key clicks to be registered and repeated at a faster rate.

If you bought a keyboard featuring these keys in the past six months, it’s likely you’re in luck. These changes to the low-profile switches came in mid last year, so there’s a good chance that most keyboards purchased since then have these extra long lasting, fast bouncing keys. We don’t recall a noticeable price rise either, so it looks like that gold in them there keys is an added bonus. 

Of course, Cherry aren’t the only keymakers in town. They do feature prominently among the products in our best mechanical keyboards list, taking out the 2nd and 3rd positions, but the top spot actually went to the Corsair k100 RGB Optical keyboard. This uses Corsair OPX switches, and is a huge keyboard with a tonne of RGB options and comes at a hefty price. Those looking for a more budget friendly option can check out our favourite cheap keyboards, which is lead by the G.SKILL KM360 rocking Cherry MX keys.

We’ve seen a few interesting iterations on the traditional keyboard for PC gaming lately. Some are ergonomic designs that don’t try to alter the overall style of traditional PC play, while others like this tri-joystick configured oddity totally throw the notion of keyboard out the window. Either way, we’re seeing more options for gamers than ever before which can only be a good thing for inclusivity amongst a wider range of people.

One of our newest spots in this space is currently still only available on Kickstarter, but it does look fairly interesting. The Wraek Tactonic Pad is a square pad that sits below your keyboard secured by magnets, for the heel and palm of your hand to rest on. It looks a bit like a trackpad, but instead acts as a thumbstick, but for your own hand giving you push directional inputs. In most of the demos it's shown under the left hand side and looks to replace the WASD direction inputs for something a little more natural. 

But that doesn’t seem to be the only way this controller can be used. The Kickstarter page talks about several presets for replacing other devices such as keyboards, joysticks, and mice. It can also be configured to do specific things like control your camera or hotkeys. The marketing claims it generally causes players to find an increased reaction speed and efficiency for their play.

It also comes with a fair few physical customisations as well, such as adjustable pressure sensitivity on the force sensor. Different surfaces can be applied for comfort, and of course there’s also configurable and interactive RGB lighting that can be set up for the Wraek Tactonic Pad. 

The Kickstarter went live this year, and expects to start shipping out the Tactonic pads in July 2022, which could be ambitious given the current pandemic. That being said, this feels like a sure bet. Wraek has already busted through the initial goal, and are already on track to reach stretch targets. Some of the early bird offers for the pad are also still available for around $85 USD, £60, or $115 AUD. Wraek is also offering a gaming keyboard designed to pair specifically with the pad as another option for the Kickstarter tiers.

This looks like another potentially solid concept to move away from gaming keyboards, especially for directional input. However, with all these things it’s hard to know if it will work without giving it a go. Hopefully we’ll get to try one of these out for ourselves when they become available.