I recently had the chance to test two different Melgeek keyboards at the same time. They are the space-themed Centauri 80 and the black and gold Real 81. Though they're made by the same company, they couldn't be more different in approach.

The Centauri 80 is heavy, flashy, with a built-in OLED screen, and it costs $360. The Real 81, on the other hand, is more practical at $140, or at least as practical as you can get from a competitive gaming keyboard.

If I could compare it to keyboards I've tried before, I'd say it's a similar feel and design to Lemokey, specifically the Lemokey L4. It's small but blocky and a little chunky. It's the type of keyboard you could throw into a backpack, but you probably wouldn't want to because it's pretty heavy. Still, I don't think I'd fear it breaking on the train.

It also comes with many of the features you would want out of a competitive keyboard. It can go all the way up to 8,000 Hz (should you have the reaction speed for that to matter), and its keys are all rapid trigger capable, which means they can register presses and unregister presses based on a specific actuation. In practice, this means being able to stop walking quicker or button bash more effectively.

Immediately, it's a more attractive package for the average gamer than the Centauri 80. Where the Centauri shows up in the looks department and feels impressive, the Real 81 is simpler in approach. It doesn't have any gimmicks and comes in at a reasonably competitive price.

Naturally, I still wouldn't call $140 cheap, or even budget, but the Gamakay x NaughShark NS68 sits in a league of its own for 8,000 Hz pricing. And Gamakay give up build quality in return for that super cheap price point. $140 feels about right for the keyboard I've had my mitts on, factoring specs and build.

In the looks department, the Real 81 has a few flourishes, with a gold trim and a small LED bar down the bottom right, but it's not too flashy either. It's all black otherwise, and the keys have a dark gold lettering.

Unfortunately, like the Centauri 80, the Real 81 is quite hard to make out in a dark environment. If I don't have at least a light on in the room, I have to rely mostly on feel to make out where the keys are. This isn't a huge problem for me, as I'm fairly familiar with where to put my hands, but it's still an odd issue to have. Keys are, thankfully, well spaced and easy to get to, though.

The RGB underneath keys does look pretty good, and that's because its keys are translucent. It even has per-key RGB, which can be adjusted in Melgeek's own software. That software can also be used to set custom controls, which does help make up for the lack of any media buttons on the keyboard itself. You can download that software, or use it on the web, and the web app is super solid. I like that customisation is straightforward and easy here. The Real 81 is simple to use out of the box and doesn't even require software, past the first update.

As far as typing feel is concerned, the Real 81 performs okay. Keys are a tad springy for my liking, and are less smooth than I would have hoped. I feel like I'm simply putting in a little more effort than I expect when trying to bash them down in a flurry for a piece of news. Mine came equipped with Melgeek's Honey magnetic switches, and Honey is an apt name, as they just feel a tad sticky. The space bar and caps lock also have an uncomfortable clack feeling, which is less nice than the somewhat muted sounds of the rest of the keyboard. I wouldn't say it's bad, as far as sound is concerned, but just inconsistent.

Melgeek employs a 5-layer sound-dampening gasket mount to help flatten that sound, and it's mostly rather satisfying. The majority of keys have a 'tick' sound that's just quite enough that it hasn't bothered my partner on a late night when inspiration has suddenly struck me. The feel of the keys would certainly send me to bed before the sound would, anyway.

In games, the Real 81 does perform pretty well, though. Keys are responsive and super quick in Counter-Strike 2, and I can stop walking nearly instantaneously. Your reticule is smaller when standing still in Counter-Strike 2, so this feels like a boon to me. I'd say competitive games overall perform quite nicely. The slightly tougher keys are actually pretty solid in the likes of Battlefield, where a stray misclick is rather common.

In more casual single-player games, I find the Real 81 does its job, but it's less comfortable to use after a few hours than other keyboards I've had my hands on. That's because the springy keys just require a bit more effort. Longer gaming sessions feel ever so slightly tiresome.

I noticed this after a few hours with roguelite city builder Super Fantasy Kingdom, where I just wished I could control it all from my mouse, as the combination of its hardy keys and my leaned posture made it feel like a little more effort than necessary.

Most keyboards have to make compromises, but I can't help but feel like Melgeek's compromises are by accident here. It's a solid set of competitive keys, but not amazing for everyday typing. It has vibrant RGB and gold lettering…which you will struggle to see in the dark. It has a solid dampening solution that works well… but not on every key.

The Real 81's monkey paw curls on almost every good side, and there's certainly enough good to outweigh the bad points, but there's still far more bad than I was expecting. Or hoping for.

As gaming keyboards get more advanced, we have to learn new words just to understand them. We've had to learn what polling rates really mean and how much is too much for the average gamer (8k, btw), what the advantage of rapid trigger is, and why someone would want TMR. And not only has MSI thrown every single gaming keyboard buzzword at its new keyboard, but it dunked the keyboard underwater at this year's Computex to prove it will still work.

That's as shown off by We Do Tech, who saw MSI plunge the keyboard. Reportedly, the wired keyboard still works even when submerged (though the water resistance may cut down your reaction time).

That's a fun bit of marketing and a way of showing off how durable the keyboard is, though you are very unlikely to actually want to use the keyboard underwater. Still, at least I know if I spill water on it, it should be fine.

The keyboard itself is pretty impressive, too. It has TMR switches, which offer super-low latency gameplay and very precise controls. Think Hall effect, but better. TMR (tunnelling magnetoresistance) also happens to be more power efficient, but that efficiency is lost on a wired keyboard.

You get 8,000 Hz polling here, too, which means it is sending data to your rig every 0.125 milliseconds. For context, 1,000 Hz polling is once every millisecond. Generally speaking, this is far too much for anyone but the highest-level gamer, but it's still a nice feature to have.

It has rapid trigger too, which means it will stop registering a key press the moment you let go, rather than after hitting an arbitrary threshold. This means you can stop moving or button-bash quicker, if that's your sort of thing.

Impressively, its switch beds are also hot-swappable between TMR and mechanical switches, which is a neat level of flexibility reminiscent of the Logitech G512 X. This is all topped off with a magnesium-aluminium alloy and a five-layer gasket mount for sound dampening.

All of this is mighty impressive, but the most important question goes unanswered. We don't yet have a price point on this dunkable beast. We are also missing any sort of release date. Still, the likelihood is that if I'm going for any MSI gaming keyboard right now, it's the Frieren collab Forge TKL. That thing sure is purty.

If you're looking for a 'quiet' gaming keyboard that is actually quiet, Be Quiet!'s Light Mount is a truly excellent gaming keyboard (and one we gave it 93% in our review last year). However, if that one is simply too big to fit comfortably on your desk, the gaming brand is putting out a TKL model this year.

Announced at Computex, the Be Quiet! Light Mount TKL is like the normal one, but, well, smaller. We're told it's expected to launch at some point in August this year, but we don't yet have a price point. TKLs tend to be a little cheaper than their full-length counterparts—though that isn't always the case and sometimes they even cost more—so I'm hoping it's tens of dollars cheaper than the $170 full-sized keeb.

If you are unfamiliar, the Be Quiet! Light Mount employs three layers of sound-dampening foam and factory-lubricated switches. In her review of the original, our Jess said, "though by no means silent, I'm definitely a fan of the sound-dampened clacks on Be Quiet's Light Mount. It lives up to its name in more ways than one, too, boasting vibrant, head-turning per-key RGB lighting—even the software offers few reasons to complain!"

It's a gaming keyboard that's impressive for more than just its sound, too. It comes with hot swappable 5-pin switch support, per-key RGB, and a neat media wheel. There's not a huge pile to complain about, as you'll see from our review.

Alongside this, Be Quiet! Has also announced the Mousepad XL, which is a 900 x 500 m mousepad designed to accommodate your mouse and gaming keyboard. It also comes with a 3 mm anti-slip rubber base to ensure it doesn't move while gaming. Be Quiet! says the "Optimised soft and smooth fabric ensures precise tracking, effortless glide and lasting comfort for both mouse and wrists"

But, alas, many mousepads are pretty similar in approach, so it will have to win in feel or price to stand out. We know neither of these two just yet.

On the show floor, we also got our eyes on the Pure Base 803, which is a huge Be Quiet! Case with support for back-connect motherboards, up to 7 HDDs (assuming you can afford them), up to 3 x 420 mm radiators and 2 x 140 rear fans.

There seem to be no gaming mouse updates to go with the mousepad and gaming keyboard at Computex. That's a shame, as I got to test the Be Quiet! Dark Perk Ergo a few months ago and think it's good enough to make me excited for what it's got cooking next, but not quite good enough for me to actually recommend at its price.

Ah, it's that time of year. With Computex comes the announcement of a Chinese Zodiac-themed gaming keyboard, and this year, it's celebrating the Year of the Horse. It's probably what you're expecting based on the name, except with 30% more fire.

Our Jacob managed to get his eyes on it, on the Computex show floor, and it's a bit of an over-the-top beauty. It's not every day you get a black keyboard with a big red horse slapped in the middle, covered in gold, red, and orange.

That's all before mentioning that it doesn't appear to have any lettering on its 100 keycaps. But, not having to make it legible does give some creative room to make the keyboard pop, and pop it does.

We don't really have too much information on the keyboard yet, but last year's sold for around the $200 mark, and was limited to 2025 units. We know this year's version is limited to 999 units, but we don't have a price point. Speaking of last year's, the Year of the Snake model may be my favourite Ducky Zodiac release, as it is covered in reds and pinks. It has text on the keycaps, though it's not very legible to my eyes.

Ducky's Chinese Zodiac keyboards do seem intended to be more ornamental, hence the limited supply and loud looks, and on the Computex show floor, the keyboard does look pretty nice behind glass. It's got some light accenting up at the top corners that catches the light well.

We've had some fun Zodiac keyboards from Ducky over the years. In 2020, we got the Year of the Rat one, which looks a bit like a cartoon sewer, and the Year of the Pig one is mostly pink with a black base.

Though last year's was more my style than this year, I can say that I prefer the new Year of the Horse keyboard to Ducky's previous attempt back in 2014. The old version is a pretty simple white base, with black keys and a small horse on the space bar. Due to the shinethrough RGB, it does highlight the horse nicely, but I'd take the new one any day.

Ducky has become one of my favourite brands to keep an eye on at Computex purely to see its yearly keyboard offering, and here's hoping the Year of the Goat model is really out there.

Wireless is wonderful for, say, your gaming mouse, headset, and controller but less so for your keyboard. Between managing input latency and battery life, a wireless keyboard would have to be something pretty special to win me over. Well, Cherry is trying their chances with what is likely the world's first Ultra-Wideband gaming keyboard.

Revealed during Computex, the Cherry XTRFY K63W Pro Compact is a 70% wireless gaming keyboard. The favoured 2.4 GHz connection of many wireless PC peripherals can make for a cluttered band of the radio spectrum, potentially leading to connection issues between your devices. The K63W Pro Compact's Ultra-Wideband connection attempts to sidestep all of that.

That said, I can't say I've personally fallen afoul of a cluttered 2.4 GHz frequency at my own setup, and I suspect this Ultra-Wideband functionality may have niche appeal. We've seen the wireless tech predominantly in 8 kHz gaming mice before this, such as the still unreleased Steelseries Rival Pro Mini. The wireless tech affords the same high polling rate on the Cherry XTRFY K63W Pro Compact too, but again, that seems like overkill to me.

It's also worth noting that an Ultra-Wideband connection lacks the same long range as a 2.4 GHz link. That's fine for deskbound peripherals like mice and keyboards, but potentially less great news if you love to lounge and operate your PC at a distance.

On the subject of 'overkill', though, the Cherry XTRFY K63W Pro Compact also enjoys a 6000 mAh battery that the company claims could potentially last you up to 1,100 hours (obviously, hours of heavy use with the RGB at max brightness and the polling rate set to the 8k maximum will whittle that figure down a bit). Such a generous battery certainly draws my sceptical eye.

This board also enjoys Cherry's MX Low Profile 2.0 switches. I'm personally not a fan of keys that are on the shallower side, but reducing the distance between you and your keys' actuation point by even mere millimetres is bound to appeal to the esports fiends.

Cherry also touts the XTRFY K63W Pro Compact's "carefully tuned gasket construction" which, combined with those low-profile switches, apparently makes for "softer keystrokes, deeper acoustics, and a more satisfying typing experience in a slim form factor." The Cherry XTRFY K63W Pro Compact is slated for release in the US this August and will retail for $170. If you're based in the EU, you can pick it up from July for €180.

For Computex 2026, Gigabyte has just announced a new gaming keyboard called the Aorus K10 Infinity and a similarly named Aorus M10 Infinity gaming mouse, alongside some new web-based software for them. Both the mouse and keyboard are available in black or white. To my eyes, at least, they both look in line with what we'd want from serious gaming peripherals in 2026, at least in terms of design and specs. We'll have to wait and see if they actually deliver the goods regarding performance and feel, though.

The TKL keyboard will have "tactical" magnetic switches, apparently: "Built with tactical magnetic switches, it supports 0.1 mm trigger-point adjustment, multi-stage trigger settings, custom macros, an 8000 Hz polling rate, and a 100-million-time keystroke lifespan."

More notable than this, though—and certainly more notable than the 8k polling, which is overkill even for esports—is the triple-button space bar. Split space bars are something we're starting to see more often, and our Jacob Ridley reckons they're gonna be the next big thing.

The idea is to be able to have a couple of extra keys free once you figure out which thumb you use to press the space bar and bind 'space' to just that side. I'm not so sure, myself, because even while writing these last couple of paragraphs, I've noticed I do sometimes use my right thumb even though I mostly use my left. But I've not tried a split keeb, so I can't say for sure.

The keyboard has an OLED touchscreen, too, which apparently is best used for its "built-in Combat Power feature." Which "allows users to monitor Actions Per Minute (APM), key mileage, precision, and error count in real time, turning the keyboard into an active interface for gameplay adjustment and self-analysis."

It also has 6, 8, and 13-degree tilt adjustment options. I'm a bit of a 'keep it flat' man, myself, but I know some like to have their keyboards tilted, and the more adjustment the better, I say.

So much for the keyboard. The Aorus M10 Infinity gaming mouse looks a little bit Razer Viper-shaped to me, but that's a very speculative guess based on a single top-down picture. The shadows seem to show a little flaring to the buttons, and the rear end of the mouse seems a little bulbous—more-so than a Viper.

Mouse software RAM usage

RAM (MB)

Razer

712

SteelSeries

515

Logitech

230

Corsair (web)

210

Pulsar (web)

159

Glorious

150

Mchose (web)

142

Akko

67

0200400600800

RAM usage

RAM (MB) Data

Product	Value
Razer	712
SteelSeries	515
Logitech	230
Corsair (web)	210
Pulsar (web)	159
Glorious	150
Mchose (web)	142
Akko	67

Gigabyte says it has optical switches and 8 kHz polling, though the latter is absolutely unnecessary even for high-level competitive FPS gaming. Still, it's what all mice seem to be aiming for these days.

More than the actual hardware, though, I'm excited by the fact that Gigabyte has also launched a web version of its GiMate software that you can use to adjust all the settings. Apparently, you'll be able to use it for "easier control, performance monitoring, and lighting customization across the AORUS peripheral experience."

I've tested a bunch of different software for gaming mice, and my main conclusion is that any gaming mouse that launches these days should come with web software—it's just much more convenient and keeps your machine bloat-free. So there's definitely a big plus here in that respect, at least.

At last year's Computex tech show, Wooting announced that it was developing a knob for its popular analogue gaming keyboard, the 80 HE. This year, that knob is almost ready to go.

It's called the Lekker Knob large. It replaces the block of four navigation keys above the arrow keys on the 80 HE. It's a good spot for a volume wheel, but speaking to Wooting's lead software engineer, Simon Whyte, there's much more it can offer than that.

In Wooting's software, the Wootility, there are four main ways to programme the knob. Relative, which fires an action based on which way you turn the dial; Absolute, which sets the dial to a fixed value at each point in the rotation; Zoned, which subdivides the knob into smaller slices, each with its own action when the centre button is pressed; and Analog, which will increase the input strength the further you turn.

It's designed in such a way that the software can tell which position it's in at any given time, ie, it's analogue, which offers a wider range of functionality than a traditional dial.

Furthermore, there are programmable layers in the Wootility. Turn the knob and it does whatever is programmed to the main layer. Press, say, Ctrl and turn the knob, it will do something different if you've programmed it as such. Or go one step further, press Ctrl, Alt, and turn the knob to access yet another layer.

Whyte tells me they're even playing around with the idea of using the knob as a steering wheel input in a racing game—though he's quick to point out that this is currently just an experiment.

There's surprisingly a lot to it. More than I had initially expected. It is becoming much more of a full media control dial than a standard volume wheel. Whyte explains that Wooting has been working on it for three years.

Demanding keys in an ortholinear fashion, eg, in a straight line, it's intended for the 80 HE alone, as it can only sit in the position above the arrow keys. Though Wooting is working on a smaller single key-sized knob that can be used on its other keyboards, but this was under lock and key at the show as it still has a ways to go.

As for the Lekker Knob, Wooting currently expects it to be ready by the end of this year, but I'm told that's a rough estimate.

Wooting is also rolling out some updates to the Wootility in the summer that will let users remap keys with preset hotkeys, like Alt + F4, if you're a masochist. Wooting's partnerships manager Max Janssen tells me the team play a game of Alt + F4 roulette with the new knob, with various emojis assigned to all but one zone, which is set to Alt + F4. Anyways, this update is going to be available to all users.

Keychron's not really officially at Computex this year, but I did manage to catch up with its CEO, Nick Xu, in a corner of the show and got a sneak peek at some of its upcoming and potentially upcoming keyboard goodies.

The most striking is the carbon fiber concept keeb—I mean, just look at the thing: it's barely there. But, given that it's a carbon fiber shell it still feels pretty darned solid. But yes, it is just a concept piece brought along to show just how low Keychron can go. I'm told there is a chance that we might see it actually become a product sometime next year, however.

What isn't a concept piece, however, is the new Keychron ultra-low profile magnetic keyboard, something they claim is "the world's thinnest optical or magnetic keyboard, you don't even notice it's magnetic."

Though you will if you take a look at the switches, or start to type on it. There's a level of travel on the switches that you just don't get with a scissor switch or membrane keyboard.

Though it isn't a concept, the unit I'm holding in my hands is an unnamed prototype, which you can tell because there are a few rough edges that you don't normally see with Keychron's reliably solid boards.

But we should see the some time around the end of the year, and hopefully by then it will actually have a name.

We've seen all manner of keycaps over the years, from Kerbals to desserts and just about everything in between. But I don't think I've seen any quite so peculiar as those just announced from Asus ROG.

They come in a 'Mystery Box Edition 20', with the latter part of this referring to the company's 20th anniversary line-up. We've already seen an absolute chonker of a GPU under this moniker, so I guess it makes sense to have something small in the range too like keycaps.

It looks like they are literally mystery boxes, in which you don't know which keycaps you're getting. In one box you get 6x mystery keycaps. And what are the keycaps, exactly? Well, it's all ROG peripherals, of course.

Each keycap sits on top of a bed of stalagmite crystals. To start with, there's a Gladius mouse, a Raikiri controller, an Asus Delta headset, alongside a couple of different versions of the ROG logo.

The last couple are the most interest of the bunch, though. There's the Chariot chair which, erm, spins around. Not on its own, you have to spin it yourself, but still. Peculiar. Then there's the Claymore keyboard which is split into two. The left side has the bulk of the keyboard, while the right has the numpad, and both can be pressed independently. Y'know, just 'cause.

The only thing that I think would make it better would be if there were a little keyboard keycap on the keyboard keycap. But alas, we're just a single order of magnitude into bonkers territory here.

It's a bit silly, but it's also just a bit of fun, so I'm not too against it. The company has announced plenty of more serious products at this year's Computex, including an esports OLED monitor I quite like the look of, so I'll forgive Asus for the frivolity here. Though much will depend on just how rare the fancier keycaps are, because I wouldn't much fancy having to rack up dozens of spares just to collect them all.

I've never quite understood car people, but the closest I think I've come is my love of gaming keyboards. The first time I took the MelGeek Centauri 80 out of its shuttle packaging, I felt myself exclaim and didn't even realise I'd done it. Like a geeky Patrick Bateman describing the differences between business cards, I felt myself in awe of the shape, aesthetic, and build of the keyboard.

But alas, I know what it is. It's a showpiece, and not necessarily one I'd actually recommend buying. Though I'd certainly get a few sneaky glances if your rich friend picks one up instead.

The Centauri 80, as you might be able to guess from the name, is a keyboard obsessed with space. With a white and silver aesthetic, it almost looks like a space shuttle. The caps lock icon is a 'status' bar with a silver wrapping, and an extra key and dial over the right-hand side have the same detailing. This is before mentioning the OLED touchscreen. It could have been ripped straight out of Starfield, Blade Runner, or an actual space station. It also comes with a themed wire and key puller, which is a neat touch.

To top off the look, all the keys are see-through, with RGB backlights, and it has a stripe of RGB all around the side. It lights up in a dark room, but also looks gorgeous when it's not on. Unfortunately, though, that can make it a little hard to read if it's dark enough. See-through keys don't give much background for the white lettering to contrast with, making it tough to parse with both RGB and without.

It's a gaming keyboard I've spent almost as much time admiring as I have gaming—and I've spent a lot of time gaming with it. It's even admirable in terms of sound. With layers under those keys, it sounds thocky but in a very satisfying way, and keys go down smoothly with little resistance. There's clearly a lot of love put into the design and build quality here, but love alone is not a reason to spend $350.

In games, it performs well. Keys are comfortable to press, they sound good, and the switches are super snappy. The Centauri 80 can go all the way up to 8,000 Hz in terms of polling rate, which is certainly nice, though for 99% of people it's far too high to see any benefit. It's got Hall effect switches with rapid trigger, so keys register the moment you let go, rather than the second they hit a threshold. This means you can spam them quicker if you'd like to, or for tactical shooters, you can stop moving and get a smaller reticule just a moment earlier.

That is exactly the case in Valorant, where you are more accurate the second you stop walking. I found the spacing between keys to be solid here, and it's just generally easy to use. With 83 keys total, I didn't find myself in need of an extra one in any of the games I played. From shooters to RPGs, from first to third person, it doesn't let up, and its super sturdy chassis means it practically never moves on my desk.

At just under 2 kg, the keyboard is super chonky. The case is built from an aluminium alloy, and I doubt my ability to dent the shell even if I wanted to (which I definitely don't). This hefty weight does make popping it in a backpack pretty difficult, but the Centauri 80 is more something you'd pop behind a glass panel than something you'd bust out on the train.

As far as typing feel is concerned, the Centauri 80 is great. It feels smooth to use, and I like the TTC x MelGeek magnetic white switches. Key hits feel commanding thanks to strong feedback, but not hard to do at the same time. Despite not always being able to see the keycaps when it's dark enough, I almost never struggled to hit the right key without looking. It's well-proportioned, and everything feels very natural.

Two things I'm not a fan of is the enter and space bar. The space bar says "Back to the space" and enter says "Enter to the universe" on it. I get that these keys are supposed to tie into the space theme, but I actually think the specific choice of wording is just a little off.

It only comes in a wired variant, but wireless keyboards feel a tad less useful to me than wireless gaming headsets, wireless mice, and wireless controllers. It's mostly designed to sit in one spot, so a rogue cable has never really bothered me.

One peculiarity I did find with the keyboard is that many of my USB Type-C cables refused to work with it. It does come with a nice braided white one in the box, but casually bringing it with me to plug into a different rig with a different cable resulted in the keyboard refusing to turn on. Not only do some cables not provide enough power to run it, but the USB port is quite recessed, and some of my cables simply can't get far enough into the base to connect to it.

The OLED touchscreen is nice and bright, and even comes in colour, so you can pop your own GIFs or images in there in all their full-coloured glory. Its use cases are perhaps a little niche, but it looks good at pretty much all times. Effectively, when you don't touch the media dial, the screen will display one thing (a gif of your choice, a status bar, key actuation display, etc.), then when the media dial is active, it changes the screen into a whole new set of functions.

Those functions correspond to the dial underneath it. When set to volume mode, it makes the dial adjust the volume of your rig. Media control makes the dial play, pause, go to the next song, or go to the previous one. That means that, though there is a single media control on the entire keyboard, it has solid versatility.

Just under that dial is an orange button that immediately takes you to the MelGeek web app. This can also be changed, but I find accessing a web app with a shortcut is a neat use of the button. MelGeek's web-based software is a little slow, but solid otherwise. From it, you can adjust lighting, set custom controls, activate rapid trigger, get updates, and more. It does a good job of making it so you don't have to download the software, which is kind of the point of a web app.

MelGeek says the Centauri 80 comes with smart voltage monitoring to combat fluctuating voltages, and this apparently even allows it to warn you when it detects moisture, which is pretty neat. If it's going to be a showcase piece, it helps that it seems built to last in many ways.

That price will be the biggest sticking point for the Centauri 80, and for good reason. For $150 less, you can pick up weighty and impressive keyboards like the Wooting 80HE or the Logitech G512 X, which I'd argue is also a showpiece (and comes with 8K polling too). Though it doesn't offer colour, the OLED screen in the $220 Steelseries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 is very pretty, and the keyboard is lovely too.

And if you are simply looking for rapid trigger Hall effect switches, the likes of the Gamakay X NaughShark NS68 offer it for almost ten times less. The MelGeek Centauri 80 doesn't offer anything in specs or feel that can't be found cheaper, and even with better feel (or key visibility) elsewhere.

However, its aesthetic and build quality are undeniably top-notch, and I feel at least a little lucky to have got my grubby mitts / grubby eyeballs all over it. If you're looking for value, you won't find it here— but the Centauri 80 does feel truly unique despite it.

Framework, the company known for ultra-repairable laptops and desktop PCs, is launching a wireless touchpad keyboard, and it has become the company's most waitlisted item. When you consider the company is not traditionally known for accessories, it's strange to think that's the device people really want.

As announced on the company's X page today, the "Framework wireless touchpad keyboard is by far our most waitlisted product! We may need to increase our plans for production capacity." Given that Framework created this new keyboard having become frustrated with a certain Logitech option while designing and testing the Framework Desktop, you might recognise a recognisable board in the bin behind it in the picture above.

For what it's worth, the waitlist is what you get put on if you choose to fill in your email on the site for the keyboard. Framework will notify you when it is in stock, giving you the option to buy it.

In fairness, the keyboard does seem very cool. It comes with "an integrated touchpad that you don't hate", according to the company, making it supposedly ideal for sim rig and living room use. Effectively, it will allow you to easily use a computer from afar without needing a mouse or the likes of the Steam Controller.

Thanks to its open-source CAD design and ZMK-based firmware, it's designed to be very moddable—the control board can also be purchased separately, should you want to make your own keyboard. The standard built keyboard has a 68.8 x 865.6 mm touchpad with multi-touch support and 1.5 mm key travel. The keyboard can be connected with a wire, via Bluetooth, or with its USB-A dongle. No price point has been announced yet, though.

Not much more is known about the keyboard yet, but it doesn't seem to be designed for gamers. The touchpad naturally won't be great for gaming, and we don't know much about the keys themselves yet.

However, should you want to run your rig from a distance, there's a clear selling point. And it seems, based on the waitlist, I'm not the only one who thinks that.

Still, to think a PC and Laptop manufacturer doesn't have a PC or laptop as its most-waitlisted device speaks volumes about the current market, and the troubles of the memory crisis.

Remember that TV show 'How It's Made'? Whenever I would feel a little under the weather, I'd sit down in front of the TV and watch the step-by-step process of making a golf ball. Good television, that. Wooting has since put together something similar for keyboard nerds: a rundown on how a Hall effect key switch is made.

Wooting CEO Calder Limmen leads the tour, following the Lekker Tikken switch through the manufacturing process. Be warned, there are some choice sound effects used throughout.

It starts with plastic injection, which is used for the top case, bottom case, and stem. The machine takes plastic pellets and injects them into a mould, with a cavity in the shape of the final plastic component.

Interestingly, any unused material from the process is not recycled back into the machine to be reused. As Calder notes, "For the Lekker Tikken switches, we don't use any recycled material to make sure the mechanical properties are better so we get less wobble, more consistency and just a better product overall for your switches."

Next up is switch assembly. No prizes for guessing what goes on here. It's one of the more satisfying machines in the video: a series of tumblers and mechanical arms that work to piece together the switch, starting with the top case. Into that lands the stem. This is also when lubricant is applied to the stem and top case—lubricant being useful for smooth operation of the switch and assembling the switch.

Next, the switch earns its Hall effect credentials with a magnet pushed down into the stem. That's all there is to a Hall effect (or TMR) switch—a sensor on the keyboard PCB does the rest. With that in place, the all-important 22 mm spring can be added to the stem, along with the bottom case, which also gets a dosing of lube for good measure. All that's left to do is add the LED diffuser into the switch, which takes place elsewhere.

Then it's onto testing. Each switch gets tested for the gram force (gf) of the switch (the Lekker Tikken is rated to 54 cN, which is sorta 54 gf) and the gauss value of the magnet, which measures the strength of the magnetic field. Magnets are not actually that easy to make with a high degree of consistency so I imagine this is pretty key.

If the switch passes, it goes on to the final assembly to be sold as either an individual switch or bundled with a Wooting 60HE v2. If not, it goes in the bad bucket.

And that's how a switch is made. Hey, wake up!

When I first learned of the Keychron K2 HE Concrete Edition, I was both intrigued and confused. On the one hand, I was aware of the existence of the standard keeb and that we'd given it a massive 88% in our review. The addition of a concrete shell for extra heft? Sounds interesting.

On the other hand, the marketing copy is outrageous. Try this on for size: "Each keystroke carries industrial rhythm, preserving the concrete's solid core while elevating the experience with marble-like smoothness and auditory-visual harmony."

With a description like that, I knew I had to try one for myself. So, I duly requested a review sample, and boy howdy is it heavy. Its 1.74 kg weight was compounded by the fact that my test model was sent to the office, which meant I had to stick it in my backpack to take home. On the train. With a long walk home from the station at the other end.

I am not a clever man. Anyway, I've spent the past month using the Keychron concrete keeb, and I imagine you're expecting me to say that it's a silly idea. A pure marketing gimmick. Something you definitely shouldn't consider dropping $200 on.

But in all honesty, I think it's one of the best keyboards I've ever used. And yes, the concrete shell is definitely a factor.

We want our gaming mice to be light. A concrete gaming mouse would be a silly device, even for someone like me who doesn't mind a touch of extra heft in a squeaker. But when it comes to gaming keyboards, I think a dose of extra weight is actually a plus. Keychron is known for making remarkably well-built keebs, and the K2 HE Concrete Edition feels like the ultimate example of that.

The concrete outer shell is perfectly formed, with nary a moulding mark in sight. The OSA double-shot keycaps feel rounded yet crisp, heavy in their own right, and extremely satisfying under my fingertips. The side-mounted switches for the connection options (USB Type-C, Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz wireless, if you were wondering) are super positive.

It's about as heavy-duty as keyboards come, but it doesn't feel clumsy or overbuilt. Instead, it feels purposeful. Like a piece of industrial equipment that's had just enough of the rough edges rounded off to make for a compelling design.

The weight also means that it really, really wants to stay anchored to my desk, even under panicked gaming conditions. My usual keyboard, a custom Glorious GMMK 3 with a brass plate in the bottom, is pretty good at staying where it is during a fast-paced FPS session. But the Keychron? I'm pretty sure it's pinning my entire setup down at this point.

Does it sound much different to a regular keeb? No, not really. But the switch feel is so good, and the keyboard so stable, I don't really mind. The included Gateron Double-Rail magnetic switches come pre-lubed and have an actuation range of 0.2-3.8 mm, with a starting force of 40 g.

I'm aware those numbers mean little on paper, but trust me, you want a set of these. The resistance is perfect, with a delicious weight that ups my typing accuracy considerably—and they're still ultra-quick for gaming, too. This keyboard and switch combo also supports dynamic rapid trigger, last key priority, and adjustable actuation points, all of which can be tweaked to your heart's content.

In practice, I care little for such things. I care about how it feels underneath my fingers, and these switches, in combination with the excellent keycaps and overall weight, make for a keyboard that I'm convinced is nothing short of magnificent.

There is one thing holding me back from switching it in as my permanent daily driver, though, and you're probably going to think it's silly. But I really don't like the colour.

Concrete is not the most aesthetic of materials when it comes to colour tone, and while Keychron has gone to the effort of making the PBT keycaps match the frame, the whole thing ends up being a shade of grey I don't particularly enjoy.

Plus, my setup is all black and red, and the K2 HE looks... well, out of place when it's all put together. It's also got some pretty tame RGB lighting, and simply isn't a match for my other models in the looks department. Ashamed as I am to admit it, I'm enough of a neurotic human being for that to bother me. Or really shallow, you pick.

Sitting here now, staring at the keeb in front of me, I might be able to get past it. Time will tell, I suppose.

But if you're a fan of the shade, I'd say you should definitely consider a K2 HE Concrete Edition for yourself. Even the $200 price tag is pretty bearable, given the quality of what you end up receiving and the fact that some other high-end gaming keyboards can be priced into the stratosphere.

Can those models be used as boat anchors in a pinch? I think not. Now, if Keychron would spray one down in black paint (and boost the RGB), I think I'd be truly happy. Yes, I'm picky when it comes to gaming hardware. In this job, are you really that surprised?

In February, we reviewed the impeccable Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike and called it the 'biggest gaming mouse innovation in a decade'. That's a pretty big win for Logitech, and though the Logitech G512 X doesn't feel like as much of a revolution for its market, it does feel like it could be just as important. That's for a multitude of reasons.

The first is its 'Dual Swap' functionality. This means that 39 of its switch beds can be swapped between analogue and mechanical switches, thanks to the tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) sensors lying beneath. This means you can trade some switches for better precision, custom actuation, and rapid trigger, and leave other keys as mechanical for that classic typing feel and feedback. It also gives you a broader range of switches to use, which is a good thing in my book.

If you have found the perfect mechanical switch in your current keyboard, this new switch bed technology means you can pop your old switches in, and still get the sweet, sweet benefits of analogue in keys that benefit the most from it. The biggest benefit of Dual Swap to me is not the ability to add analogue switches to an otherwise mechanical keyboard, but instead mechanical switches to an otherwise analogue one.

In practice, I found the perfect setup for me was to pop analogue switches on WASD, and maybe the space bar, and use mechanical ones for the rest.

This is a bit of magic to me. The caps and switches come out easily, and they're even hot swappable, so you don't need to unplug the keyboard before you can start using the keys again. The keyboard has a small 'scan' button at the top left, which not only registers which switches you're using but highlights them with RGB so you can remember them.

The G512 X comes with nine analogue switches in the box/keyboard: Gateron's KS-20. One thing worth noting is that the likes of the Wooting 80HE have all analogue switches, so you can get more for less/equal money (though they're Hall effect rather than TMR). Personally, though, I never really found a need to use all 39 Dual Swap switch beds in the G512 X, even if I had more switches available.

The G512 X includes a handful of SAPP (second actuation pressure point) rings, which are small rubber rings that sit underneath the keycap, offering resistance as you hit 2 mm actuation. This is designed for multipoint actuation, so you can set the likes of the W key to both walk and sprint, with walk at 0.1 mm to 2 mm and sprint at 2 mm and above. It's a relatively niche feature, but noticeable in practice. The SAPP rings bring me to the next part of what makes the G512 X feel special: its storage.

I had a chance to chat with Logitech in its London office just before getting my hands on the board, and I was told its design is an homage to Logitech's Swiss roots. After getting some time with it, I can say that statement feels true. It's just very smartly packed together, clean, and efficient.

At the top of the keyboard is a small storage space for nine switches. Then, underneath that is space for five SAPP rings. The feet of the keyboard double as switch and key pullers, and not one inch of it looks out of place. I have been testing the 98-key black and purple model, and I can say the Evangelion fan in me is very happy.

Speaking of looks, the G512 X has a light bar down the bottom of the keyboard, and each key is individually lit. The light bar consists of 33 different lights, making it super customizable in Logitech's software. It's a lovely look, and one of the dials on the top right is automatically set to control RGB, making it easy to tone down when you want a little less visual oomph.

It's actually important that the keyboard's RGB looks pretty and stands out, as it's almost necessary on much of Logitech's gear. The keys are hard to make out, especially in darker rooms, without it. Luckily, I see no reason to go without here.

Logitech tells me that the G512 X completes an aesthetic ecosystem in the G5 range. That includes the G522 gaming headset and the G502 X Plus gaming mouse. The mouse is missing the purple, but it does have a pretty RGB streak down the centre, and the G522 gaming headset's purple band and lit-up side certainly fit the aesthetic. They do look pretty together, though I'm happy for my gear not to match if it looks appealing by itself. The G522's microphone is certainly standout, but the G512 X is the obvious standout here in both quality and look.

I've also managed to get my grubby mitts on the G512 X palm rest, which costs $45 for the 98-key model. The palm rest doesn't click into place as many do and instead sits just below the light bar. Made from acrylic, the light bar shines through it, and as much as it might pain me to say about a $45 palm rest, I get the vision.

It further accentuates the lights from the keyboard and feels comfortable under the palm, even though it can technically move about as you play. The benefit of it being acrylic is that it's easy to wash, too, should you find yourself mucking up your palm rests (wouldn't be me). I think I'd struggle to justify this cost if I'd just bought the keyboard myself, but it does contribute to the look and feel.

Speaking of feel, the G512 X is comfortable to type on. The switches are slightly muted, and the double-shot keycaps are smooth to press. The lighting certainly helps when I've lost my position on the keyboard, and I don't have any complaints in this regard. Broadly, I'd say it gets nothing wrong in regard to typing feel, sitting around the middle of the pile relative to other keyboards I've tried.

For gaming, though, the G512 X is a bit of a beast. TMR switches make for a super-precise feel, and all of the software customisation only adds to it. Rapid trigger means I can press quicker than a traditional keyboard, and per-key actuation means hitting the most important keys even quicker.

In Counter-Strike 2, I found it easy to stop walking as soon as I let go, which naturally helps with aim, and getting across the keyboard to my grenades and other weapons feels easy to do. The keyboard is well-sized for gaming, and the keys feel distinct. The hybrid switch bed design is used in most of the keys you would use with your left hand, plus the arrow keys, with the rest of the keyboard being standard mechanical. I never found myself wishing others were Dual Swap compatible, so I'd say Logitech has done a good job picking the most important ones.

I've also been testing out the keyboard in plenty of single-player games like Tides of Tomorrow and Crisol: Theater of Idols, and I've found myself playing for hours with little fatigue. It's a snappy keyboard that truly shines in competitive games, but doesn't hold back in comfort either.

As far as build quality is concerned, I'm not concerned. It's not as weighty and firm as some Wooting / Cherry keyboards I've had time with, but it's certainly not weak. It feels well-balanced for my desk, with it being easy to move on purpose, but hard to move by accident.

If you feel like you will struggle to remember which keys have Dual Swap, you can just look under the switches. Dual Swap keys have purple in the base underneath them, and plain 'ol mechanical keys are black underneath. Either way, both types of switch beds have a max polling rate of 8,000 Hz.

This is not the first TMR keyboard I've tried, but it is the first Logitech TMR keyboard. And I can say the G512 X offers a much more appealing package than the likes of the Cherry Xtrfy MX 8.2 Pro TMR TKL and Cherry K5 Pro TMR Compact. It looks more appealing, feels better to type on, and for what it offers, it is better priced, too.

The only thing missing is a wireless variant, but I wouldn't recommend using a wireless keyboard and 8,000 Hz polling at the same time, because the latter uses a lot more power than, say, 1 kHz polling. Given that a keyboard spends most of its time in the same position on your desk, you probably don't want to be dealing with charging it on a regular basis anyway.

There's an argument to be made for the smaller 75-key G512 X being wireless, though, so you can pop it in a backpack and bring it outside with you. It would be a tad brave of you to bring a $200 keyboard in your backpack, but I can certainly see why one might want it wireless.

Logitech's own G Hub software is necessary to swap actuation, get updates, and set the keyboard to 8,000 Hz polling, and I can say it has gotten much better over the last few years. Back in 2024, I moved away from Logitech almost entirely, and that's partly down to how much of a problem I would run into with G Hub. Now, it works pretty much as intended, and the G512 X is easy to customise as a result. Each light on the light bar can be configured, giving you access to patterns, and it's all rather neat.

'Neat' is a good way of describing the G512 X overall. It has plenty of features that I might not use day-to-day, but it allows a level of customisation that feels incredibly rare for major gaming keyboard brands. It makes me feel like a bit of a tinkerer, yet it's much easier to use than anything custom. And, it's offering all those extra features without a price hike either.

Competitive-level TMR gaming keyboards are already fetching the G512 X's price point, without including all of the great design, plus it has a striking light bar and sweet aesthetic. If the G512 X were in my budget, I can't think of another keyboard that would take its spot.

Are we all here? Excellent. I've gathered the keyboard nerd community today to show you The Listening Museum, a website that allows you to select from 36 different typing devices and switches, and, err, type on them. Well, you get to type in a box, anyway. But it plays the sounds of each keeb/switch in real time.

See, that was worth getting out of bed for, wasn't it? The first keyboard on the list is the truly iconic IBM Model M, as is right and proper (via Techspot). After that comes a whole host of different keebs and switches, which may prove very useful if you're looking to try out something new in the near future.

It's not just traditional mechanical computer keyboards and switches that are represented, though, as there's also the odd typewriter on the list. I'm a particular fan of the IBM Selectric-era typewriter. Yes, that's the sound of Mad Men-era advertising executives writing bizarre copy, and I'm totally here for it. You can almost smell the cigarette smoke and cheap whiskey.

Each sound gets an onomatopoeic description, too. For the "vintage typewriter" model, it is as follows:

"Steel typebar slaps a rubber platen through an inked ribbon, inside a steel resonant frame, every strike is a mini-hammer hitting a drum. Carriage return ding is an actual bell. The sound is not comparable to any modern switch."

Gosh, it's almost poetry. It's unclear if said description was actually typed on each example, but I'm imagining so as it's more fun. Imagine typing this on an HHKB Pro Hybrid with Topre switches, for example:

"Capacitive sensing means no physical switch contact, the conical rubber dome absorbs almost all high-frequency energy before the POM slider bottoms on the dome collar, so what you hear is a low, damped thump.

"PBT domed keycaps + dense chassis reinforce that bass signature. No clicky leaf, no metal-on-metal: pure low-mid thock."

Yes, you keyboard enthusiasts can be quite intense—and having tested quite a few for this very website, I'd like to count myself among you. Where is the clubhouse, exactly? I was sent to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of Birmingham, and I'm pretty sure the man on the door didn't appreciate my use of the word "creamy". Oh well.

As well as announcing a new object of my affections with the Framework 13 Pro laptop, the eponymous company has done something altogether more unexpected: it's unveiled a new wireless keyboard. A wireless keyboard with a built-in trackpad, specifically for living room or sim rig use.

Not something I had on my 2026 bingo card at all, but I am absolutely here for it. It came out of the Framework Desktop PC testing and using one particular keyboard/touchpad combo that was popular, but one that wasn't particularly well-liked.

"We knew we could do better, so we did!" So says a blog post shared with us about Framework's new Touchpad Keyboard preview.

The new board basically takes the same keyboard and touchpad architecture that the company built into its recent, small-scale Framework 12 laptops. Which does mean there's none of the fancy haptics from the new Framework 13 Pro touchpads, but it does mean you're getting decent chiclet-style low-profile keys with 1.5 mm travel.

The touchpad itself is a clickable Windows Precision Touchpad, which means you'll get access to all the multi-digit gestures your heart desires from either Windows or Linux operating systems.

It reminds me a little of the Kinesis Form, another wireless keyboard with a built-in trackpad, though that one's a little fiddly to use because of how narrow the pad is.

Anyway, for you nostalgia sickos out there, you'll be happy to see Framework's gone for a translucent rear cover for the board. So you can see the internal structure and relive those Game Boy Advance days.

But the keyboard itself isn't the end of the story, because as well as releasing the CAD files so you can create your own mounts for jamming the board into a sim rig setup, Framework is also going to be selling the heart of it via its Marketplace site. The Control Board, which features the Nordic nRF54 radio chip, enables Bluetooth connectivity, alongside a USB Type-A dongle and wired Type-C connection, and you can use that to build your very own wireless keyboard, or stick it into another frame you prefer.

We don't have any firm timings in terms of when the new keeb is going to be released, with Framework just saying that it will be "available later this year".

Keyboard manufacturer Keychron has recently taken to its public GitHub to post the source files for its K, L, P, Q, and V series keyboards, as well as its gaming mice. This means, with a little technical know-how, you can customise its products to your heart's content.

As spotted by Digital Foundry, Keychron has been updating its GitHub repository over the last two days, refining and contributing more files, suggesting this will be a long-term project for the manufacturer.

It's also not just a file dump. The GitHub has a step-by-step guide, linking out how to open files in CAD software, teaching users how to remix or modify designs, and even points them towards the Keychron community Discord, where fans can ask questions or show off builds.

With these files, you can find the exact Keychron keyboard you own, then build new cases, plates, keycaps, stabilizers, and all kinds of extra components for it. It's a handy addition to buying a Keychron keyboard that, in the right hands, will get a little more out of each purchase. If you somehow break a part or just get tired of the aesthetics, you can customise it without having to create and implement your own designs from scratch.

In response to a developer asking about the commercial use of products made from the source code, Keychron updated the page to make it clear that anyone who makes accessories from these designs can freely sell them. However, modifying and selling full keyboards or mice is not permitted, according to its licenses.

One notable exclusion here are PCBs. There are no specific files present to create your own so, so you will still have to get those directly from Keychron or source your own. Theoretically, though, you can 3D print most of a Keychron keyboard now, should you choose to.

It's a great move from Keychron, and one that should allow buyers to make their keyboards truly their own. It's also just a neat step from a repairability standpoint, and will be particularly handy at some point in the future, should the keyboard become discontinued. We've seen efforts from the likes of Logitech to make its gear more repairable, so here's hoping more manufacturers follow suit.

I'm not one for snap judgments, but when this keyboard first crossed my desk, I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose. My initial ire centred on the plastic construction and the pricing. To be fair to this 65% gaming keyboard, it's a sturdy bit of kit with minimal flex that also offers TMR switches. That magnetic tech's level of precision goes some way to justifying the $185/£140 price tag, but I wasn't sure if it went quite far enough.

To state my own biases, the Cherry XTRFY K5 Pro TMR Compact couldn't be more different from the mechanical keyboard that I actually use every day, the Be Quiet Light Mount. Beginning with the obvious, the K5 Pro TMR is far smaller and far from quiet. The Cherry MK Crystal magnetic switches actuate cleanly and offer plenty of key clack—unfortunately, that comes with a pretty THUNK-y space bar that I do not care for.

Add to that the fact that its orange stripe design and plastic construction pales in comparison to the Light Mount's brushed aluminium top plate, and you can see why I was so cool on it to begin with.

Mind you, Cherry isn't calling this 'compact' for nothing. As a 65% design, there's no numpad, dedicated macro keys, or pleasingly tactile media controls to speak of. Credit where credit is due, that allows the layout to feel far from cramped. The direction keys are shuffled inwards towards Enter and Control, with the left arrow key jutting out, but Delete, Page Up, and Page Down are given a few millimetres of breathing room to visually balance the design.

So far, so far from explosive, but it's this 'compact' design that began to persuade me I'd been a bit quick to judge. As I've previously written about, I have small hands that can make some handheld gaming PCs and peripherals fatiguing to use. As such, I tend to play shooters with a game pad even on PC—that's right, whenever I'm hiding in a bush in Arc Raiders, I am cowering on controller (specifically, the 8BitDo Ultimate 2C wireless controller in lilac).

The reason for this is that I tend to find it a bit uncomfortable to either stretch for the shift key on a full-size board or find I have to awkwardly concertina my pinky under my palm in order to run and gun on a smaller form factor keyboard. It turns out the Cherry XTRFY K5 Pro TMR Compact offers the perfectly spaced key layout for a weird baby-handed freak like me, allowing my pinky to relax more often than not as I elegantly kneeslide into a bush.

Unlike my daily driver keyboard, the Be Quiet Light Mount, the K5 Pro TMR Compact also offers a ton of gaming-geared features. For starters, TMR key switches offer a greater degree of precision and responsiveness than even the similarly magnetic tech found in Hall effect switches. On a wireless keyboard, they would be even more welcome as they're more power efficient too—however, a wired connection is the only way to play with the K5 Pro TMR Compact.

Mind you, for someone who'd rather skulk about the shadows of Stella Montis than go ham across Marathon's Tau Ceti IV, TMR switches don't present not a step up in responsiveness that I can readily appreciate; those with competitive esports ambitions will likely get the most out of the TMR switches here.

Cherry's Magcrate software also offers an impressive suite of customisation options. There, you can fiddle with everything from the lighting (I'm particularly fond of the 'color block' lighting profile as the ARGB reminds me of a fresh box of crayons), to key switch behaviour.

Thanks to the TMR switches, Magcrate includes customisable key actuation that can be set between 3.2 mm and 0.1 mm for all 68 keys. You can also tinker with a number of the usual gaming suspects, though they all have slightly different names to what you might expect. For instance, rapid trigger is referred to as 'Toggle Switch' here.

There's also SnapKey, allowing you to bind two keys so that, when both are pressed, only the last input registers. This is Cherry's take on Snap Tap/SOCD, the tech that's perhaps best known for enabling especially wiggly counter-strafing, and has been banned from Counter-Strike 2 since 2024.

As useful as the feature is, it's best to leave it off in competitive play, as you'll run the risk of a banhammer timeout in a number of games. Thankfully, you can store up to four onboard keyboard profiles, so you can easily set up something for both competitive play and singleplayer games.

The Cherry XTRFY K5 Pro TMR Compact also enjoys a surprisingly granular selection of polling modes. Tapping out at 8,000 Hz, you can alternatively set the keyboard's polling rate to 4,000, 2000, 1000, 500, 250, and all the way down to 125 Hz. As this is a wired keyboard with no battery power to savour, I'm not sure why you'd want to lower the polling rate below 1,000 Hertz, let alone down to 125, but the option is there for the sickos.

Optional quirks like this aside, the K5 Pro TMR Compact remains a feature-rich and comfortable keyboard—though the point of price has not once left my mind. At this point in time, $185/£140 feels like a lot for even a gaming keyboard…especially when I can secure a wireless keyboard that looks like a purple cat that is also a macaron for some reason for almost half that price (I've been dreaming about the Yunzii C98 Cake Meow ever since I first saw it, can you tell?).

But before I get too distracted with kitty keebs, let's compare and contrast the Compact to its recently released sibling, the Cherry Xtrfy MX 8.2 Pro TMR TKL. Both boards have TMR sensing with 0.01 mm precision, up to 8,000 Hz polling, and all the gaming-focused features you could want. However, the MX 8.2 Pro TMR TKL is a wireless keyboard with great build quality and 300 hours of battery life that will set you back $250/€230.

The tenkeyless board may appear the wrong side of gaudy for some, but it's definitely way more visually striking than the K5 Pro TMR Compact's understated black and orange look. Still, if you're only after the gaming features and a wireless board doesn't impress you much, the K5 Pro TMR Compact, for about $70 less, makes way more sense of the two.

But for even less than that, you could instead pick up the Keychron K2 HE, which is a 75% wireless keyboard with similarly responsive magnetic switches and, perhaps most importantly, a head-turning wood finish. I'm being only a little bit silly, but it is one of our top picks for the best gaming keyboards for good reason.

However, if you're on an extremely tight budget, the Gamakay x NaughShark NS68 is our best budget pick at only $40/£31. Before this review, it was my go-to whenever I was in-office at PC Gamer Towers because the typing experience is lovely, and it packs in many of the same gaming features as the Cherry XTRFY K5 Pro TMR Compact. To be clear, the NS68 is rocking Hall effect switches, which are arguably slightly less responsive than the Compact's TMR switches, though very few will feel the difference.

Otherwise, it's really tough to argue with an up to 8,000 Hz polling rate, customisable key actuation, Rapid Trigger, and yes, Snap Tap, all for less than 50 bucks. For that reason, the K5 Pro TMR Compact's $185/£140 price tag continues to be a stumbling block I'm not sure our blossoming relationship can quite overcome. But speaking of blossoming, I spy some foliage with my name on it—here's to one more buttery smooth kneeslide for the road.

I have too many keycaps. I also own too many watches. I'm a real keycap/watch guy. So picture my surprise when the Miyo Watch Keycap came up on my feed last night.

It's a keycap with an analogue watch built into it. Specifically, a Miyota 5Y20 quartz movement with a dual-tone Super-LimuNova (glow-in-the-dark) dial and hands. Over the top, sapphire glass with an anti-reflecting coating. To the right, a small crown. All of which fits into a tiny 1U keycap—that's equivalent to a single letter key on your keyboard.

I'm definitely late to the game here, as the Miyo went on sale over at Sneakbox back in October, 2025. That was a limited release of only 150 units, split three-ways between steel, black and rose gold. There are still rose gold ones available but I am being very chill about it.

It's probably for the best. The Miyo Watch Keycap costs $300/£227, and despite being a watch guy, I prefer my watches to cost roughly as much as a decent Casio—that is, not very much. Though I was tempted by the dopamine rush that would surely ensue after purchasing an extremely unnecessary object for my keyboard.

In a post on Reddit last year, Muji, the keycap's creator and owner of Sneakbox, notes how well received the project has been: "I knew there was a lot of curiosity about this project from the last post, but I didn't anticipate the amount of folk that would actually intend to buy one! Seriously, it's humbling to see this degree of interest being a business-of-one who designs, produces and sells his own stuff. Thank you."

Muji also notes this keycap is not waterproof but they'd like to work on a waterproof version, perhaps with a diver-style bezel, at a later date.

If you're annoyed about missing this creation and looking for another keycap hit, I've bought a couple from Jelly Key. Most of its designs are limited drops and require signing up in a short time period, but I've always been impressed with the quality of what I've received.

I have a couple koi/fish pond ones, a legally-distinct Mario-style one, and an arcade cabinet one. I'm usually tempted to buy more, and I fear for my sanity after considering purchasing this keycap in the shape of a soft, plump pillow, but after a while you run out of keyboards to put them on. At least with watches you can wear at least five or six on one wrist and look totally normal.

Asus took the opportunity at CES 2026 earlier this year to unveil two shiny new keyboards: the fast, Hall effect ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE that's focused squarely at gamers; and the one I've had in front of me for the last couple of weeks, the ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless.

This is a keyboard that's designed to appeal more to the enthusiast end of the mechanical keyboard market, an area we've seen a burgeoning interest in from a range of mainstream manufacturers over recent years. I'd wager Asus has been the one out of all of them to walk the fine line between 'gaming' and 'enthusiast' the best, especially since the Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless has sat atop our best gaming keyboards list virtually since its release.

The fact is that the ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless feels like a strange product when the Strix Scope II 96 Wireless exists. After all, the two share a lot of features. You've got the same 96 percent, or 1800 layout, that squishes up the number pad and moves the nav cluster to provide a full-size keyboard in a reduced footprint, a similar choice of switches, dual wireless connectivity and some very similar physical touches that make this a bit of a head-scratcher to me.

I'll return to this point a little later on, but let's have a gander at what's in front of me. Well, um, it's a keyboard. There you go. I'll take my commission now, please, editor, and be off to the bank to cash my cheque (if I had a physical bank to go to—I guess my phone's banking app will have to do).

Oh, you want more? Oh, alright. I may have to work a little harder to earn a living, I suppose. As I say, we've got the same 96 percent layout as the Strix Scope II 96 Wireless that provides a full-size layout, complete with number pad, arrow keys and nav cluster, in a smaller footprint to save desk space. It's also known as the '1800 layout' after the Cherry G80-1800 keyboard that has been around for at least the last twenty-five years, if not longer by this point, which is where this configuration of keys originated.

It's a functional choice, and one I wish we'd see a little more from manufacturers, being very easy to live with if you're used to a full-size board. You'll just need to remember to find some of the nav keys above the number pad, rather than next to it.

Physical touches include doubleshot keycaps with a pleasant texturing to them that aids grip when typing, although I am quite sad to report they're ABS rather than PBT. This is a marker of a cheaper keyboard, even though PBT has made its way down the price ladder to more wallet-friendly options in recent years, such as the Gamakay x NaughShark NS68. There's potential for the ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless' keycaps to shine after not too long if you're a heavy user—the Strix Scope II 96 Wireless instead has good old PBT. I am pleased about the dual Windows/macOS legends, though, which is very thoughtful.

The casing here is different to its older brother, too, with a closed shell rather than a skeletal one, which is better because you won't get any ingress of crud, and it keeps the RGB lighting from spilling out. The top case is metal with the underside being plastic, and at 1.125 kg, there's some decent heft here. Unfortunately, I did notice some flex at the corners under some pressure, which leaves a bit of a sour taste. You can also take this keyboard apart with screws in each corner of the top casing, saving the task of turning it over to disassemble. For modders, that's a small but important addition.

On the left, you'll find a multi-function dial that can do everything from controlling volume to changing the RGB lighting brightness level and even scrolling a webpage right out of the box with the function changed by pressing the button further up the left side.

Both sides are home to additional RGB light bars, while the top side houses a USB-C port for wired use, a toggle switch for connectivity and a cubby for the USB-A receiver. The ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless also comes with some grippy two-stage feet on the underside for added flexibility of typing angle.

Inside, you get a choice of switches, with V2 variants of Asus' linear ROG NX Snow or audibly tactile RX Storm switches; my sample shipped with the former. These are a light and responsive 40 g linear switch that benefits from factory lubrication for no scratchiness under finger. To help their gaming credentials, the ROG NX Snow switches have a slightly higher actuation point and a shorter travel than other switches, for a snappier feel.

For gaming, the ROG NX Snow V2s work well given their lighter force, and have what Asus calls ‘Speed Tap’, which is their version of the SOCD tech found across a lot of manufacturers’ keyboards for unnaturally brisk movement. It is more of a novelty than a feature, given it’s been banned in Counter-Strike 2 online play, for instance.

Beyond this, though, the ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless lacks the advanced rapid trigger or analog features that are found on similarly priced gaming keyboards with their Hall effect switches, such as the Keychron Q5 HE.

If you don't like the pre-installed switches inside this keyboard, then it is hotswappable, and surprisingly easy to swap out switches and keycaps with the pullers included in the box. To help its enthusiast credentials, this board also comes with a range of foam and such inside for sound dampening, and there isn't any case rattle or ping in my experience. The ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless is also gasket-mounted, leading to a slightly bouncier feel under finger.

Connectivity is versatile, with both Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz supported for wireless flavour. As is typical, it's essentially plug and play, and I had no issues pairing to Bluetooth on my MacBook Pro and using the 2.4 GHz receiver on my main Windows gaming PC. There is also a USB-C port for wired connectivity and charging. The receiver included with this keyboard is the 'Omni' receiver, which can also handle a 2.4 GHz gaming mouse connection for a potent wireless desktop combo over one receiver, freeing up a valuable USB-A port on your PC.

As for battery life, expect to get around 100 hours of battery life with the RGB lighting set to its default state, and virtually 600 hours if you don't want the RGB on. It is more of a subtle underglow than a full-on Pink Floyd gig, given that the keycaps here have solid legends, so it isn't as much of a sore miss to turn it off as you might expect.

I'm also pleased to report Asus has given the ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless support for its web-based Gear Link software, which replaces the frankly shoddy Armoury Crate suite. This is only accessible when you have the keyboard plugged in via a cable or the 2.4 GHz receiver, but it provides a much lighter and easier-to-use alternative that gives you a decent amount of customisation.

Here, you can remap keys, fiddle around with the keyboard's wheel, and mess around with the RGB lighting. Granted, you don't get as much functionality as you would with a Hall effect keyboard, but for the reasons you're likely to dive into software, it's adequate.

Returning to the point posed at the beginning of the article, the ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless feels too similar to the Strix Scope II 96 Wireless in some respects to the point I have considered putting the "They've rebadged it, you fool!" quote from Alan Partridge (British reference, sorry) somewhere in here and therefore gets more of a half-hearted recommendation.

This isn't least as it's possible to get the Strix Scope II 96 Wireless with PBT keycaps, a wristrest and a longer maximum runtime for less than the $140/£135 asking price for this new model.

At this price point, you can also begin to consider the likes of the Ducky Zero 6108, which offers a sublime core experience with a full-size layout, enthusiast-grade touches and proper Cherry MX2A switches for the sub £100/$100 mark. You do have to make do without any software customisation there, though.

It leaves the ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless in a bit of a funny position. Yes, this is a really lovely keyboard that's cheaper than the Strix Scope II 96 Wireless if we're going on retail price alone with newer switches, a different design and a few other extras, but as I can get other mechanical boards with similar feature sets for less than this, it's a harder sell than you might think.

The Asus ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE takes the older ROG Falchion Ace HFX and essentially throws it away. That might seem like an overexaggeration, but it seems to be the truth as Asus has promised revamped switches along with a new sensor, new PBT keycaps, a completely different design and more besides. If that isn't starting fresh, I don't know what is.

The brand did this recently with the Azoth 96 HE to great effect, and it seems like this new model has taken some inspiration and elements from it. For instance, we've got the same new ROG HFX V2 switches inside that came on the new Azoth for heightened precision and power against their predecessors.

For reference, the HFX V2 switches have seen some notable upgrades over the older V1 switches, kitted out to previous Asus keyboards with Hall effect powers. The V2s were first seen on the Asus ROG Falcata, with optimisations such as a shorter overall travel (3.5 mm vs 4 mm) that's more noticeable in use than you'd think, plus a larger magnet for more precise customisation. It's now possible to set the actuation or reset point in increments of 0.01 mm, which is not something I've seen before on a range of the best Hall effect keyboards out there.

In conjunction with the optimisations to accuracy and a shorter travel, the ROG HFX V2 switches carry a lighter actuation force of 32 g against 40 g. I appreciate that sounds like a small change, but it's one that makes a big difference. It essentially makes these switches some of the lightest you'll find on a keyboard from a more 'mainstream' brand. Combined with the shorter travel, it makes these some of the speediest out there, and when the rapid trigger powers are taken into account, it can turn the switches into hair triggers.

For the HFX V2 switches, Asus has also moved to a POM stem that's lubricated to mean these linear switches are smooth and slick under finger. To help reduce key wobble, there is also a new block stem—I certainly think these are stable switches under finger, and there isn't much in the way of stem wobble. Asus has also kitted the ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE with five layers of sound dampening inside to nullify any case rattle or ping, and it's a sterling effort here.

The brand also says this keyboard is hotswappable, so it's technically possible to change the switches without the need for any soldering, although it doesn't state which switches work in here besides the HFX V2 and V2X models (the difference between these is that the -X model has an even lighter 30 g force and a -X-style stabiliser assembly for further wobble reduction). It's certainly very rare that you have the option to swap in more traditional three or five-pin MX-style switches in an HE keyboard, after all.

I dived into my usual testing grounds of Counter Strike 2 to give the ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE a fair go, along with the fast Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike I had spare. The result is that this Asus keyboard is smooth and slick with its inputs, especially with hyper-sensitive rapid trigger enabled for innately brisk actuation and reset points. Movement felt especially fast, as did weapon switching and crouching, owing to the buttons I'd set rapid trigger to in the Gear Link software this keyboard utilises.

Gear Link is Asus' new web-based software that's a major improvement from the app-based Armoury Crate that I've traditionally felt let the ROG products down for far too long, feeling slow and clunky. Being web-based means Gear Link feels lighter and more responsive for its impressive array of features, including setting actuation and reset points, plus rapid trigger powers, and more advanced mapping such as dynamic keystroke, mod tap and all that jazz if you want to fiddle until your heart's content.

There is also SOCD tech for unnaturally quick strafing, known here as Speed Tap, although this is more for marking bumf than for real-world use. Use it online, and you'll probably see the almighty ban hammer wielded. You can also fiddle with RGB lighting, plus with the functionality of this keyboard's touch surface on the top side and the roller wheel near the end of the right-hand edge for things such as key travel, RGB lighting brightness and media volume.

The ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE is entirely wired, meaning a convenient and latency-free connection, plus there's no need to worry about charging it up. You also get the benefit of 8000 Hz polling powers, too, for more frequent reporting of inputs than other, more standard gaming keyboards. It might not be something that mere mortals can benefit from, but for the pros that this board is aimed at, where, to them, every fraction of a second counts, it's a worthwhile addition.

The design of this Asus keyboard has changed a little against the older Falchion models, with this variant moving up to a 75% layout for the added functionality of a function row and single-column nav cluster. The Falchion's trademark touch bar across the top makes a return with this model, as well as a roller in the top right corner. Both can be remapped in software for a variety of functions and give this keyboard a clever means of control besides the actual keyboard part.

The roller is a particularly ingenious addition, as by default, it's used for fine-tuning actuation point and the sensitivity of the keyboard's rapid trigger without going into software. Plus, there's a toggle switch on the right side that can quickly enable and disable rapid trigger at the flick of a switch.

The fit and finish here is suitably excellent, with Asus' customary blend of a plastic underside and metal top plate to the chassis for a sturdy feel in-hand. It is possible to get fully machined aluminium cases at this price point, but this is a good mix of materials. In addition, this keyboard has doubleshot PBT keycaps for extra durability and a quality touch.

Then, after all this, we come to the price. The ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE is going to leave a £220/$220-shaped hole in your wallet, making it a real premium product. At that price, we're looking at rivals including the larger layout Keychron Q5 HE that has a fully machined aluminium case at the expense of lacking slightly more advanced switches and the low-profile NuPhy Air60 HE that trades full-height switches for low-profile ones and retains a lot of the same powers at a lower price tag.

There is also another thorn in the ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE's armour, with one of our favourite HE keyboards, the wireless Keychron K2 HE, which trades wired power for wireless convenience and adds some pleasant wood to the chassis if you get the right version. It too has powerful HE switches, convenient software, and will keep more pounds/dollars/whichever currency in your pocket while doing so.

The bottom line is simple: the Asus ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE is an excellent HE gaming keyboard, but is beaten by more affordable competition that doesn't sacrifice against it. Bear in mind the usual Asus ROG tax before picking this one up.

There is a specific audience who’ll be over the moon about this keyboard, and happy to pay the $260/£240 Corsair’s asking for it. The thing is, it really is a specific audience. While some of its best assets can be universally enjoyed, like the creamy-smooth key actuation and Corsair’s trademark construction quality, a lot of what you’re paying premium price for here is useful only in very particular use cases and tastes.

Let’s take the defining spec of the Vanguard Air 99 Wireless, for example: low-profile, optical keys. It’s obvious from the first keypress that Corsair’s design team have lavished all kinds of care and attention on getting the feeling right, from the gasket-mounted design to the 2.5 mm of travel these low-profile keys have, just enough to lend a satisfying feel to each keypress while still fulfilling the low-profile brief. There are apparently five layers of sound-dampening at work to deliver the right sound, and the right feeling. And they got it right.

Meanwhile, the sector’s increasingly migrating to Hall Effect magnetic analog switches for the adjustable actuation and overall faster inputs they offer. So, in order to enjoy the sound and feel of this board, Corsair’s asking you to forego the latest and greatest in keyboard tech. For $260.

If that seems a bit uncharitable, it’s probably because I’m looking at the Vanguard Air 99 Wireless’ fairly useless LCD screen as I type it. It doesn’t detract from the experience while playing games or at work, but it also doesn’t add much functionality, either. Displaying when the caps lock is on or off, or indicating when I’m scrolling a web page is not a good tradeoff for the battery life that screen must be gobbling up.

Elsewhere there’s not much to grumble about. Least of all in the visual appeal and build quality of the board, which are exemplary as always. What a great combination of solid and sleek this low-profile unit is, heavy enough to stay put when you give it a light nudge and with an aluminium shell that’s aesthetically pleasing and nice to touch.

The PBT keycaps feel great under your fingers, and they’re machined with super-sharp letters and symbols that let the RGB shine through with precision and minimal bleedthrough coming up from the backplate. Er, across most of the board.

The exception being the directional arrow keys and the bank of six macro/OBS hotkeys on the lefthand side, all of which have translucent keycaps and so emit a lot more light. I’m not sure how I feel about this, personally. On one hand it makes those keys easier to locate. On the other, who’s using the directional arrow keys in 2026?

That bank of keys on the left can be used as a stream deck. You’ll need to use Stream Deck software with this rather than the Web Hub, but all six buttons can be mapped to Stream Deck functions. That’s also true of any keyboard with a bank of macro/function keys, but if you do stream yourself it’s a handy value-add to have those keys located reasonably ergonomically.

On the topic of ergonomics, then. My fingers just don't seem to like this combination of 99% layout, low profile keys and the way those keys are stacked. I’m a week deep into using this keyboard every day for work and games, and somehow my fingers still trip up at times or accidentally hit the macro bank of keys. On the plus side I do appreciate two levels of drop-out feet to adjust the angle with. Elevating the board on the lowest steps helped me a bit, but didn’t make me feel totally comfortable. Your results will, of course, vary, but I find it easier to navigate Logitech’s G515 TKL RAPID when it comes to low-profile boards.

When I put the Vanguard Air 99 Wireless to work in my favourite keyboard benchmark, Typing of the Dead: Overkill, though, I was pleasantly surprised. 96% precision! That’s up there with some of my favourite boards. Similarly, in Counter-Strike 2 my digits locked in and danced over WASD like Fred Astaire with an AK. I can only surmise that this layout and profile are suited to my fingers when it comes to short bursts of concentration, but less so through a whole day of productivity tasks. And there’s nothing the LCD screen can do about it but show me an animated Corsair logo.

Here are the reasons I’m persevering with it: a choice of 2.4 GHz wireless, Bluetooth or USB-C wired connections. Wireless operation with up to 8K polling which has never yet dropped out. A PC/Mac mode toggle switch. Easy customisation via Corsair’s browser-based Web Hub. It’s a little slow at times, but vastly preferable to having iCUE installed locally. And above all, the feeling of sturdiness and buttery actuation, even if the layout does trip me up at times.

And it looks quite cool on my desk.

As a reviewer, I’m more inclined to this generous mindset than someone who’d paid, say, $260 for it. Price points are hard right now. The global economic market is extremely volatile and prices are rising at every level, for manufacturers and consumers alike. Still, you can’t help but remember the days 2-3 years ago when the equivalent of this keyboard would have been priced well below $200. I’m not saying it’s Corsair’s fault. But in a world that’s asking more and more money from you just to retain access to the basics, I am dubious as to whether this specific actuation feel is really worth this much money.

There are countless upgrades you could make to your gaming setup. A wireless this, a bigger that, a faster thing. But how do you know what's going to be a genuine upgrade worth investing in? Personally, I think it might be split spacebars.

Hear me out.

A spacebar is greedy. Most keycaps are 1U. Or one unit, in relative terms. The bottom row of a keyboard is usually around 1.25U; one unit in size plus 25%. The right shift key is usually 2.75U. A spacebar is 6.25U. It's over six times the size of a standard key. What a hog. All that real estate simply because you might give the key a nubbin' with either left or right thumb.

Mess with your spacebar, mess with your entire key layout. While it's often very easy to reprogramme your spacebar to do a different action via your keyboard's software, it's a lot harder to reprogramme your brain to hit any other key when you try to jump in game. Spacebar makes you jump. Everyone knows that; it's practically etched onto your brain if you're a long-time mouse and keyboard player.

So, why does a split spacebar help with that? It comes down to this: once you know which side of a spacebar you tend to thwack with your thumb, you can programme the other side to do whatever you want. I hit the right-side of my spacebar every time when I'm typing. Therefore, when I started using a Wooting 60HE v2 with a split spacebar, I set the left-side to be the delete key; the keyboard lacking a dedicated delete key for its 60% size.

Though for gaming, the split spacebar offers much more varied purpose. People do strange things with the WASD keys that I won't litigate here, but I'm pretty sure most gamers use their left thumb to strike the spacebar for gaming. Right? Right. If you fall into this category, you have the option of using the right-side spacebar for things like a chunky melee key, or, my personal favourite, an in-game voice chat key.

You can do whatever you want, really. Those are two I find almost universally useful for the games that I play, though, of course, have something specific to a game—like counter in Deadlock to the right-hand side so you don't keep forgetting about it—can be pretty useful. My point is, there are options, and you don't really lose anything for having them. Plus, I don't find it as unnatural to move to the spacebar as I do the dedicated macro keys you find on something like the Logitech G915 (or G915 X these days), which I still use all the time for my test bench.

In the case of the Wooting 60HE v2, the company has used the split spacebar wisely by inserting an extra programmable key slap-bang in the middle of the two halves. It's a good move, as I'm yet to accidentally hit this middle key a single time while typing—further proving that part of the space to be a bit of a deadzone; wasted space, at least for my typing style. I've mostly stuck with this as an additional function key for now, as it's more convenient on this mini board for accessing the arrow keys with one hand. Though it's another programmable key within easy reach while gaming.

If you're the type of person to care about how your gaming keyboard sounds, then good news. The lack of one unwieldly large spacebar means you get three smaller, more uniform sounding keys. That's got to be worth something.

It does seem a bit obvious to split the spacebar in two, with or without the added middle key, so why haven't we seen more of it?

First off, if you're reading this from behind a keyboard with a split spacebar and wondering if I've been living under a rock for a couple decades; I know, split spacebars are not new. I've used a few keyboards with them in the past, often those which split apart down the middle and necessitating the split spacebar, though some that come with it simply for the love of the game (Keychron offers the very fuss-free Q15 Max). Some PCBs for custom builds also support the split. Nevertheless, it's more of a thing for enthusiasts than the general gamer.

But that's the point I'm making: why hasn't this made the jump into more mainstream gaming keyboards yet? It feels like such an easy win.

Perhaps it's down to adding more switches and stabilisers. For the 60HE v2 here, it adds an extra pair of stabs and two more switches compared to the single spacebar of the Wooting 80HE. Though that hardly feels like a dealbreaker when every major peripheral company now makes a keyboard with a screen on it somewhere. I'd much rather a split spacebar than a screen. There are cheaper options with split spacebars, like this Skyloong GK61 Pro, though I haven't tried it out myself.

Keyboard manufacturers love a trend and I can see this one getting picked up in the next year or so. I'd be happy if it did, anyways. From the past couple of months using a split spacebar, I feel like it's an upgrade worth considering when the time comes to replace your current gaming keyboard with another.

Mode, a high-end keyboard maker that allows you to customise caps, add a stabiliser, swap switches, plate material, PCB type, and more at checkout, has just announced a refresh to its Encore keyboard. Made in collaboration with YouTuber and creator Matthew Encina, the 2026 Encore has a neat new crown mounting system and some lovely design features.

The mounting system is a series of screws you place on the plating before the switches go on. They look lush in gold, and though we've only got a few seconds of footage so far, Mode says it "delivers our most satisfying typing experience to date."

The Encore is a gorgeous looking 65% keyboard with a split wood top plate. The 2026 refresh will be available in five colours (Black Sesame, Matcha Cream, Studio Light, Mocha Mushroom, and Monterey Dune).

We don't yet have the pricing of the 2026 Encore, but the Encore 3 isn't cheap. Removing switches, caps, PCB, and top plate, you're still looking at a fee of $269. With the cheapest version of every component above (minus a stabiliser), the Encore 3 will run you $431 right now, not including shipping.

That price does seem to reflect the quality, though. They look great, and from the short snippet of the 2026 Encore in Mode's latest video, sound great too. Mode says its PCB, mounting system, and keycaps work "in sequence to reduce and isolate vibration transfer for clean typing sounds."

This is all to say it should sound lovely.

The new mounting gasket system will not be present in the Mode Sonnet refresh that is also coming this year, but it will be in the Prologue, which is a 98% layout keyboard that the company has been teasing.

Prologue and the broader range of keyboards this year are pretty big for Mode. Encina says the company was quiet last year as it was "deeply focused on research and development" and it has been "reshaping Mode, the brand, the product, and how we operate."

Here's hoping the price of the new Encore is a good enough value to get on my Christmas wishlist next year, or the Prologue is impressive enough to justify the cost anyway.

There are a lot of compact gaming keyboards out there but none, so far, has been quite so organic. It’s aluminium, you know it is from the way it feels, but that doesn’t stop it having the look of Cronenbergian moulded flesh about it, one step away from being plugged into an unmentionable part of Jude Law so he can get his gaming jollies.

The only port you’ll find on the back of the Mercury V60 Pro, however, is a simple USB-C. There's a button at the other extreme, for switching between onboard profiles, and that’s it. It’s a commendable level of simplicity for something that looks so thoroughly sci-fi, the only added complications being the additional Mac modifier symbols printed on two of the keycaps, and the baffling word ‘Clutch’ written in a cursive font across the space bar.

You can use Fn with various punctuation keys to do things like adjust lighting modes, change brightness, and cycle through speed settings, but everything else is handled by the web interface. That is much better than having to install an app that starts in the background when your PC boots and constantly asks to be updated.

It’s easy enough to use, and automatically updated the board’s firmware before dropping us straight into the configurator. There are four profiles that can be saved onboard, and you can set the actuation point for each key individually, or set up rapid trigger for just WASD with a few clicks, or add it to every key if you like. You can set dead zones, remap keys, record macros and of course tinker with the lighting across 16 dynamic zones.

The board can also emulate a game controller, sending linear button signals and improving control in games that don’t do well with mechanical keyboards and when you’ve left your gamepad at Jude Law’s house.

There's also a switch for an ‘indicator’ light, which does nothing but light up the word ‘gaming’ in the top left corner of the board, in case you forget why you bought it. You can even adjust the brightness. Why? We’ll never know.

In the box you get a dust cover, key and switch pullers, cleaning brush, a USB cable (it’s a purely wired board) and—yes!—some stickers. The version sent to PCG for review is a metallic mid-grey called gunmetal, but a chrome silver version is also available if you prefer to run your PC in light mode on the outside as well as in Windows.

The Hall effect switches are Gravastar’s own, known as UFO Magnetic Gaming Switches, and have a trigger depth that’s adjustable from a tiny 0.005 mm all the way to 3.5 mm to suit different styles of play. Key position scanning at 256 kHz and a polling rate of 8,000 Hz leads to a minimum latency of 0.125 ms, which should be fast enough for anyone.

It prioritises the most recent keystroke for those moments when you change your mind (also enabling SOCD, which binds two keys so one overrides the other and you can make very fast left to right movements, for example, in shooters that benefit from it), while in the case of simultaneous keypresses it will choose the one that was pressed the deepest, so accidental brushes of the key next door don’t have to ruin your combo.

Due to the way the Hall effect allows the various parts of the switch to pass one another without touching, like a married couple bored of one another’s company, Gravastar rates the switches for a lifespan of over 100 million clicks. That is a lot.

The ‘UFO’ part of the switch’s name refers to its shape, and while it does look rather like something that would fly over the hills to intimately probe Jude Law, were he a midwestern farmer (Mr Cronenberg, if you’re reading), this has nothing to do with the way it performs but a lot to do with how much light it can let through. Oddly, the supplied keycaps don’t allow the backlight to emerge through their letterforms, opting instead to spill out the sides, and it looks rather good set to a solid rainbow effect as a result.

Inside that techno-organic frame there are five layers of acoustic foam for sound deadening purposes, but the keys still make a satisfying ‘thock’ sound. It’s a 60% board, so some compromises have been made—there's no F row, macro keys, media controls or numpad. The right Shift key is so small it’s almost unacceptable (though the left usually gets more use) and is in the wrong place. The payoff for this is nicely sized arrow keys, backspace and enter keys that are a decent width (though why we need such a large \ key above the latter is a mystery) and a board that sits unobtrusively on your desk.

It’s also not particularly heavy, being a whole pound less than the Mchose Ace 68 and less than half the weight of the Lemokey L5 HE 8K, and is prevented from sliding around by silicone feet underneath. These are relatively successful, though it’s still possible to nudge the board if you’re typing really furiously.

Cost may be an obstacle to its success, however: the Mercury V60 Pro costs a lot more than PCG’s current favourite budget keyboard, the similarly compact Naughshark NS68, but it’s still a little cheaper than the Keychron Q3 Max, at $220/£200.

Gaming keyboards don’t have to be huge, the presence of so many compact options in the big list of the best boards is testament to that. This 60% specimen is weirdly beautiful in the way it blends its brushed aluminium with a look that suggests it was extruded from some giant hive organism, and its combination of superb design and build, Hall effect switches and extreme customisation mean it may be the perfect keyboard for someone, and we’re glad it existz.

You really have to offer something special to charge $250 for a keyboard. Even more so for one that's TKL. The white Cherry Xtrfy MX 8.2 Pro TMR TKL (say that three times fast) looks a bit garish and costs a lot of money, but offers a better second impression than a first one.

It's undeniably a very firm bit of kit, and a sturdy top plate means it's not weak to any flex (trust me, I tried). It has a rather hefty weight and feels strong on a desk. Its aesthetic, one that is plastered with white, blue, silver, and a somewhat dated vaporwave logo, doesn't appeal to me, though. It's covered in RGB, which is often make or break for a keyboard, and I can't say it makes the MX 8.2 Pro.

That RGB can be controlled in the Cherry Mag Crate software, which is fairly intuitive. It did default to Chinese with the link on the Cherry website, but that's since been fixed. Importantly, this software allows you to get the most out of the unique TMR magnetic sensors in the board itself.

Effectively, TMR (or tunnel magnetoresistance) is a sensing technology that detects motion due to electrical resistance. It's an incredibly sensitive, accurate tech, beating out traditional mechanical and even Hall effect keyboards. It's already becoming a standard in controllers, and I can see it becoming more and more popular in keyboards, too.

With TMR, you're getting faster response times, lower battery consumption, and higher sensitivity. But all of the above is already pretty darn great with the similar magnetic-based tech of Hall effect in the first place. As a replacement for the old guard, TMR is definitely the way to go, but is it worth all that extra cash?

My money says not right now. This is especially true if we consider how both mechanical and Hall effect keyboard prices have continued to drop since their introduction.

Cherry claims a precision of 0.01 mm for key presses, but then so does Asus' ROG Falchion Ace 65 HE; you're able to get a similarly precise experience even without TMR right now. The Cherry reportedly enjoys up to 300 hours of battery in Bluetooth mode, but that battery life shrinks in its 2.4 GHz and above 1,000 Hz polling rate modes. This is all to say that this Cherry keeb definitely has impressive specs, with trade-offs to get those specs.

Whether or not that's important to you is largely dependent on whether you're already at the top of the scoreboard. If you're firmly in the middle, you likely won't appreciate the difference in a few milliseconds between response times. For most, super-precise actuation and a high polling rate are all a little much, especially when you are paying a premium for them.

Otherwise, feel is incredibly important here, and I can say that the Xtrfy MX 8.2 Pro TMR TKL is lovely to type on. Keys press comfortably with a satisfying thock, and the PBT keycaps are smooth to the touch. Being TKL, I do miss my number keys, and I can't help but lament the lack of any media keys, but everything is spaced well and satisfying to tap.

It has five-layer sound dampening in the board itself, and though not super quiet, you can hear this dampening immediately, with a certain softness to the sound coming through while typing.

In competitive games, it whips too. It's super snappy for the likes of Counter-Strike 2, and most importantly, it's fairly comfortable. It doesn't have a wrist rest or anything, but its light size and easy-to-press keys reduce some strain. Importantly, the MX 8.2 Pro TMR TKL also has rapid trigger, which means it registers you letting go of a key as the key starts to go upward.

Traditionally, keyboards would have to hit a specific threshold, slowing down how quickly you can press keys consecutively. In the likes of Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant, where you are less accurate as you are moving, being able to stop instantly makes your aim just a little better.

In a single-player, slower game like The Seance of Blake Manor, the Cherry offers pretty much no benefit over a cheaper, less high-specced keyboard. The feel is certainly smooth, though not head and shoulders above similarly sized keyboards, so the Pro name says it all here.

Each key also has Dynamic Keystroke (DKS), which means you can set up to four actions per key, based on chosen actuation. Keys can register input from 0.1 mm to 3.2mm, giving you a wide range for those inputs. This is particularly neat in a TKL board, as you can make up for the lack of some keys with some smart finetuning.

It also comes with snap tap, to allow one key to take precedence over another, based on which one was clicked last. This is particularly useful for strafing in games.

Is TMR the future of keyboard technology? I'd say 'yeah, probably'. It's a step up from Hall effect, which is already very good, and could allow for even higher spec keyboards in the future. It's not noticeably better, though, and I reckon most wouldn't be able to tell the difference (outside of maybe the battery life being stronger).

This does mean wireless keyboards could become an even stronger arena as TMR makes its way into the mainstream, but keyboards are arguably the peripheral that needs a wireless mode the least. After all, wires aren't too intrusive when attached to a stationery board.

It's ultimately that price that makes the Cherry Xtrfy MX 8.2 Pro TMR TKL feel so niche to me. You can get solid specs and Hall effect for as low as $40 in the Gamakay X Naughshark NS68, and Keychron's K2 HE even offers a tasty wooden trim, great switches, and notable battery life for $140. Logitech's G Pro X TKL Rapid is a very similar keyboard in size, look and feel, yet comes in at $80 less.

Naturally, none of these have TMR, but they do have their own unique selling points too; the Logitech keeb has a greater range of actuation, Gamakay has a much stronger price point, and Keychron has a far less garish look.

If you've got the cash for a $250 gaming keyboard, you could pick up the Asus ROG Azoth instead, which is not only expertly built and boasts a lovely aesthetic, but even comes with a neat OLED screen and media controls. And that was three years ago. That means you can certainly pick up the keeb for less than $250 if you shop around now.

This is all before mentioning the Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless, the best gaming keyboard out there right now. With it, you're getting excellent switches, a great sound, solid media controls, and a neat look.

But for 90% of people, any of the above suggestions feel like a better (and likely cheaper) choice. That's not because the MX 8.2 Pro TMR TKL is bad; it's just because its price is a really tough sell right now.

Cherry has found itself in an unenviable position as of late. Losing tens of millions of dollars last year, it has been considering selling part of its company. This puts its new range of TMR keyboards in a bit of a strange light. And, in a sense, I respect the choice to focus on budding technology and unique builds. That's something I'd certainly like to see more of from Cherry, even if it's a little too early for that to fully pay off yet.

The problem with getting to that market early is that you have to stomach all the costs associated with it, and I struggle with the MX 8.2 Pro TMR TKL because I don't think it will be all that long before someone else does it better, in a wider range of boards—and likely for cheaper, too.

I don't think anyone would challenge me on the assertion that 'ergonomic keyboards look a little weird'. However, that's not the thing that has kept me away from them for, well, ever. It's that they feel weird. There are many types, of course, but mostly they're designed to keep your hand in the same position, and perhaps slightly elevated. They all come with their own learning curves, and I frankly just don't want to shape up how I type. I still use QWERTY, and I don't touch type. For shame, I know.

As you get more and more comfortable with hardware (and the marketing around said hardware), you are constantly bombarded with the benefits of buying new tech, and that's particularly true of things labelled 'ergonomic'. That's especially when they're as expensive as keyboards can get. But, I've decided to drop the cynicism a tad and actually get used to a keyboard, namely the Cloud Nine C959 Ergo TKL sat underneath my paws.

That's not to say there aren't benefits to swapping to a keyboard that aligns with how your arms traditionally sit. It's partly an acknowledgement that I do plenty of other things in unergonomic ways, and don't necessarily know if the swap will be worth the effort (and price).

Luckily, the PC Gamer office had the aforementioned C959 Ergo TKL in a closet, and I thought it would be the perfect time to blow the dust off the box, get it plugged in, and finally make the swap.

Other than the fact that you need to plug this keyboard in a very specific way, and the fact that drivers failed to update and entirely tanked the keyboard for a day, the swap was relatively easy when it comes to actually typing. My model has two halves that are split, but can be snapped together to feel closer to a traditional keyboard. Of course, you still get the benefits of an ergonomic keyboard, with a space in the middle so you don't have to cross your arms too much and wrist rests to keep your hands at an angle.

Some of the bigger hurdles in making the swap involve where I naturally place my palms and which keys I hit with which fingers. For instance, I'm very used to hitting the 'B' key with my right hand, as there are four keys to the left of it and two on the right, in a standard QWERTY layout. This means I often went to hit the 'B' and was greeted by empty air.

Learning to properly touch type would certainly help me with ergonomic keyboards, though that's a pretty big learning curve. I tend to lay my right pointer finger around the 'H' and the left pointer finger between 'D' and 'F'. Learning to use more of the keyboard with my left hand was a struggle

But that struggle only really lasted a day until I was totally comfortable with the Cloud Nine. I think my ergonomics are particularly bad normally, as I have a twitch, which can affect my fingers. Strain in my hands is often exacerbated by my own desire to move them, which can make long days typing a literal pain.

This pain is definitely an infrequent occurrence that is, like many twitches, worsened by stress, but I can say the ergonomic has not added to that pain since I've had it. Part of that, I think, is that it encourages you to plant your hands. In a traditional keeb, I often hover for quicker access to keys, and a better stretch, but my ergonomic keyboard, from its slanted wrist rests to its position of keys, really wants you to just sit still.

In a traditional workday typing, the only time I've really had to swap up my positioning is when I've gone to adjust the big volume key that sits in between the two halves of the keyboard. Even then, I think I could use it with a thumb and some practice.

It's when I started gaming that I noticed the real downside, though. In Red Dead Redemption 2, you have to hit H to whistle for your horse. 'H' is on the right keyboard, so it's tough to hit with my hand on my mouse. Pretty much anything left of 'G', 'T', or 'B' is a real stretch while gaming, and not all that ergonomic in practice.

This means I've had to either adjust keys to fit on my mouse or the left side of the keyboard, or do without them in most cases. In some slower-paced games where the map is 'M', I could leisurely lift my left hand over and hit the key, but it's not massively viable in most games (and a tad uncomfortable).

It's worth noting that the Cloud Nine I've got my hands on is more gamer-centric than many other ergonomic keyboards. Though the two sides are detached, they snap together, and the keys are laid out in a traditional QWERTY fashion. This is to say that I suspect the likes of the Naya Create, Asus ROG Falcata, and even the reportedly brilliant Kinesis Gaming Freestyle Edge RGB to pose more of a difficulty to me.

Ergonomic keyboards also exist in the form of the Kinesis mWave, which is just on board, but with a slant on the bottom and space in the middle to separate your two hands. I feel this one would fare worse in my hands. I feel that, with the Cloud Nine, I've got the lowest barrier to entry out of any of the ergonomic keyboards I can find.

This is before mentioning ortholinear keyboards like the ZSA Moonlander, which has straight keys and slanted remappable buttons. Frankly, this is too big a learning curve for me to want to commit the time right now, and too niche for me to put up that upfront cost. Maybe in the future, as a deal catches my eye, I could make the change.

Though gaming on an ergonomic keyboard certainly isn't impossible, and it's about the same as a standard keyboard when it comes to games heavily reliant on WASD and surrounding keys, there's definitely a tradeoff here. It's one that might make for a better gaming posture and less strained wrists, though. See, being able to split the board in half means you can keep your mouse and keyboard closer, which is part of why people like compact keyboards. I'm certainly drawn to its versatility in ways, even if that darn 'M' button is too far away.

I have thought about using one keyboard for the day and one for the night, like the geekiest Jekyll and Hyde, but frankly, that's too much effort. My desk is simply not big enough to justify constantly swapping, and I like my setup to stay the same most of the time. If I happened to have separate work and play setups, I would certainly commit to this, but take one look at the cost of gaming PCs right now, and you'll understand why that's not possible.

So, after a few weeks without my very first ergonomic keyboard, I can confidently say the swap was so much easier than I thought it would be. The slant on the keys and the way it makes you separate your hands from each other is really not that far off a standard keyboard. But is it better for gaming? I think not. It's a tad clunky and needs some customising (and a few unused buttons) to avoid big stretches to hit certain keys.

But what I can say is that my heart is now open to the perfect ergonomic gaming keyboard. I'm not intimidated by the notion of splitting my keyboard in half, and I think the right one is definitely out there for me. Just keep the Azeron hand-shaped keyboard away from me. I don't think I can quite stomach that one just yet.

There's no doubt in my mind that the Wooting 60HE v2 is the best keyboard that Wooting has ever made. I've used the lot, from the original Wooting One through to the Wooting 80HE I use today, and while each one has improved on the last, the Wooting 60HE v2 is the first that can truly go toe-to-toe with the thockiest—or any other made-up term we all seem to like—keyboards around.

I'm the sort of dork to enjoy building my own gaming keyboard. You might not be, and that's okay, as Wooting offers the 60HE v2 two ways: in parts or pre-assembled.

It's nothing short of a dream to set up yourself from parts. With the case, Module (PCBA), switches, and keycaps in hand, each component is push-fit onto the last. First, the provided foam inlay goes in the case. Then the Module, pushed gently into place. Then the switches—there are a few options available but the latest Tikken switches make the most sense—and onto those, the PBT (or half-price ABS) keycaps.

As far as DIY keyboards go, it's as easy as it gets.

There's a choice between a silicone block, EPDM Foam or providing your own bottom case dampening, which sits between the case and the Module. I ended up going with the silicone option for a more muted sound profile overall, though you could ditch it altogether if you enjoy seeing furrowed brows and menacing eyes peering over the top of monitors all day long.

The bigger decision, however, is whether you opt for a split spacebar. Not something I've used much outside of ergonomic keyboards, I had to go for it myself for this review, and I'm really glad I did.

Turns out there's a lot of untapped potential in the area taken up by, traditionally, a very long spacebar. Wooting includes two halves of a spacebar, the left-side slightly longer than the right-side, and an extra fully-programmable key in its stead. Combined with the Wooting's wonderful Wootility—the application that lets you customise its many features—this three-for-one deal adds a lot of potential for customisation.

For example, as someone that types at my desk for eight hours or so a day, I have a profile set up in the Wootility specifically for typing. The sensitivity isn't anywhere near the lowest it could be, at only 1.6 mm, though a little more pressure to activate each key helps prevent mistypes. I've set the right-side space bar to space—I've found that I always use my right thumb for space while typing, never the left—and the left-side space bar to delete. That's because, as a 60% keyboard, there's no dedicated delete key on the 60HE v2. It's either function + backspace or my newly-programmed key, which saves a keypress.

Or you can leave both halves as spacebar and be none the wiser for the most part. You still gain that extra key—which is a handy function key for accessing the arrow keys with just your left hand. And if that's not your bag, go for the standard non-split option.

The typing feel is excellent. It sounds superb and balances a weighty feeling keypress with a responsive one very well. The new Lekker Tikken switch plays a big part in that, cited as a "slightly muted, deeper-sounding alternative to current HE switches" by Wooting, I'd totally agree with that assessment. They offer significantly less wobble to this compared to the Lekker L60 switches used in the Wooting 60HE, which I liked back in 2022 as a marked improvement over previous switches, but by comparison, have a lot more rattle.

The construction of the 60HE v2 plays a big role here, too. The aluminium case on the 60HE v2, as opposed to the plastic one on the 60HE, along with the FR4 plate and Poron foam, make for a rock-solid foundation for the new switches.

The only issue I've noticed on the 60HE v2 during my time typing on it is a slight ping on some of the larger keys. It happens rarely, but enough to notice it, mostly on the right-side space bar.

Historically, yon't buy a Wooting keyboard just for typing in the office. That's not its forte, nor what it's built to do, though there's a good argument for just that with the 60HE v2. It's certainly one of the best-feeling keyboards I use regularly for typing. That is saying something, as I use the ROG Azoth Extreme and Keychron Q3 Max at home and in the office, respectively; two extremely high-quality keyboards.

But let's get to the main focus here. Gaming is, of course, the primary reason to pick up a Wooting keyboard, and the company's kit is used by esports pros the world over. I am not one of those, but it's easy to see why they're keen on these, specifically.

Hop into the Wootility and you'll find a number of desirable features and settings for any would-be competitive gamer. The actuation point for any key on the board can adjusted in 0.1 mm increments, down to the lightest available at 0.1 mm. I like to set mine a little higher, to avoid strafing left and right by accident in Arc Raiders or Deadlock, but I tend to rest my fingers on the A and D keys so I'm pretty susceptible to that. But that's how sensitive you can get here, which is similar to a range of other Hall effect keyboards.

Rapid trigger is one of the better-known and easy to use features of a Hall effect keyboard such as this. Turn it on and you no longer need to fully release a key to actuate it again, making for more reliable key presses when you're spamming a key quickly. You don't need to think about it once it's set, so it's very much set-and-forget.

8 kHz polling can be enabled in the settings tab, though Tachyon Mode is by-word for 8 kHz polling with a couple extras. Essentially maximising the rate in which your keyboard's MCU communicates with your computer for minimal latency while disabling RGB lighting and lowering brightness. I don't tend to use this, simply as the keyboard feels snappy enough without.

Remapping keys is made easy with a simple interface—one of the Wootility's strongest features as I've noted previously. I've set up a gaming profile to go along with my typing one, and for this, I prefer to have the right-side spacebar act as a spacebar, with the left-side and middle function key offering more per-game customisation. Melee is a good one to have on the middle key if not already assigned to a mouse shortcut in a load of games.

Switching between profiles is easy, just hit the function key and hit the pre-assigned shortcut key. In my case, O is for typing, P is for gaming. You can add more easily enough, too, with pre-configured profiles available for racing and analogue movement.

Of course, being a Hall effect keyboard means this keyboard can track the entire range of a key press, so analogue functionality is available. Personally, I use this less, as I've tried a good few times over the years (mostly when reviewing Hall effect keyboards) and never quite find a consistent use case for this sorta functionality. But it's there, and you can set it up to act as a controller input for more granular movement control in FPS games. Also, there is a range of 'Advanced Key' settings for a little more flexibility if you want it.

There's Mod Tap, which lets you set two inputs based on how you press a key. A short press for one, a long press for another. Or Dynamic Keystroke, which lets you add up to four bindings on a single keypress, depending on how far you depress the key. Snappy Tappy (SOCD) and Rappy Snappy work by activating a key press depending on how you press them—the latter by a few options, but namely the last key pressed is activated, and the former by which is pressed the furthest. You can be banned for using Snappy Tappy (SOCD) in some games, like CS2, so I'd generally not recommend using that one without caution or setting up a specific profile for it. You don't want to leave it on and end up with a ban.

You can set up the RGB lighting to your taste in the Wootility, or turn it off if you prefer, though it is some of the better-looking RGB lighting for the white FR4 plate the switches are mounted onto. It's a more diffused look than some and no individual RGB LEDs are noticeable from above. Though if you spill anything on the keyboard, or end up with cat hairs under the keys, you will notice them.

If you do build this keyboard yourself, you'll notice the Module is covered with little drawings and logos beneath each key. A little nod to the people who made the board. Similarly, the underside of the Module has annotations for all the components, which is a nice touch if you've ever wondered what is required to make a gaming keyboard.

The 60HE v2 is available with a few cases. It uses a standard 60% size and allows for any aftermarket case of the same size to be fitted with similar ease to the official ones. There are a few of those to choose from: black ABS being the cheapest, black and silver aluminium after that, followed by the Alumaze60, Optimum version (from the YouTuber of the same name), and OwLab. The Owlab is an immense £350, but it's a custom design for the 60HE with a clever suspension system that switches between bouncy or stiff. Sort of like the Azoth Extreme, but to the nth degree. It looks lovely, but it's more than the cost of the Wooting 60HE v2 alone.

The 60HE v2 is $240 for the pre-assembled model with an aluminium case. The most expensive 'standard' Wooting keyboard to-date. Though the 60HE v2 with an ABS case is $180. That's still more than its predecessor, the 60HE+, which is still available to purchase for $155.

The Wooting 80HE is $200, with a larger number of keys and the same benefits for gamers. However, that shoots up to $300 with a zinc alloy case and Lekker Tikken switches, which would be required to match the feel of the 60HE v2. Undoubtedly, though, Wooting is now in the premium keyboard game with the 60HE v2.

Compared to the competition, you can pick up similarly slick-feeling keyboards with Hall effect switches, such as the Keychron Q5 HE, at $230; or Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE, which is offered at stratospheric pricing; or NZXT Function Elite, which is $190. Or cheaper options with plastic shells such as the NuPhy Air60 HE for $110.

Having used a bunch of the alternatives for our best Hall effect gaming keyboard guide, I'd still go with the Wooting. Though only if you're looking to spend that bit more—you can get most of the important features on more budget boards, though without the excellent construction or software.

After using the Wooting 60HE v2 for the past month or so, it feels the most well-rounded and impressive keyboard the company has put out to date. I've said that for every new arrival from the company, which goes to show the positive trajectory it's enjoyed over the past decade.

Provided you don't mind a smaller layout, which requires some use of layers to reach all the keys you'll likely require during use, the 60HE v2 is an excellent choice for anyone looking to invest some money into their gaming setup. The feature set is unrivalled, not in function, as many other Hall effect keyboards do something similar, but in how straightforward and accessible all that functionality is. As I mentioned earlier, the true talent of Wooting's keyboards lies in its software, and combining that with its first truly top-tier typing experience makes for a very desirable keyboard in the 60HE v2.

Have you ever looked at Razer's Huntsman lineup of gaming keyboards and thought, "Nah, I need to pay more for this?" Well, if so, the newly-announced Signature Edition and its stronger materials may just sway you. That'll be $500, please.

The Huntsman Signature Edition officially arrives on February 22, with preorders open for the keyboard now. Razer says it "stands as a statement of precision engineering and master craftsmanship—our most uncompromising keyboard ever built."

If you pick up the Huntsman Signature Edition, you get 8,000 Hz HyperPolling, alongside rapid trigger-capable optical analog switches. It has customizable actuation, alongside N-key rollover and anti-ghosting. This model is TKL (i.e. no numpad) with swappable doubleshot PBT keycaps.

On paper, the specs of the Huntsman Signature Edition are very similar to the Huntsman V3 Pro 8KHz but with a doubled price tag. In exchange for that extra cash, the Signature Edition offers luxury. A 6063 aluminium alloy top chassis and PVD Mirror-polished 6063 aluminium alloy bottom chassis contribute to what Razer calls "level of refinement and precision unlike any keyboard we’ve built before."

Outside of the added sturdiness of the Signature Edition, you're also getting swappable keycaps in the box, and a vegan leather box to hold the keyboard in.

You are getting rapid trigger technology with the keyboard, but, surprisingly, no Hall effect or any of the other things we've come to expect from premium keyboards. This is particularly strange when we've seen Hall effect switches in the $40 Gamakay X Naughshark NS68. We've even seen ridiculously sturdy builds and aluminium plates in the likes of the $100 Ducky Zero 6108.

$500 is a very tough price point for any keyboard. We tested out the similarly priced Asus ROG Azoth Extreme in 2024, and it comes with up to 8,000 Hz polling, a wrist rest, and it's even equipped with a cute OLED touchscreen. Regardless of features, that amount of money is hard to justify for anyone but the most boujee gamer, and it would be a struggle to recommend the Azoth Extreme, even with a discount. Still, if I had to pick between the two, I think Asus would likely be getting my cash.

Of course, part of the reason why Razer might want to show off expensive gear is the same reason why it brings out whacky tech at CES every year: it's good marketing. At the end of last year, Razer announced it would be bringing back the classic Boomslang gaming mouse (and charging $1,377 for it), but it's not a typical piece of gaming gear that most will buy. With only 1,337 models available, it's as much a feat of marketing as it is engineering.

Still, we won't fully know if the Huntsman Signature Edition is worth the cash until it's in our hands, but my gut says 'probably not'.

The best mechanical gaming keyboards are often those that offer a kind of purity. They have a focus, and that’s to provide the perfect interstitial layer between game and player, offering as little friction as possible so that your keypresses are swift and smooth.

Corsair has taken the mechanical keyboard—basically a metal frame full of switches plus some way of connecting it to a computer—and complicated it in the Galleon 100 SD. This mechanical keyboard has had a 12-key Stream Deck (and it’s important to notice that ‘r’—it’s Stream Deck and not Steam Deck) welded to its right-hand side.

It’s an expensive and specialised device that’s probably not going to find its way onto too many desktops, but it does have applications with applications that aren’t streaming applications. Do you need one? Probably not, but it’s fun to muck about with all the same.

The software does its best but is a bit fiddly. The Galleon shows up in Windows Settings as two different keyboards, and the bit that’s not a Stream Deck—looking rather like a K70 Core that’s received a cybernetic implant—is controlled by Corsair’s Web Hub rather than iCUE (the latter app wouldn’t recognise it).

Here you can choose colour layers, pick the polling speed (up to 8,000 Hz) and update the firmware. At one point, when switching between polling rates, the keyboard lost its connection to Web Hub and stopped working altogether until it was unplugged and reattached.

While I was testing, the keyboard was still only available for preorder, so it’s possible a launch-day firmware update will iron out any glitches.

There's full-key rollover and Corsair’s FlashTap SOCD, just like its high-end gaming keyboards, too.

The Elgato bit is configured using the Stream Deck app and that involves hours of messing about while you install plugins and assign them to buttons. The app is clever enough to nudge you to install missing plugins, but the installation process itself can be a little iffy: lots of plugins required two attempts, some as many as three.

Once they’re installed, you’ll need to choose exactly what they do and can customise the icon that appears on the Stream Deck key, along with its label. System monitoring plugins will display CPU usage, free RAM and, if you set up and connect to a local web server via Libre Hardware Monitor, things like CPU temperature and fan speeds.

You can also use it as a numpad, with pages for all the mathematical functions you could need. This ties in nicely with a Microsoft Excel plugin, and you’ll find them for other non-gaming apps too, such as Photoshop, though not the other Creative Cloud apps—a Premiere Pro one would have been nice. There's even a flight tracker.

The two rotary dials can be similarly fiddled with, from simple volume and brightness controls to switching between pages of deck shortcuts, and they both click in, acting as buttons. There's a (non-touch-sensitive, though we’re all so conditioned to tap and swipe these days that you’ll certainly try to use it that way at least once) LCD screen below the dials, offering information such as the weather or volume levels, as well as tying in with the dials. It’s a comprehensive package that can be tailored to a wide variety of uses.

But it’s gaming and streaming that are the natural home of the Stream Deck, and so you’ll find control plugins for OBS Studio, YouTube, Twitch, Discord, Voicemod, various video calling apps, Rode microphones, smart home ecosystems and so much more. Elgato has been making Stream Decks for long enough now to have a broad and established software base, and once a plugin is installed it all seems stable enough, with simple dropdown menus to choose functionality.

The only problem is how many of them there are, and the amount of time it will take to wade through them all. You really only need the ones that support the software and hardware you’re using regularly.

The keyboard itself is up to Corsair’s usual standards—the hot-swappable MLX Pulse switches are five-pin, long pole, pre-lubricated models with an integrated fresnel lens to let the RGB backlighting shine through, a 2 mm actuation point, and a lifespan of up to 80 million keystrokes. They’re described as ‘thocky’, and that’s an apt word for the sound they make.

Six layers of sound deadening muffle, but don’t stop, the noise, and the amount of travel from the keys gives them a great feel. For my tastes they’re a little narrow at the top, but there's good separation between them.

A magnetic wrist rest comes in the package, and underneath the Galleon you’ll find two adjustable feet. The displays for the Stream Deck buttons are quite deeply recessed, so it’s quite possible to adjust the keyboard so you can’t quite see them properly, especially if you’ve labelled them below their icon—they best repay a position where you’re looking straight down into them from above, which naturally sets the rest of the keyboard off to the left. Using the keyboard every day you’ll learn to work around this, but a wider viewing angle might have been a good addition.

There are also some USB ports—all three of them Type-C—but don’t think you’re also buying a useful USB hub.

Get the keyboard out of the box and you’ll naturally expect that the prominent one at the right-hand side of the board is the one that connects it to your PC, but it’s not. That honour goes to one of the ports tucked under the edge in the centre, marked with a keyboard icon. The other two are for passthrough, but only run at USB 2.0 speeds, so are of questionable utility as most peripherals from that generation will have Type-A plugs.

A USB 3.2 SSD attached to the keyboard wasn’t picked up by the PC, nor was an older USB 3 flash drive. The ports are quite deeply recessed, so cables with thicker plugs may have problems, and the pair underneath are very close together, leading to cable clash with the PC connection cord.

The Corsair Galleon 100 SD feels like a natural evolution of the gaming keyboard. Having the customisable button array is useful even if you’re not a streamer, but it remains to be seen how many people will be prepared to pay $350/£310 for this amalgam when a Stream Deck Neo is only $90/£90 and you can pick up a perfectly good mechanical keyboard for about the same.

What noise do you think a concrete keyboard makes? I'm not sure, but I may be about to find out, as Keychron is about to launch a wireless, magnetic-switched model with a "full concrete body".

The Keychron K2 HE Concrete Edition looks very much like a regular, off-white coloured keeb, but the company sure has gone to town with its heavyweight base. It's also gone to town with the marketing copy, some of which I shall reproduce below:

"Smooth marble-like concrete shell seamlessly merges with cement gray keycaps," says Keychron. "Each keystroke carries industrial rhythm, preserving the concrete's solid core while elevating the experience with marble-like smoothness and auditory-visual harmony."

I'm not sure about all that, but I do like the idea of "industrial rhythm". Until today, I was fairly convinced it was a musical genre I wasn't entirely into—but hey, we all live and learn.

The 75%-sized keeb features double-shot PBT keycaps, hot-swappable switches, 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth connections, and of course, a hefty concrete chassis. There's also a resin special edition of the same model, but can you really call yourself special if you're not made of the same material as a parking garage?

Strictly speaking, not all of the chassis is concrete. A side view reveals a metal panel where the USB connections and various switches reside, and the switchplate underneath looks to be a regular plastic model.

Still, I'm not here to split hairs. The accompanying product video describes the sound it makes as "deep" and "resonant", which isn't quite keyboard-nerdy enough for me. Are we talking thocks or thunks? Creamy, or crispy? We'll have to wait until later this month when the product officially launches to find out, but if I were a betting man, I'd say it goes "thwomp." Just for the gaming tie-in, you know what I mean?

Razer has just launched a web app you can use to manage your peripherals, called Synapse Web for Chromium-based browsers. It's in beta right now, though, and is very limited in scope. Currently, just three keyboards are supported: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro, Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini, and Razer Huntsman V3 Pro 8 kHz.

In fact, although it could possibly be some peculiarity of my setup, it's in such a beta state that I couldn't get it working with the Huntsman V3 Pro. I installed the firmware for the keyboard through the separate firmware updater, and it was working with traditional Synapse, but no luck with Synapse Web; it just says "no compatible devices found." It's not a problem with my browser, either, because Corsair's web hub works for me, and that seems to use the same WebHID protocol. YMMV here, though.

Once the wrinkles get ironed out and hopefully more devices are added, it should be a massive boon for any Razer users who don't want to deal with what, at times, can feel like local bloatware. Which is surely everyone by now, right?

That's not so much because of memory usage—for me, the Synapse app uses less than 270 MB in the background and 600 MB when opened, which isn't a massive burden for a system with 32 GB of RAM. Rather, it just doesn't feel great to have a PC running a million different, potentially conflicting applications from different peripheral makers all at the same time.

As I said, I couldn't load up my device, but Chrome used just 111 MB of memory, albeit without the device loaded. Hopefully, there will just be a reduction in memory usage compared to the app, even when it's all fully working. Background usage doesn't really matter as you can just exit the local Synapse app when you don't need to use it, but the browser might use less memory when in the background, too.

Another benefit will hopefully be being able to use it to manage your compatible Razer devices on Linux, without having to install third-party drivers and software. That being said, you might need to fiddle with some files to enable your browser to access your device via WebHID. I recently discovered this in Ubuntu while trying to manage the Corsair Sabre V2 Pro in the Corsair web app.

A downside of browser-based software, on the other hand, is that you can't use it if your internet goes down or there are server-side issues. In which case, it's good to have the option for both local and online changes, perhaps keeping the local software installed but not constantly running, and using the online one when you can.

Regardless of how limited it is and any issues it currently faces, it's a step in the right direction. It's a mark against a mouse or keyboard in 2026, I think, if it can't be managed in the browser and instead requires local software. Especially when that software is as notoriously temperamental as Razer Synapse. So, more of this, please, peripheral makers.

Asus first introduced the ROG Azoth range a couple of years ago to straddle the line between traditional gaming keyboards and the more enthusiast-grade options that had skyrocketed in popularity. The original ROG Azoth was a triumph that walked the tricky line wonderfully, packing in nice-to-haves such as lubricated switches, reliable wireless connectivity and hot-swappable powers into a smart, compact chassis.

This new ROG Azoth 96 HE takes some of what Asus has built up to this point and tears it up. For instance, it's not mechanical in the same sense as its predecessors (or siblings, I suppose), as Asus has opted to go for its ROG HFX V2 Hall effect switches for gaming precision and power, rather than the increased tactility of a traditional mechanical switch.

These have been upgraded over the older V1 switches kitted out to other Asus keyboards with Hall effect powers and were first seen on the Asus ROG Falcata, with optimisations such as a shorter overall travel (3.5 mm vs 4 mm) that's more noticeable in use than you'd think, plus a larger magnet for more precise customisation. It's now possible to set the actuation or reset point in increments of 0.01 mm, which is not something I've seen before on a range of the best Hall effect keyboards out there.

In conjunction with the optimisations to accuracy and a shorter travel, the ROG HFX V2 switches carry a lighter actuation force of 32 g against 40 g. That may sound small, but it's enough to make the switches inside the ROG Azoth 96 HE feel more like hair triggers than rival keyboards. The combination of a lower actuation force and a shorter travel makes these switches some of the snappiest out there, besides those inside low-profile keyboards.

They're also smooth and slick with POM stems to make for a satisfying keypress in general use, and benefit from a new block stem design to reduce stem wobble. Plus, to benefit acoustics and overall typing feel, Asus has kitted this keyboard out with lots of dampening inside (and there's no case rattle or ping) and internal gaskets for a bouncier feel under finger.

As much as Asus is outwardly catering to hardcore gamers with the ROG Azoth 96 HE, there are still traces of enthusiast-grade running through it.

The same is also true with this keyboard being hotswappable, although Asus doesn't explicitly state which keyswitches will work in here apart from their own. It's very rare that you have the option to swap in more traditional three or five pin switches in an HE keyboard, and there are only a couple of choices that can take both HE and 'normal' mechanical switches—the Glorious GMMK 3 Pro HE and upcoming Cherry Xtrfy MX 8.2 Pro TMR Wireless.

All of this combines to make the ROG Azoth 96 HE a very powerful keyboard to use for games.

For fun for this review, I found someone who had modded the old Weapons Course time trial training course into Counter-Strike 2, which I hadn't played since dabbling with CS:GO at an exhibition a decade ago. I tried it with my Topre RealForce R2 PFU as a baseline and managed some time in the high-thirty-second range, and then moved over to this Asus keyboard. Maybe it's warming up, or the added speed of movement that this Asus keyboard brought, but I was able to beat the 'company time' of 35.2 seconds by a two-and-a-half-second margin with just a few attempts.

By anyone else's standards, those times are godawful, but for me, I was quite proud of the result with Asus' board in the hands of a ham-fisted idiot.

A lot of the speed on offer is down to the added precision and customisation of the HFX V2 switches. The benefits of these can be reaped with Asus' own web-based software—Gear Link. This opens up as a link from inside Asus' Armoury Crate, and works in a better way than the sluggish mess that Asus' old software has been in the past.

Being web-based means it's lighter and more responsive, but it isn't bereft of features. There are lots of things to do inside, such as changing actuation and reset points of individual switches and fiddling with the keyboard's rapid trigger powers, plus there are more advanced means, such as dynamic keystroke, for mapping multiple functions to one key.

There is also SOCD tech for unnaturally quick strafing, known here as Speed Tap, although this is more for marking bumf than for real-world use. Use it online, and you'll probably see the almighty ban hammer wielded. You can also fiddle with RGB lighting with ten different presets—not the most I've seen, but it's fine, I suppose.

Wireless connectivity is handled by either 2.4 GHz or Bluetooth, and it's easily switchable with a toggle switch on the rear of the keyboard. Flick to Bluetooth, and it'll instantly put the ROG Azoth 96 HE into pairing mode, and I got it hooked up to my MacBook in a matter of moments.

For 2.4 GHz powers, the USB-A receiver is contained in the back of the keyboard, and it's plug-and-play with my Windows gaming PC. Using the receiver yields wireless 8000 Hz polling powers, too, for more frequent reporting of inputs than other, more standard gaming keyboards. It might not be something that mere mortals can benefit from, but for the pros where every fraction of a second counts, it's a worthwhile addition (at the expense of battery life, of course).

Battery life is okay for the most part, with out-of-the-box settings netting me around 40 hours before this keyboard needed recharging. There are some useful power-saving modes provided to help yield longer endurance, too. One of these is known as the Zone mode, which turns down the polling rate of all unessential keys to just 250 Hz, but leaves WASD at the full 8000 Hz and disables RGB lighting.

As much as Asus has overhauled the internals of the ROG Azoth 96 HE, it hasn't done much to the outside. Of course, with the '96' in its name, it's had a change of layout against the smaller 75% layout of the older Azoth models. This new one has grown to encompass a number pad and proper nav cluster, albeit in a slightly smaller format than a proper full-size keyboard. That's known as a 96%, or 1800 layout. It's a functional layout that's familiar and easy to use if all you've used in the past is a more normal keyboard.

Otherwise, the fit and finish of this Asus keyboard is excellent, with a metal top cover and plastic underside that gives it some weight and durability. Granted, it is possible to get fully machined aluminium cases at this price point, but this is a good mix of materials. In addition, this keyboard has doubleshot PBT keycaps for extra durability and a quality touch, and the function keys on the bottom row have both Windows and Mac functions on them.

Plus, there's the signature OLED screen and twiddly knob to its right for displaying things such as battery life, connectivity information, and even for adjusting actuation points on the fly without going into software that saves to the keyboard's on-board memory. Simply select the mode on the display, push the key down and then use the dial adjacent to the screen to set the actuation point. That's very handy.

Then we get to the important bit: the price tag. There has always been a bit of a bump up in price for Asus products, and the ROG Azoth 96 HE is no different. Asus is charging €399 for this keyboard (with no UK or US pricing at the moment), which is very expensive in any guise.

The fact is that you can get a premium HE gaming keyboard for much less than this, including other 96% choices such as the Keychron Q5 HE that has a fully machined aluminium case at the expense of lacking slightly more advanced switches.

If you want to match the ROG Azoth 96 HE in specs and power, you'll need to downsize a smidgen back towards its original 75 percent size with something such as the Keychron K2 HE. Nonetheless, that's some three times cheaper than Asus' choice, which arguably shows up the ROG Azoth 96 HE's eye-watering price tag even more. Don't get me wrong, this is a fantastic gaming keyboard, but it doesn't do anywhere near enough to justify such a high markup.

Ah, QPAD, my old friend. For those unaware of the brand, it isn't just your average third-party attempt to replicate mainstream offerings for cheap. QPAD has been around for a long time, and back in the day it was somewhat of a leader in gaming peripheral tech. In the early 2000s, I recall its mice and keyboards being recommended pretty often on various forums.

QPAD didn't give me my first ever mechanical keyboard—that honour goes to the original Razer BlackWidow—but it gave me my second, becoming one of my favourite upgrades I've had over all my years PC gaming. Back then, the QPAD MK-50 was one of a handful of great value mechanical gaming keyboards in what was then a pretty niche market. That keyboard lasted me years, and offered simple quality for a great price.

Then the company all but disappeared, (in the UK at least, where I'm based). But now it's back, with a new stack of products in the UK and hopefully elsewhere as QPAD looks to expand globally again. These products include the keyboard I'm happily typing away on right now, the Hall effect-boasting Flux 65 Model 5. I'm glad to see the company hasn't lost its knack for making quality, no-nonsense peripherals that go some way to bridging the gap between 'gamer' and 'enthusiast' products.

Now, admittedly, that gap isn't so wide anymore; in fact, it's pretty nonexistent considering the existence of brands like Keychron. But at least QPAD is landing on the right side of that divide, by offering a quality typing experience in addition to gaming features such as Hall effect switches and RGB lighting.

It's the former that immediately stuck out to me upon unboxing and using the keyboard for the first time. It's not the absolute heaviest keyboard at 1.59 lbs. It does have a plastic frame with no underside weight, but it's not exactly light, either, and it feels surprisingly sturdy and premium.

The same goes for the typing experience, which I've found to be phenomenal. I even prefer it to typing on my usual daily driver, the Keychron Q5 HE. The QPAD Flux 65 Model 5's switches, plate, dampening, shell, and keycaps all come together to make for a very sturdy, somewhat clacky typing experience.

It's not quite as deep a sound as you might get on some other premium, enthusiast keyboards. The space bar can sound a little hollow compared to some, but not in a bad way, though—it just happens to be the particular timbre of this keyboard, probably thanks to its aluminium switch plate, and I'm here for it. It's impossible to describe typing sound in a way that does it justice, though, so I've included a test, recorded with a condenser mic, that hopefully gives a better idea.

It really is a lovely-sounding keyboard that feels equally lush under the fingertips. One thing I'm particularly impressed with is the spacebar, Enter key, and Backspace stabilisers, although that's probably in part because my experience of the stabilisers on the Keychron Q5 HE has been so poor.

All the keys on this board feel very stable, which allows the smooth (presumably pre-lubed) linear Gateron Magnetic switches to take their rightful place in the limelight. Based on the white underside of these hot-swappable switches, these are likely GATERON KS-20 Whites, which are light, requiring just 30 g of initial force. They feel a lot like the Cherry MX Red switches I used to love, which have an average (not initial) force of about 45 g, but an initial force of about the same as these KS-20s.

It's a dinky little keyboard, of course; its 65% form factor means it lacks function keys and so on, but it does have arrow keys and a few Home row keys. So, QPAD hasn't gone full HHKB on us, which I'm grateful for because I don't think I'd enjoy a complete lack of arrow keys.

There are some things I miss with this form factor, though, namely a numpad for Alt-combos, such as Alt-0151 for an em-dash. I also think I'll miss the dedicated row of Function keys in some cases, such as if I return to StarCraft 2, for instance. In that game, I would use F1–F5 to swap between camera positions, and I don't think the Fn + 1–5 combo would really cut it.

Saying that, though, I'm surprised by how quickly I got used to using the Fn key commands for things such as volume-up and volume-down. I can even use Win + Fn + Del to do an auto-saving screenshot, as Fn + Del offers you PrintScreen functionality.

You can adjust the RGB lighting with Fn key combos, and there's a good smattering of effects and colours to choose from. I'm not usually one for RGB, but it really is better with it on here, and that's in part because the keycaps are shine-through. Without RGB on, the letters are quite muted in dark lighting, but, boring bloke that I am, I found the solid colour setting looks lovely, especially when set to white. The frame is designed to be slightly translucent, too, which looks great with the RGB lighting shining through .

The one caveat is that a couple of keys on my model aren't shining through fully. Specifically, the 'E' on the Enter key is a little muted, as is the 'C' on the CapsLk key. I'm not sure whether that's just because these are bigger keys and the backlight doesn't 'reach' as far to these letters, or whether the translucent part of the keycaps themselves are a little too opaque, but whatever the cause, it's noticeable enough to slightly annoy me (especially on that Enter key).

You can adjust the lighting in the software, though unfortunately it isn't web-based. I know web-based software isn't ubiquitous yet, but there are enough keyboards with browser software support—often Via-compatible, which is a bonus—that I think it's now a mark against a keyboard if you have to run the software locally.

Saying that, the software itself is fine. It's not the most refined, aesthetically, but it gets the job done and is plenty responsive. In addition to key bindings, macros, lighting, and so on, you can adjust all the Hall effect-related gubbins with quite some precision. You can minutely tweak individual key actuation and per-key rapid trigger, the latter of which permits you very granular control over both press and release sensitivity.

Given it's a 65% keyboard, the £120 price tag might be a little much for some—though I'd argue even for the typing experience plus RGB, it's not an outrageous price—but with Hall effect tech thrown in too, it's very competitively priced.

It's a little cheaper than the Keychron K2 HE, which is going for about £140 right now, but then it's one row of keys shy of that keyboard, too—so key-for-key, they're very similarly priced. It's also similarly priced to the NuPhy Air60 HE, which might be its closest competitor. For my money though, based purely on the typing tests I've seen and heard, I'd stick with the QPAD. I can see some preferring the NuPhy, which is more of a pro for both keyboards, rather than a negative point against either.

My experience with the QPAD's Hall effect gubbins has been stellar, too, which you'd expect from the Gateron switches, in combination with the (up to) 8,000 Hz polling. Playing Counter-Strike 2 with Rapid Trigger enabled, after setting actuation levels to my preferred height of 0.5 mm for WASD and 1.2 mm for the rest, felt much more responsive than without, and I'm told by numerous Hall effect-ers online that this should eventually lead to snappier counter-strafing and so on. That's a matter to be honed through practice and muscle memory, though; don't expect to be used to how responsive things are right away, some adjustment time is needed.

Even without Hall effect, I'd be singing the praises of this one. With Hall effect, I have no hesitation in recommending it, provided you're okay with some of this board's minor niggles. In particular, the poor shine-through on two of the keys is annoying, as is the lack of web-based software. The complete lack of Bluetooth connectivity is also a shame given the size of this keyboard would otherwise make it very portable.

However, for a re-entry into the mainstream gaming market, QPAD's certainly batting strong, and I'm excited to see where the company goes moving forwards. Watch out, Keychron.

Every year, the CES event has tech vendors around the world showcasing their latest and greatest innovations and devices. Sometimes, though, it's hard for your carefully crafted hardware to stand out in the ocean of gadgets, but Corsair reckons it's done just that with its new Galleon 100 SD keyboard, with its built-in Stream Deck.

Looking somewhat like a K70 Core that's been hacked open to remove the numpad, the Galleon 100 SD just looks like any other in-your-face gaming keyboard, replete with RGB lighting and whizz-bang features galore. Naturally, it has an 8000 Hz polling rate and FlashTap SOCD functionality, because every other top-end gaming keyboard does.

However, the Galleon eschews the trend of Hall effect or TMR switches and instead uses Corsair's MLX Pulse Linear mechanical clickers. These come pre-lubricated, and they're hot-swappable, so theoretically you could install something even faster (assuming Corsair isn't using any kind of proprietary wiring).

But none of this is really what the Galleon 100 SD is all about. The unique selling point here is the integrated Stream Deck. Topped with two rotary encoders, followed by a small LCD screen, the built-in deck offers 12 customisable keys for macros, game actions, and workflow sequences.

Having already spent decades of my life committing shortcuts and weird hand gestures for key combos to my long-term memory, I never really got on with my own Elgato Stream Deck. It saw brief use for a few weeks, then spent several months collecting dust on my desk, before being relegated to a drawer.

I don't say this to put you off the idea of buying a Corsair Galleon 100 SD, more just as a reminder that, unless you really need a deck, all you'll be paying for is a bunch of pretty-looking buttons that you won't use very much. And pay you will, because the Galleon 100 SD will set you back a cool $350 at Corsair's store.

For that amount of money, you could buy a wired Asus ROG Strix Scope II X keyboard ($100 at Amazon), an Elgato Stream Deck XL ($200 at Amazon), and still have fifty bucks left over for a barrel of tea and biscuits. I do like the look of the Corsair Galleon 100 SD, and I especially like the twin rotary encoders, but the price just feels all kinds of wrong.

Last year Corsair stepped into the world of enthusiast keyboards with the MAKR 75, an incredibly well-made bit of kit that unfortunately failed to garner more than a 70% score from our reviewer Phil Iwaniuk. Now there's a new version, and this one might go at least some way towards boosting that up.

That's primarily because this is a Hall effect keyboard. One of Phil's problems with the first version was that it all added up to quite a lot of money after adding the various parts to the DIY kit, and you didn't have the option to get Hall effect switches for that price tag.

The just-announced MAKR Pro 75, though, has Hall effect switches, and they're included in its price tag… which is still steep at $250/£220, so it's not exactly a clear value improvement overall from first glance.

For those who want Hall effect switches in a dinky 75% form factor that thocks as good as many other enthusiast keyboards, it should be a good shout, though. Phil said the non-Pro has a "tank-like chassis construction", and it looks like that'll be the same with the new one, too. Apart from the chassis, we're talking an FR4 plate, gasket mounting, and 8-layer sound dampening, which will all help that sound profile.

The new switches are 'Corsair MGX Hyperdrive' magnetic ones and, as we'd hope for such an expensive keyboard, they do come pre-lubed. That they're magnetic is the whole selling point compared to the previous one, of course, because these will allow you to make use of all the competitive gaming benefits the tech provides such as rapid trigger and SOCD.

The latter isn't as important these days, given games like Counter-Strike 2 have banned the tech anyway—so we can thankfully gloss over yet another name for SOCD, this one from Corsair, called 'FlashTap'.

Rapid tap, however, is still useful, this being where you can re-activate a key the moment you start lifting up on it. Arguably more useful than this though is just the general ability to set your key actuation point wherever you want, for instance a little higher—and therefore quicker and easier to press—on the WASD keys.

Apart from that, though, you're getting all the lovely tippy-tappy, high-quality build of the non-Pro, except it's all built for you already, no screwdrivers required. It comes with the wheel at the top-right, but you can swap it for a LED screen rather than that if you pay a bit extra, and you can pay extra for a wireless module, too.

Corsair has also announced two new versions of my favourite gaming mouse of the last few years, and those, too, are a little on the expensive side. It looks like high-quality with a suitably premium price tag is what Corsair's going for right now.

During this year's CES, Cherry announced two keyboards with tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) switches. Both TMR boards will be part of the company's peripherals sub-brand Cherry XTRFY—better late to the party than never turning up.

According to Cherry, the new MX 8.2 Pro TMR keyboard is "more than magnetic"—whatever that means. What I can tell you is that it "delivers ultra-fast wireless performance," alongside lower power consumption, and the flexibility of hot swappable switches. So, if TMR isn't your thing for whatever reason, the MX 8.2 will allow you to swap between both magnetic and mechanical switches. If you stick with the Cherry MK Crystal Magnetic switches, you'll enjoy "ultra-smooth linear input with 0.01 mm precision" alongside an 8,000 Hz wireless polling rate.

The wireless, tenkeyless MX 8.2 Pro TMR keyboard will cost about $250 when it releases on January 29, though it won't be lonely in the lineup for long. The K5 Pro TMR keyboard—a follow-up to the wired Cherry Xtrfy K5V2 from 2024—will drop later in the Spring. This 65% board will also offer MK Crystal Magnetic switches, plus a polling rate of up to 8,000 Hz. Pricing has yet to be confirmed.

Magnetic tech isn't exactly new, as many gaming keyboards and controllers have been using Hall effect switches for some time now. However, while TMR grants a greater, more refined degree of precision than the Hall effect, it does also cost a far prettier penny. That said, Monsgeek is one company that already offers TMR keyboards, so Cherry is hardly the first to do so.

As for Cherry itself, this TMR news may indicate the company is not content to sit mouldering away on the tree. For one thing, though we do like its switches, it's been a minute since one of Cherry's boards featured among our picks for the best gaming keyboards. When compared to some of our favourites, Cherry's more recent offerings have struggled to keep up in terms of affordability and feature set. TMR boards are a step in the right direction—though also a bit of a surprise given the financial trouble the company has recently been in, suffering a net loss of around $23 million back in November last year.

Does that mean Cherry's flirtation with mechanical induction switches is over? Potentially. Touted as a cheaper, analogue alternative to TMR during Computex 2025, I admit I'll be a little sad if the Cherry IK switches never make their way to market.

Perhaps rather than a new era of induction switches, this is Cherry's 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' era.

As a writer, I really do care about using a keyboard with great comfort and typing feel. But as gamer, I'd also like some of the best features for gaming, whether that's Hall effect switches for rapid trigger, extra macro keys for MMO gaming, or yes, even RGB to get that 1337 g4m3r aesthetic.

Thankfully, 2025 has really solidified the fact that we can somehow have our cake and eat it these days. Gaming keyboards left and right have started to offer a ton of gaming features and really great typing feel and build quality.

The topper is that many of the fantastic keyboards we're seeing popping up—the Gamakay x NaughShark NS68 on this list, the NuPhy Air60 HE, or the Lofree Flow 2, to name a few—are priced very well for what you're getting. That's especially surprising for overtly gaming-oriented keyboards like the NaughShark, given that historically you'd often have to essentially pay a gamer tax for extra features and build quality.

There are almost too many keyboards to choose from this year, but we've managed to narrow it down to just three nominees for the best gaming keyboard of the year.

Best gaming keyboard 2025: the nominees

So there we are, a solid budget, quiet, and ergonomic choice; 2025 really has given us quite the range of gaming keyboards to choose from. If you want to know which of these is the winner of the PC Gamer Hardware Award for best gaming keyboard, you'll have to wait until New Year's Eve, as that's when we'll crown the victor.

It's been nearly two years since I reviewed the ZSA Moonlander, and it's still a keyboard that I rate very highly. Sure, it's expensive and difficult to get used to, but if you can afford one and commit to its steep learning curve, I reckon it's one of the very best ergonomic keyboards around. So when ZSA offered to send over its Voyager keyboard, along with its new Navigator trackball module, I had high expectations.

Essentially, the Voyager is a pared-down Moonlander, with all excess fat trimmed away to leave as minimal a keyboard as possible. "Laptop-friendly," says ZSA's marketing. "Goes anywhere—on your desk or on the road." I certainly can't argue with that because with just 52 keys and a total thickness of just 16 mm (0.62 inches), the Voyager is as whisper-thin as you could want.

However, both the thickness and key count result in some notable compromises. For example, there's no wireless connectivity option because batteries would add to the weight, cost, and size of the keyboard. With such few keys, you have to make full use of the Voyager's layer system to access standard options such as function keys.

On the plus side, the ZSA Voyager comes with multiple USB cables of different lengths, though only one long TRRS cable to connect the two keyboard halves. You also get an additional 34 keycaps in the box, plus two more thumb keys, should the original ones break. That does mean you can heavily customise the Voyager without having to spend any more money, and the soft carry case it all comes in is a nice touch.

While the Moonlander sports legs to continuously adjust the amount of tenting, the Voyager just uses four small feet that magnetically attach (there's a metal bar in the carry case, so you can snap the little stumps onto that when they're not required). That means you only get one level of tenting—around five degrees—but the overall shape of the Voyager means that anything higher than this would make it somewhat unstable.

It would also ruin the extremely low profile of the keyboard, and given that this is a major selling point of the Voyager, it's easy to see why ZSA kept tenting options to a minimum.

After a couple of weeks of training my brain to adapt to the columnar arrangement of the keys, not to mention the relative dearth of them, I explored how viable the Voyager is for being an all-in-one keyboard: i.e. for work and gaming. While I suspect some users will have no issues, I struggled with the Voyager in games, even after spending a good amount of time experimenting with different layouts and configurations.

The problem is simple: there just are not enough keys. You can make a game-specific profile in ZSA's excellent Oryx software (more on this shortly) and have all the keys you require in just the right place, but I couldn't make a profile suitable enough to be used across a wide range of game genres. What worked for Battlefield 6 was an unusable mess for Hearts of Iron 4, for example.

For straight typing, though, the Voyager is a delight to use. My review sample came with Kailh Choc White switches, which feel responsive and nicely damped, and not too clicky either. Every switch is hot-swappable, so you can always replace them with something with more or less resistance and feedback.

One thing I wanted to change immediately, though, was the cables. The main USB Type-C doesn't fit really snugly in the left section, and the TRRS (tip-ring-ring-sleeve) cable for connecting the two halves is quite stiff and unwieldy. For much of my time testing the ZSA Voyager, I used my own set of soft braided cables.

I mention these specifically because that's what ZSA ships with its Navigator module for the Voyager. This is a trackball housing that magnetically snaps to the inside edge of one half of the keyboard (you can order it for the right or left half), and it connects to the system via two TRRS cables.

The design of the Navigator doesn't quite gel with that of the Voyager. Certain edges don't line up very well, and compared to the overall build quality of the keyboard, the trackball module feels somewhat cheap. At $169, though, it's anything but cheap, and I have to say that I felt quite disappointed with it.

You can't just snap on the module and start rolling the ball, either. It needs to be added via ZSA's the Oryx software, and while that process is relatively straightforward and only needs to be done once, it felt like I was experimenting with a crowd-funded project rather than a professional piece of equipment.

You'll also note that the module has no keys of its own, so in order to carry out 'mouse clicks', you have to press keys on the opposing keyboard half as you move the ball around (or just after you rolled the ball).

Despite my best efforts, it's something I couldn't get to grips with, though other users may find it intuitive and simple. ZSA is planning on bringing a trackpad module to the Voyager, and I suspect that will suit me far better.

All things considered, there's an awful lot to like about the ZSA Voyager. It really is wonderful to use from a straight typing perspective, and even though it's very pricey at $365, you do get a lot of extras in the whole package.

I don't think I could live with the Voyager as my sole keyboard for work and gaming, however, and I deposited the Navigator back into its carry case the moment I finished testing it. But if I were a space-conscious, minimalist coder, I'd give the ZSA Voyager a serious look.

For me, though, I don't want to live with compromises, so my money would go on the Moonlander. It costs exactly the same as the Voyager, and its 20 extra keys make it far better for gaming.

And now for something..membranical? Mem-chanical? What on earth do we call these things? It's been aeons since I last looked at a membrane keyboard positing itself as a value-oriented gaming option – the Glorious GMBK is the latest one to enter through the revolving door of potential disappointment.

Okay, I'm starting things on a sombre note, and I apologise for that. Maybe it's because I've seen it all before, but a £50/$60 membrane keyboard touting itself as a value-driven gaming keyboard with all the flashy RGB you could ever want is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

Nonetheless, the Glorious GMBK is here, and I've been employed by hardware overlord Jacob to give you my thoughts and opinions, so here you go……

….It's alright.

That'll do, won't it? .... No? Ah, I suppose I'll have to expand on why I think that.

On the face of it, what's here is standard fare for a more affordable gaming keyboard, membrane or not. A reasonable plastic chassis that's surprisingly light and has a little bit of flex, plus smooth ABS keycaps that will eventually shine more than that Take That song, plus they are quite slippery in use. PBT keycaps, by contrast, have more of a textured finish to aid comfort and grip, plus have the benefit of being more durable and shine-resistant. It is also IP57 water resistant, so if you douse it in water accidentally or on purpose, it'll hold up.

The 75 percent layout is a pleasant touch, and quite rare for this style of product, as is the knob in the top corner. Glorious told me the volume knob is swappable with those on their mechanical flagship GMMK 3, so if you want to give this humble membrane keyboard the premium treatment, then go right ahead.

Another way you could give this keyboard the premium treatment is by swapping those wretched keycaps out. I can already hear you shouting at me—"You can't swap the keycaps out on a membrane keyboard!" Well, with the GMBK, you can.

Glorious has given the actuators underneath the keycaps an MX-style cross stem, which they say means it's possible to swap out the keycaps to any MX-style keycap set you have. That earns them some brownie points for innovation and customisability at least, and is the real USP of this keyboard over its rivals.

I'm trying to beat around the bush as much as possible in terms of describing the feel of the rubber domes underneath the keycaps, but I should probably just come out and say it.

The GMBK's membrane keypress feels heavy and laboured. After a decade or so of consistently using mechanical and electro-capacitive switches as an enthusiast, going back to a membrane board in any guise just felt wrong. It took me back to using the dreadful keyboards that were bundled with the PCs in computer suites when I was at school, except this one was missing half its keycaps. If schools get their hands on these, they can at least replace them.

Where tactile mechanical switches have a pleasant bump and a smoother keypress, the domes inside the GMBK make for a stickier and much heavier set of inputs that can get quite fatiguing after a time. Granted, they are some of the better domes I've used against this keyboard's rivals, such as the Roccat Magma, which could feel like a wet newspaper after just a few minutes of use, but the fact is that they're still rubber domes.

Glorious is claiming these domes are quiet switches, which I unfortunately have to disagree with. We're at a stage where silent mechanical switches are whisper-quiet, while the noise from the electro-capacitives inside my HHKB and Topre RealForce R2 is barely noticeable. By contrast, the domes here are quite loud and almost clicky, although not in the satisfying way you'd expect. It's more of a rhythmical drone as you get up to speed.

As for gaming performance, well, they're domes. The heavier keypress means these aren't as fast or precise in feel as mechanical switches, let alone the Hall effect magnetic switches that have now come to keyboards as far down the price ladder as this.

The Gamakay x NaughShark NS68 provides Hall effect and rapid trigger powers in a small form factor layout with PBT keycaps and a high polling rate for a comparable price tag. If gaming oomph is what you're after and you're strapped for cash, then go look at my review of that.

Connectivity? Sure, it's got some—a wired USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable that is detachable from the keyboard, so you can at least discard it to one side. It's one of the cheapest cables I've felt in some time, with a sticky feel to it that isn't too pleasant to touch.

And there is some software! Glorious Core is back and is actually usable with the GMBK. It's got a decently slick interface that provides a means of remapping RGB, plus sorting keybinds and even recording macros. You can also fiddle with RGB presets using the keyboard's function layer and arrow keys to cycle through and sort brightness.

So, where does all this leave us? I've often thought that membranical or mem-chanical gaming keyboards occupy a funny position in the market. Cheap enough to be attractive to the budget-conscious gamer, but not as desirable as mechanical products.

The GMBK doesn't do too much to move that needle. I can see why the £50/$60 price tag is attractive if you want a cheap keyboard with RGB lighting, plus its swappable keycaps at least make it different to other membrane products out there.

However, at every corner I turn to, I just find more reasons to opt for a cheap mechanical keyboard such as the Keychron K2 V2. That board has a similar layout, swappable mechanical switches and wireless connectivity for a similar outlay.

Or, for more of a gaming focus, the aforementioned Gamakay x NaughShark NS68 provides more durable PBT keycaps plus all the power of rapid trigger-capable switches for much faster, lighter, and more precise inputs for high-intensity gaming. And it has RGB.

I somewhat appreciate what Glorious has tried to do with the GMBK 75%, but it isn't sitting right with me, I'm afraid. Sorry chaps.

I know that a lot of keyboards have little LCD screens these days that you can use to do things such as keep an eye on system metrics and such, but I like the one on the new Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 purely because I can display an image of the Bullseye logo on it.

Every time I look down at the keyboard, I'm reminded of the quintessential British darts-based game show, and inevitably get the theme tune stuck in my head. That alone makes this worth its £210/$240 asking price, of course.

For some reason, I think my overlord Jacob would expect a fuller justification than that (just let me enjoy my Bullseye-based fun), and I think I'm going to be reprimanded if I end the review copy here.

Okay, I guess I'll have to flesh this review out more—I like the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96. A lot. Is that still not enough?

The Vanguard Pro 96 reminds me of the Corsair keyboards of old—big, brash full-size options that made little physical compromises for layout and, by virtue of that, their features. You get a 96 percent, or 1800, layout to use, providing all the creature comforts, such as arrow keys, a number pad and a function row, which budges up the traditional full-size layout into a somewhat space-saving option. Combine this with Corsair's more modern design language, and it means this board looks the part, too.

Somehow, Corsair has managed to slot in a 1.9-inch LCD screen, a hefty volume dial, and six macro keys in this chassis without making this keyboard the size of a whale. That's a feat in itself. It means the Vanguard Pro 96 is easily one of the most feature-rich keyboards in a physical sense that you're likely to be able to find these days.

Those macro keys, plus the dedicated Elgato Stream Deck key on the bottom row, mean you can use this keyboard as its own Stream Deck, which is very clever. Oh, and did I mention you get a magnetically attaching, plush wristrest?

Build quality is strong too, with a metal top plate and generally solid-feeling plastics. It's not as heavy as the fully machined options from Keychron and such, limiting its viability as a physical weapon, but it is heavy enough that it won't move around your desk if you look at it funny.

The LCD screen can do more than just display a Bullseye wallpaper, too. Using Fn+F12, you can cycle through settings that it can display in conjunction with the rotary dial to its right, such as volume control, macro recording, and even scrolling vertically or horizontally. It's one of the most versatile screen and dial combos I've seen on any keyboard in quite some time.

Corsair has also ditched its woeful iCUE software for the Vanguard Pro 96, instead following the lead of Keychron and other smaller brands, opting for a web-based software that's slick, lightweight, and very easy to use.

Here you can program what the screen and rotary dial of the keyboard will do, plus do all the usual business with remapping keys, configuring RGBs and setting things such as actuation point and rapid trigger powers.

This keyboard is a Hall effect option, meaning we've got versatile and customisable magnetic switches—the ones inside this keyboard are Corsair's own MGX Hyperdrive switches.

These come with the versatile customisation I've come to expect, with both the actuation and reset point of the switch adjustable across virtually the entire travel, as high as 0.1 mm and as low as 4 mm.

Being rapid trigger, the MGX Hyperdrive switches have the benefit of adjustable actuation and reset point for near-instant response times. You can set both the actuation and reset point as high as possible—as high as 0.1 mm with this keyboard—to mean that you barely need to breathe on the switch for it to register an input. At that point, Corsair says they have a super light 30 g actuation force, while setting it all the way down at 4 mm means a 55 g force.

There is also the usual SOCD-type tech we've seen in rival boards from Wooting, Keychron and others, with different priority modes for all your unnaturally quick strafing action. I maintain that brands put it into the keyboard to add to the spec sheet, as the feature is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard in competitive online play, as it could allow folks to wield the ban hammer against you, as Valve has done with Counter-Strike 2.

Technically, the MGX Hyperdrive switches are hot-swappable, and Corsair bundles a handy switch and keycap puller in the box. However, it is unclear as to what switches you could replace them with, as they lack the usual 3 or 5 pinouts of standard MX switches, and the compatibility for Hall effect hot-swappable keyboards can be quite hard to pin down anyway.

During several gos at Counter-Strike 2 (more than I care to admit, pwning low-level bots can be quite addictive), I found the Vanguard Pro 96's switches to be especially brisk and consistent in their feel. They're a smooth and snappy pre-lubricated switch that helps to make the keyboard one of the fastest you'll find in its class, plus if you want it, there is an 8000 Hz polling rate—not that most mere mortals will be able to tell the difference.

Connectivity for this keyboard is fully wired, meaning you never have to worry about pairing it over Bluetooth or 2.4 GHz, and there's no need to worry about charging it up. The braided USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable that comes with it is a decent quality, and the Vanguard Pro 96 has lots of cable channelling on its underside, so you can decide where to route the cable with no trouble.

I do have a small bone to pick with Corsair, though, on the cable routing. The USB Type-C port for connecting the keyboard in the first place is so far sunk into the chassis that it can be a bit of a pain to access at first. It surely would have been easier to put the port directly on the rear edge of the chassis, rather than sinking it several inches deep.

To sum up, I like the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96, and it's for more than just some childish fun with an LCD screen. This is genuinely one of the best Hall effect keyboards out there if you want a full-size layout with lots of nice touches, plus some versatile software and responsive switches. At £210/$240, it will come at a considerable cost against its rivals, though.

The MSI Forge GK600 is a tenkeyless (TKL) gaming keyboard, meaning it's missing the numberpad. But Katie, I hear you say, if a normal keyboard has all the keys you could ever want, what's the point getting rid of them in favour of a TKL board? Well, friend, it's all about real estate and maneuverability. And cash, of course. But isn't everything? Say you've spent all your cash on the best gaming PC and you're now stuck with a teeny tiny desk. A TKL board nets you more desk space so you can stack plates and coffee cups beside it to your heart's content, or whatever else you're draping over your battlestation.

With the MSI Forge GK600, you're killing two birds with one stone: saving space on your desk while also protecting your dragon's hoard of gold. Let's get into what makes the Forge GK600 special and, of course, what doesn't.

Sitting somewhere in the region of a 75-80% layout, the Forge GK600 takes up less space without sacrificing as much productivity as the super compact layout of something like the 60% NuPhy Air60 HE. Its dedicated navigation and direction keys aren't being swallowed up by the mass of other keys, so you don't need to fumble around for them, while the two-column layout of the navigation section keeps it from extending into your valuable mousepad space. There's no programmable macro keys, but you still get use of 12 F-keys at the top.

I'm not a huge fan of the Delete key being dead center of the left column as a person who spends most of their time re-hashing walls of text. It initially left many a paragraph lost to an erroneous page-up/insert keystroke, but didn't take long to get used to the odd positioning.

In place of dedicated media controls, like the lovely programmable dial of the Corsair K65 Plus, MSI has opted for a funky little display in the top right corner. I thought it was just a flashy solution for indicator LEDs so you know what you're connected to, whether that's via Bluetooth, wireless, or a wired connection, and if you're about to type in caps or have accidentally locked your Win key.

The display had felt completely unnecessary until I realised it has a full menu of lighting profiles and other goodies in there. There are loads of great lighting effects to scroll through. While that makes the screen slightly more useful, and omits the need for software, I'd personally rather it not waste what little battery life there is. Especially as that's the major drawback of the whole package for me.

I got an RGB-lit battery life of just 24 hours out of the Forge GK600—around three days of gaming and working, on and off. That's not the worst battery life I've seen on a gaming keyboard, but it's a darn sight shorter than something like the Keychron K2 HE's 74 hours with RGB enabled. Switch off the lights, and MSI reckons you'll get 20 days out of it. Assuming you're at your keyboard 8 hours a day that's around 160 hours, which is still less than half the 240 hours unlit that the Keychron offers. Then again, the prices do scale accordingly.

Sadly, MSI opted for opaque legends on the Forge GK600 keycaps, which means the board is all but useless in the dark. Everything else about the keys is fantastic, however, from the cute, tri-tone colourway, to the OEM profile that gently cradles my fingers, to the subtle non-slip keycap texture. The fact everything is hot swappable is just the cherry on the cake, or on the keyboard if that's what you want. Should MSI's proprietary linear mechanical switches not suit your preferences—and they won't be for everyone—it's easy to swap them out for third-party switches of your choice.

For a lot of people hot-swap switches will be the main draw, but since the Forge GK600 positions itself close enough to the budget range, it could happily appeal to users who aren't into keyboard modding. That said, the lack of alternative switch options for the base board is more likely to alienate any non-modders hankering for a clicky experience, or something a little more tactile.

Tapping away at the board, the linears are swift and offer some intense resistance, though they can feel a little gooey with the level of bounceback. It's clear some effort has gone into sound dampening. With an IXPE foam layer, silicone pad and various extra layers added to try to keep the noise down it does a good job of softening the clunk. Sadly, all that padding affects the board exponentially when it comes to weight and thickness.

At the thickest point the Forge GK600 is 34 mm, and I wouldn't exactly call it a lightweight board either at 943 g. 56 g shy of a full kilo makes it a hard to champion as a portable keyboard. Sure you're saving a little more desk space and neatening up your battlestation with the omission of wires, but portability is something all wireless boards should be aiming to offer in the age of gaming on the go. The weight will also play into a decision for anyone who switches up connections a lot.

While it's possible to connect either it with the USB type-C cable, 2.4 GHz wireless via an appropriately compact dongle, or to up to three machines simultaneously via Bluetooth, the Forge GK600 hides the switch directly under the keyboard. It's dead center, with the labelling upside down if you lift the keyboard vertically. It's not even close to accessible, so if you switch connections a lot this probably isn't the board for you.

When all is said and done, the Forge GK600 TKL is a relatively good price for what you're getting. It's part of the budget Forge line that frankly has no business being as snazzy as it is. And so much for the pink tax, because the violet Forge GK600 TKL actually comes in cheaper.

At this price, it all depends on what you can afford to overlook as to whether this board is for you. If you're not worried about moving around and key spacing doesn't bother you, the Gamakay x NaughShark NS68 offers Hall Effect switches with programmable actuation for half the price of the GK600 TKL. Otherwise, the budget Forge GK600 TKL still offers a lot for stationary gamers who play mostly in rooms with the light turned on. We goblin-moders might look elsewhere, though.

As the old saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it, too. And that's a shame, because I was quite looking forward to this Logitech-flavoured one.

Not too long ago, Logitech revised its longstanding low-profile keyboard lineup with a new G915 X Lightspeed model and the cheaper G515 Lightspeed TKL option, both of which I've looked at in the past. Both of those keyboards were in the Swiss brand's more traditional wheelhouse, opting for a conventional low-profile switch, plus creature comforts such as solid build quality and fast wireless connectivity.

The all-new G515 Rapid TKL isn't in that wheelhouse, though. Its switches are no longer standard low-profile mechanical ones, and instead are low-profile magnetic analogue ones. That means all the fun of rapid trigger and its clever software trickery into an already short and snappy travel.

I'll get to those switches in a minute. As I mentioned a minute ago, this keyboard is an example of the Logitech-flavoured cake being given to you but not consumed, in that it sacrifices any form of wireless connectivity. Say goodbye to Lightspeed, chaps, as it isn't here, which is a real shame. At least it works plug-and-play, I suppose.

Nonetheless, the switches are the important change, which gives the G515 Rapid TKL its 'rapid' moniker. Being magnetic switches means they're very similar to more full-size iterations seen in many of the best Hall effect keyboards, although the added benefit of the ones here is that they have a shorter travel all the time, being low-profile and all.

The general point is that these switches are much more configurable than the more standard low-profile mechanical switches you'll find in Logitech's other low-profile keyboards, having customisable actuation and reset points. This means you can choose how far down the switch's travel it registers an input and resets, giving you much faster keypresses than classical switches with fixed points for both.

With these switches, you can customise actuation and reset points in 0.1 mm intervals in Logitech's G Hub software. Doing so is remarkably easy, and within a few clicks, I'd applied it to movement, weapon selection and the crouch keys in Counter-Strike 2 for ultimate speed. As much as you feel the speed benefit of low-profile switches against full-size ones in a more general sense, the move to rapid trigger-capable ones yields a greater benefit in competitive shooters, for instance.

In my varying rounds of Counter-Strike 2, I was impressed with the responsiveness of the G515 Rapid TKL's switches due to those adjustable actuation points. Indeed, the fact that the switches are linear and have a very smooth keypress helps with that responsiveness.

I wasn't so mad keen on using this keyboard for general productivity and work stuff, though. For whatever reason, the switches in the G515 Rapid TKL fall into the old trap of magnetic switches feeling quite hollow. I never found myself feeling particularly comfortable using them for an extended period in the last couple of weeks, choosing to switch back to more familiar territory.

Of course, as well as the powers of adjustable actuation points and rapid trigger, this Logitech keyboard is endowed with the software trickery we've come to expect from a gaming keyboard in 2025. These include generally useful stuff such as dynamic keystroke, where as you go down the switch's travel, it can map several inputs—for instance, you could start by walking, and then as you continue further down the travel, you could crouch, or run.

Plus, you get the SOCD tech (Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Directions or Snap Tap, as Razer likes to call it) tech for unnaturally quick side-to-side movement that'll get you banned in online CS:2—when opening up the menu for its configuration in Logitech's software, it plainly states you risk getting banned.

Otherwise, Logitech's G Hub provides the usual fare of configuring the keyboard's RGB lighting and remapping keys. The key remapping is particularly powerful, given the presence of the magnetic switches, as you can even add modifier keys to either a first or second keypress on any given key. That comes in conjunction with a base, function, and the G-Shift layer, meaning you can almost have ten different inputs per key if you wanted to.

Where the G515 Rapid TKL hasn't changed from its Lightspeed brother is the actual fit and finish, which is not really a bad thing. I liked how this keyboard felt in its first version, with a sensible and space-saving TKL layout that isn't too jarring if it's your first SFF keyboard, as you only miss out on the number pad. Other keys haven't been moved around or changed, as with smaller layouts that'll take some getting used to—I'm looking at you, beloved HHKB.

The entire chassis here is plastic, meaning it lacks the premium fit and finish of rivals such as the smaller NuPhy Air60 HE, although there isn't any flex to the chassis. When taking it out of the box for the first time, I noticed a surprising amount of heft to the G515 Rapid TKL, which was a welcome surprise. The keycaps here are textured PBT, providing an extra dose of quality.

Its two-tone colour scheme is quite pleasant, with my sample shipping in black. This Logitech keyboard is predominantly black, although there are silver accents across the top and on the WASD keys. This used to be quite common for gaming keyboards, and seemed to fall out of favour some time ago, so it's pleasant to see it make a return.

I realise I've gotten through this entire review and not even mentioned the price of the G515 Rapid TKL. I'll give you a couple of minutes to guess before revealing….okay, had enough? It's $170/£140. For a wired-only low-profile gaming keyboard, even one with rapid trigger powers, that feels quite expensive for the plastic package on offer.

For reference, while the NuPhy Air60 HE trades some keys for a smaller layout, I think it looks nicer with its purple and silver colour scheme; it has even more powerful rapid trigger switches, plus the benefit of an 8000 Hz polling rate for even more frequent reporting (ideal for pro players) and it's between $30 and $50 cheaper than Logitech's option.

At this price, we've also got to consider the likes of the Wooting 80HE, which gives you full-size switches rather than low profile, a cooler aesthetic, and the powers of progressive, controller-like inputs, as well as all the stuff Logitech is offering here. That's in and around the same price tag, and is a bit more feature-rich.

Likewise, the beloved Keychron K2 HE sits at $140 or so, so it is cheaper than Logitech's choice. It brings in full-height magnetic switches for rapid trigger functionality, plus a smart aluminium or wooden case, and most importantly, it can connect wirelessly. So, it is possible to have your cake and eat it—just look at Keychron.

Oh, and I didn't even mention the ridiculous value Gamakay x NaughShark NS68, whose $50 price point with rapid trigger and 8000 Hz powers, plus PBT keycaps and a small form factor layout, speaks for itself.

The Logitech G5215 Rapid TKL sits in a little bit of an awkward place, then. This is a good, rapid trigger gaming keyboard, and I like how convenient its software is and how fast it feels, but a plastic chassis and solely wired connectivity do leave a little bit of a sour taste.

Bad news for fans of Cherry keyboards. Although the company's actual keebs don't rank on our list of the best gaming keyboards, the switches are in a league of their own—or they used to be, at least.

However, Cherry seems to have fallen on hard times, with a net loss of $23 million (20.4 million euros) between January and the end of September 2025. This was with a turnover of nearly $82 million (70.7 million euros), leaving the company with more debt than equity.

The future of its Peripherals division is also uncertain, and that's why it's hard to predict what will even happen to these keyboards in the future.

According to Heise, Cherry is considering selling either its Peripherals division, which includes all its keyboards and mice, or the Digital Health & Solutions division.

Cherry dabbles in both the gaming and the office peripheral market, and both of those fall under that general "peripherals" umbrella. In fact, the company seems to have had big plans for the gaming market in the recent past, having taken over gaming peripheral company Xtrfy in 2022. Now, the entire division might be sold off again.

Cherry has already gone through a round of restructuring in 2024 (via Finanzwire), and it was the Peripherals division that got the axe back then, too.

The company's CFO, Jurjen Jongma, said: "Due to the group's low market capitalization and the current share price of Cherry below one euro, it is currently neither possible nor advisable to strengthen the group's equity in any way other than through strategic mergers & acquisitions options."

Cherry switches are safe for now, though. They fall under the Components division, which doesn't appear to be in any danger of being sold—but it faces other challenges.

Udo Streller, COO at Cherry, announced that it's shuttering its switch production in Auerbach, Germany. It's now being outsourced to China and Slovakia, while the Auerbach location will serve as a "service hub" for Cherry.

Cherry had a patent on its iconic Cherry MX design, but it expired in 2014. This has put Cherry in a difficult position, as other companies have picked up the design and iterated on it, including factory grease or oil lubrication right from the factory.

Cherry was also late to the party with Hall effect switches. Too much competition and a fairly slow post-pandemic gaming peripheral market seem to have taken their toll on Cherry.

What does this mean for the future? It's all quite unclear. If Cherry does end up selling its Peripherals division, it's likely that whichever company buys it will still keep making keyboards. Whether they'll be the exact same thing or something new remains to be seen. Cherry's switch production remains as it was, although outsourced.

The best gaming keyboards provide a genuinely tactile interface with your gaming PC. And, as much as people might like the odd dalliance with a gamepad, it's the heroic mouse and keyboard combination that makes PC gaming such an involved, fast, and accurate a hobby.

And, like us PC gamers, gaming keyboards come in all shapes and sizes. That means you will always be able to find one that suits you, your needs, your aesthetic, and your budget. And we review a host of keebs every year, in fact we've actually reviewed more gaming keyboards than gaming laptops over the past couple of years.

Right here is a list of the best gaming keyboards we've reviewed throughout 2025 that have scored 80% or above in our rigorous tech testing.

Best gaming keyboard deals today

• Amazon: All the gaming keyboard deals on Bezos' shelves
• Newegg: Hundreds of gaming keyboards for any budget
• Best Buy: Discounts on Corsair, SteelSeries, Logitech and more
• B&HPhoto: Money off a wide range of high-end keebs
• Gamestop: Yes, that Logi board with a cloud wrist rest is here

⌨️Razer Blackwidow V3 Quartz | $85 $50 @ Gamestop
⌨️Logitech G Pro X TKL Lightspeed | $220 $160 @ B&HPhoto
⌨️Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 | $210 $159 @ Amazon
⌨️8BitDo Retro keyboard N-edition | $100 $80 @ Best Buy
⌨️Ducky Zero 6108 | $99 $80 @ Amazon

The keyboard low-down

Silence is golden

Jess' verdict: 93%

"It's finally time to haul my verdict out of the shadows: though by no means silent, I'm definitely a fan of the sound-dampened clacks on Be Quiet's Light Mount. It lives up to its name in more ways than one, too, boasting vibrant, head-turning per-key RGB lighting—even the software offers few reasons to complain!"

Read our full Be Quiet! Light Mount review.

Pretty little thing

Reece's verdict: 92%

"An incredibly powerful low-profile gaming keyboard that lives up to its hype with super speed, fantastic looks, and a lot of power."

Read our full NuPhy Air60 HE review.

Mighty modular

Jess' verdict: 89%

"A modular keyboard boasting versatile, ambidextrous placements, an impressive suite of customisation options, and a just lovely sound-dampened typing experience. Vibrant per-key RGB lighting coupled with a light bar that runs along the entire outer edge of the keyboard makes the Dark Mount a board not so easily overshadowed."

Read our full Be Quiet! Dark Mount review.

Rapido

James' verdict: 86%

"The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid is Logi's first attempt at rapid trigger and, despite being a bit loud and a bit niche, it's as solid as its aluminium front plate."

Read the full Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid review.

Peak collab

Hope's verdict: 86%

"I'm not sure the design fully justifies the $50 extra over the black edition, though, that seems a bit steep no matter the customisation. The lilac keys pop wonderfully against the black main chassis, and I enjoy the difference the circle media keys at the top add to the design."

Read our full Razer x Kuromi collection review.

Free flowing

Alex's verdict: 86%

"Bringing notable enhancements over its predecessor, the Lofree Flow 2 is an excellent mechanical keyboard built with care and quality."

Read our full Lofree Flow 2 review.

Absolute bargain

Reece's verdict: 85%

"A powerful gaming keyboard that makes a bit of a mockery of more expensive rivals with beefy Hall effect switches, pleasant physical touches and decent software."

Read our full Gamakay x Naughshark NS68 review.

So retro

James' verdict: 83%

"The 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard is a very quirky choice for any typist or gamer but a surprisingly solid one that is more than just a pretty face. "

Read our full 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard review.

Preem

Jess' verdict: 83%

"Quieter clacking alongside a rich, customisable feature set make this a slightly more affordable alternative to the Corsair K70 Max. It's comparatively compact to boot though, alas, still chunky for a tenkeyless design."

Read our full Corsair K70 Pro TKL review.

Ergo

Nick's verdict: 83%

"Compact and great to type on, the Kinesis mWave is a good introduction to the world of ergonomic keyboards. It's ideal if you want all-day comfort for office work and gaming, but it's an absolute grease magnet."

Read our full Kinesis mWave review.

Our experts

Remember when Turtle Beach just made headsets? The days of focusing on making headshots sound orgasmically thwacky are behind this company though, which has expanded its range to flight sim gear, controllers, and even direct drive wheels lately. And, after having acquired the quietly brilliant German innovator Roccat in 2019 and retired the brand name in 2024, it's now putting out gaming keyboard designs like the Vulcan under its own name.

That brings us to this Vulcan II TKL, a full-size, tenkeyless board whose design and feature list will be like putting on comfy old shoes to anyone who tried the previous Vulcan, and whose Titan HS mechanical switches offer a really distinctive, linear sensation.

Appraising gaming keyboards right now is tough, because it's become extremely specialised. Manufacturers are broadening their ranges to cater to as many preferred tactile sensations as possible, and weighing one up against another really does involve a lot of personal preference. That said, there are a few empirical factors like build quality that help the plight of poor, put-upon reviews like myself.

In this case, the Vulcan II TKL makes a great first impression. The aluminium base plate makes this board look and feel much more premium than it is, and distracts you from how much lightweight plastic is used elsewhere.

Not that Turtle Beach has scrimped on construction materials: when you press a key, you feel the result of hundreds of tiny design and construction decisions interacting with each other, and it's clear that the majority of those decisions were good ones in this case.

As for the precise feel of those Titan HS switches, they're exactly my thing. Smooth, linear, with more resistance than most linear switches, shorter travel, and a wonderfully consistent level of resistance that makes inputting keystrokes feel stable and consistent. If you prefer a discernible 'click' when the keystroke registers, these switches aren't for you. The same's true if you're addicted to that aggressive, thwocky sound.

If not, this is a great option.

The tenkeyless layout is simple and un-burdened by media controls, but it does feature a clickable volume wheel on the top-right corner which is always a handy addition. When it wore Roccat colours, the top-line Vulcan came with a clear rubber wrist rest which interacted nicely with the RGB lighting emitted from the bottom edge of the board, but at this lower price point there's none of that here. In fact, since the keycaps on this board are shallow there's an 'open plan' look to the RGB, with light spilling between individual keys.

That might not be to everyone's taste. Personally, I'm happy with it, and the AIMO lighting tech (which lets you sync with what's happening in-game via the Swarm app) is a fun toy to mess around with. At least for the first few hours you have it.

Turtle Beach seems keen to get across that these switches are hot-swappable in the Vulcan II TKL's marketing materials, which means you can not only replace any faulty switches with the three supplied spares, but upgrade the board to switches of your preference without needing to bust out the soldering iron.

Your mileage may vary on this one, but personally I don't find this a particularly useful selling point. While a keyboard may technically be 'hot-swappable' in that you can replace keys while it's connected and powered, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea to, nor particularly convenient. The design of this particular board makes it quite tricky to actually prize the switches out, so I wasn't moved to experiment much.

It's a customisable board in other ways, too. Using the (harmless but mediocre) Swarm software you can save and swap between up to five profiles with macros and RGB schemes attached to them. There's a game mode, which allows you to set a shift key specific to that mode and layer on a bunch of extra input assignments too. Personally, I never find myself using features like the latter. I did play around with some custom RGB schemes specific to certain games, but having this ability isn't going to move the needle much for me as a gaming keeb consumer.

And yet after a couple of week of use, I really like this board. And that's largely a subjective thing, because I click—if you'll excuse the excellent pun—so well with the tactile feel. It isn't just that these switches are linear. It's that they're so smoothly, consistently linear at each point of the keypress, and that they're attached to such a sturdy frame, when you consider the price.

It might not be big on the cool factor, being devoid of any standout visual differentiators, but it's a shape, size, and sensation that I get along with. While I might be more inclined to weigh up the downsides of this being a mechanical board versus analogue if it were priced higher, at this $120 mark it feels like a sensible spec.

Best gaming keyboard 2025

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9. Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB

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It's a tricky moment to be a gaming keyboard. Do you jump on the Hall effect bandwagon to ensure you're bang on trend, and able to deliver that customisable actuation and rapid trigger response all the aspiring pros desire? Or do you stick with tried and tested mechanical keys, which still represent the vast majority of the gaming keeb market but don't offer the same customisation or response times as those analogue switch whippersnappers?

Razer's latest V4 incarnation of the BlackWidow—ahem, sorry, BlackWidow Low-Profile Tenkeyless Hyperspeed—sticks in old-school mechanical territory, but pairs that ol' reliable tactical switch feel with low-profile keys that have a shorter travel from starting position to the bottom of the keypress. It can be used wired or wireless, has three control buttons and a clickable volume roller, and the stated 980-hour battery life is impressive enough. But the real crux of this product is the feel of the keypress.

Which means it's a very subjective object to review. My review sample's fitted with Razer's proprietary orange low-profile mechanical switches, one of three options which also include 'crisp and clicky' green switches, and a 'smooth and silent' yellow option. That's a decent gamut of tactile options, but regardless of your switch choice, the most salient points that determine your feel are the low-profile design, and the construction quality of everything from the backplate to the keycaps.

And I wish I liked that sensation more, but sadly I don't. I find the quiet keycaps a bit loud, and the actuation slightly flimsy, and that's such a shame. Because there are lots of concrete positives about this board, particularly when it comes to the aesthetics. Razer's certainly not alone in the all-black-everything design school, but few brands match the jolly green giant for the visual appeal of that look.

It works particularly well in a sleek, compact tenkeyless chassis like this, which is built around a brushed aluminium frame and features a pleasing mix of finish types. Without looking so gamer-y as to tip over into cringe territory, it embodies the look of high-performance hardware.

I like the layout, too, from the exact angle and height difference of the key stacks, which feel like they sit perfectly under my hands, to the volume scroller which has an extra click-down input (mute would be the most obvious choice for that). But I'm not convinced that this particular combination of low-profile actuation and mechanical switch feedback tickles the tactile sensors in my brain quite enough to justify the mid-to-high-end pricing.

When does low-profile really feel like an advantage? Again, it's subjective. Personally, I find it a lot easier to type with precision using low-profile keys than traditional travel keycaps, particularly when mechanical switches are involved. That means a board like this one really hits the sweet spot for me as an all-round productivity and gaming device that I can use during the workday to write 'nothing from me' in Google Meet chat windows. And then hammer WASD late into the evening in ARC Raiders (who am I kidding? It's still Quake III Arena).

In that specific scenario, I've got all the features I'd ask for and—unusually for Razer—no bloat. Just as this model's gone tenkeyless in a bid for a sleek, high-performance physical form, the specs list reflects that same mentality.

I've got a wired/wireless toggle switch on the top-left of the board that lets me choose between zero-latency connectivity via the USB-A-to-USB-C cable and very, very nearly zero-latency via Razer's Hyperspeed wireless connection. So, should I get caught with my proverbial lower garments down when the battery gets low, I'm just one USB port away from uninterrupted work or play again.

I'm also digging the form factor. Not working in accountancy or playing many games circa 1996 using their default keybinds, I can generally lose the numpad keys without losing too much sleep. And while 60% keyboards often feel too cramped for my fingers, this compact layout remains ergonomic

The three control buttons don't offer much of use, truthfully. One is an AI button that feels like the result of someone high up at Razer saying "it needs an AI button!" and a bunch of designers scrambling to try to make some kind of sense out of that demand. I can't really fault their execution of that trend-chasing, nonsensical demand—pressing it brings up a pop-up window within the Synapse app that takes you to ChatGPT or Copilot. It's just that, y'know, nobody needs that button.

Another button displays your battery status, which is semi-useful and once again brilliantly executed, turning the number keys into a charge bar when you press it. But not a feature I'd opt for one keyboard over another for, frankly. Finally, there's a universal media button that you can program to do whatever you please with. It's fine. It's absolutely fine.

So, when it comes to outright gaming performance, I'm left feeling like the feature set and tactile feel simply meets my needs, rather than exceeds them. Compared to the construction quality and feel of Logitech's own low-profile board family, the G515, there's a subtle but meaningful difference in favour of the latter that makes typing and playing feel just slightly smoother, sturdier, and more enjoyable. And that's before you get into the fact that the G515 RAPID TKL has Hall effect analogue keys which let you customize your actuation point and key priority, while the BlackWidow V4's mechanical keys offer no such functionality.

I can't go too hard on that last point. It's a mechanical board, for people who like the feel and reliability of mechanical keys. And it delivers on those terms. But it's priced in similar territory to another low-profile board that does more, so that makes it hard to truly enthuse about.

Best gaming keyboard 2025

All our current recommendations

Pick a category Best overallCore ComponentsChairs & DesksSystems & LaptopsScreensPeripheralsCases, Cooling & Storage

Choose a list Best gaming headset 2025Best microphone for gaming 2025Best webcam 2025Best PC controller 2025Best gaming keyboard 2025Best gaming mouse 2025Best PC speaker 2025Best capture cards 2025

---

BEST OVERALL

1. Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless

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BEST BUDGET

2. Gamakay x Naughshark NS68

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BEST MID-RANGE

3. Ducky Zero 6108

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BEST RAPID TRIGGER

4. Wooting 80HE

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BEST WIRELESS RAPID TRIGGER

5. Keychron K2 HE

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BEST SILENT

6. Be Quiet! Light Mount

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BEST TENKEYLESS

7. Keychron Q3 Max

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BEST LOW PROFILE

8. NuPhy Air60 HE

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BEST ERGONOMIC

9. Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB

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BEST MEMBRANE

10. Roccat Magma

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It's been nearly two years since I reviewed the Kinesis Gaming Freestyle Edge RGB, but it's still been our top pick for the best ergonomic gaming keyboard you can buy. While there are arguably more ergonomic options on the market, or simply ones with more gaming features, the Freestyle Edge is a near-perfect blend of comfort, performance, and price tag.

Well, it's back again, this time in the form of a small update: the Freestyle Edge RGB Plus. When I say small, I really do mean small, because Kinesis Gaming has only changed a handful of aspects of the original package. First up are the key switches, which have been swapped from Cherry MX to Gateron Pro v1.

This was probably done for cost reasons, but the good news here is that whatever money Kinesis has saved by using different mechanical switches, it's spent it on the lift kit (which tents the keyboard) and Apple Mac modifier keycaps. These used to be optional extras (and quite pricey, too), but now they're included in the box.

The circuit boards used in the two keyboard halves have also been upgraded so that they support hotswapping. Basically, this lets you use the included key puller to yank out a switch while the keyboard is plugged in and replace it with a Gateron Pro of your choice, or any other switch that uses the same pin layout.

Lastly, the stabilisers used on the long keys (e.g. space bars) are now pre-lubricated in the factory. Combined with the linear Gateron Pro switches, the whole keyboard feels smooth and easy to use, with just the mildest of clicks behind each key press. If you fancy a bit more of a clack, then choose the tactile option, or buy Gateron's clicky switches.

Other than that, it's still the same Freestyle Edge RGB, and that's a good thing. It's also slightly disappointing, depending on your needs, and I'll explain why in a moment. Sticking with the positives for the moment, I'm glad that Kinesis has included the lift kit with the Plus. Paying $35 for a couple of pieces of plastic that were absolutely required in order to use the keyboard as intended, always felt a bit wrong.

You don't have to use them, of course, if you prefer to have no tenting (i.e. the keyboard halves are flat on your desk), and the same is true of the luxurious wrist pads. While these are removable, I can't imagine why you'd want to because they are very comfortable and supportive. Having said that, if you're prone to getting sweaty hands while gaming, you'll find the pad material gets a bit unpleasant after a while.

While I'm on the topic of negatives, I don't like the fact that the lift kit legs swing about as you move the keyboard around. The cables between the two keyboard halves and the main USB cable are both braided and pleasingly long, but they're also pretty stiff. The delete key is too small and too far away from the others for fast use in office work.

However, these are more subjective criticisms, rather than objective weaknesses of the keyboard. For example, due to the nature of the mechanical switches used, you won't find any support for snap tap or rapid trigger, something that the Asus ROG Falcata has, thanks to its Hall effect switches.

This will only matter if you're a pro gamer, where every millisecond of reaction time matters. For everyone else, myself included, the Freestyle Edge RGB Plus is more than quick enough.

So why did I write that it's slightly disappointing that Kinesis Gaming hasn't changed things that much with the Plus? It's partly because, in the 18 months/two years since the original Freestyle Edge RGB came out, an awful lot of keyboards (ergonomic and otherwise) have appeared on the market, and the Kinesis keyboard is starting to look and feel a little bit dated in comparison to some of them.

Of course, a completely rejigged and fully modernised Freestyle Edge wouldn't be called a mere 'Plus', but if, for example, Asus took Kinesis' wristpads and applied them to an updated Falcata, then the Freestyle could have some genuine competition.

I should imagine some people might feel the same way about the keyboard's lack of wireless connectivity or the absence of a dedicated media wheel.

I'm sure Kinesis could easily add these features to the next-generation Freestyle Edge RGB, but that would almost certainly ruin the one thing that puts it ahead of every other ergonomic keyboard: the price tag.

At a buck shy of $200, the Freestyle Edge RGB Plus certainly isn't cheap, but it's half the price of the Asus ROG Falcata, and vastly more affordable than, say, the Dygma Defy.

This is why Kinesis rules the roost when it comes to ergonomic gaming keyboards. The Freestyle Edge RGB Plus doesn't have all the latest key switch technologies, but what it does have is done very well, and at a much better price point than the competition. If you want to give your shoulders, elbows and wrists relief when working all day, and then gaming all night, the best option used to be the Freestyle Edge RGB.

Now, it's the Freestyle Edge RGB Plus. The same great keyboard, now with a bit more bang for your buck.

Fans of absolutely asinine technological overkill rejoice. Your keyboard has arrived. May we present the MCHOSE Ace 68 Turbo, the world's first keyboard with a 16 kHz polling rate.

What possible benefit could this have, you ask? Well, lower latency is the obvious answer. In other words, less lag between stabbing a key and having something happen in-game and on-screen. The question is, of course, at what point does lower latency become undetectable to human senses?

According to MCHOSE itself, the 16 kHz version of the Ace 68 Turbo only improves latency over the (presumably cheaper) 8 KHz variant by 0.02 ms, with the Turbo sitting at 0.06 ms rather than 0.08 ms. So, we are talking about hundredths of a millisecond. Can anyone actually feel that?

Cue an army of twitch gamers pointing out the huge benefits of 8 kHz mice and how they couldn't possibly slum it with—eugh!—a 4 KHz rodent. Or whatever.

Likewise, it wasn't that long ago that the idea of a, say, 500 Hz monitor seemed a bit silly. Surely anything beyond about 240 Hz was beyond human perception? Well, that no longer seems to be the case. And yet, I'd still take some convincing that there's real-world benefit in a 16 kHz keeb.

There is, of course, the thorny issue of CPU performance in association with very high peripheral polling rates. 8 kHz mice, for instance, are known to induce noticeable CPU load. So, if the price you pay for lower keyboard latency is higher overall game engine latency, that hardly makes sense.

However, according to one well-respected authority, high polling rates for keyboards don't necessarily pose the same performance problems as mice. To quote keyboard specialist Wooting in relation to its 8 kHz-capable 80HE keyboard:

"In our testing we haven’t measured any performance issues or a significantly increased CPU load. Mice that poll at 8k are constantly sending relative position data updates to the computer which is known to cause increased CPU load, whereas the data stream sent by keyboard polling is very different. A PC should have no issues running the Wooting 80HE at 8 kHz. It is however possible to lower the polling rate of the keyboard."

Of course, 8 kHz isn't 16 kHz and perhaps at some point keyboard polling rate could become an issue.

For the record, the MCHOSE Ace 68 Turbo also sports a dual-core CPU, a 4-layer PCB, and Rapid Trigger switches with an accuracy of 0.001 mm. So, now you know.

Then there's the CNC-milled aluminium housing, Hall effect sensors and a dynamic RGB lightbar. When you factor all that in, the Ace 68 Turbo is not oppressively pricey at $99. So, if the polling rate is a gimmick, at least you're not paying massively for it.

I remember going through an extended 'thock' phase, ie, that period of my life where I soaked in as many glorious custom mechanical keyboard ASMR videos as my little ears could handle. For some, that's less of a phase and more of a lifestyle choice—and fair do's, I say. If that describes you, then I have something positively titillating for you: a fully ceramic keyboard from Keychron.

It seems like it might be titillating for more than a few people, too, because the Q16 HE 8K Kickstarter project has raised a whopping 48x its Kickstarter goal, with $488,375 (£359,459) currently pledged. It seems a lot of people have their eyes fixed on that glossy look.

If you've never graced your ears with the sound of ceramic keycaps before, then I suggest you do so. Keyboard sound profiles are subjective, of course, but I don't think anyone would deny there's at least something very distinctive about the ceramic sound.

I don't doubt that will be amplified even more with the entire keyboard being ceramic rather than just the keycaps. Though I must say, after listening to some initial reviews (on the Kickstarter page), it strangely seems to sound a little less ceramic than some keyboards I've listened to with just ceramic keycaps and a meta or plasticl body.

It's an interesting choice for Keychron to make this keyboard gaming-ified, though. The 65% profile Q16 HE 8K has TMR switches for analogue features, and it also has 8K polling for faster response times.

The latter is a bit of a gimmick, in my opinion, especially for a keyboard, as 1–2K polling should do just fine. But the former is great, as this will allow you to adjust your keys' actuation points to wherever you want and even turn on rapid trigger which will let you re-activate your key as soon as you let up on the previous keypress. In other words, you should be able to tailor your keyboard to get a miniscule amount of delay between your decision to press the key and that key actually registering.

As I say, it's interesting the ceramic keyboard is packing in all this competitive gaming tech, because ceramic probably isn't the kind of material you'd associate with such things. It's notoriously heavy compared to normal keycap materials, which means it's better-suited to heavier switches, and competitive FPS gamers tend to (though don't always) prefer lighter switches.

One thing I can personally vouch for is the software you'll be using to manage all this TMR tech, as I've used it to set up the Keychron Q5 HE that I use as my daily driver. It's web-based, so no install required, and is very easy and intuitive to use, with plenty of features and granular control offered.

So, if you're looking for something shiny—and it certainly does look to be that—and a little different, the 'world's first fully ceramic keyboard' might be a good shout.