Tuesday 4 October 2016

New keyboard, new life.

Out with the old, in with the new. It has been so long since I have ever been given an opportunity to change anything old of mine until the decision to move my opinion of 'no-mechanical-keyboard-for-life' to 'what-the-heck-just-get-it'. I actually convince myself to change my completely fine and still useful keyboard to a completely new mechanical keyboard.

I choose the Corsair Vengeance K70 LUX Mechanical Keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switch. Why did I choose the brown instead of the red? The red is more popular with most gamers, however I am just a casual gamer, and I use my keyboard mostly, on typing.

Old keyboard (Logitech G510)

New keyboard (Corsair Vengeance K70 LUX)

Contents of keyboard: Manual, warranty, rubber keys for better grip during gaming, keyboard, and wrist rest.

Wrist rest snapped straight into the keyboard easily with the noticeable click. 

Keyboard (unplugged)

Rubber keys and key remover(?)

Manual and warranty

Double USB.

Keyboard (plugged in, lights off))

Keyboard (plugged in, lights settings: soothing)

Keyboard (plugged in, lights setting: acceptable)

Keyboard (plugged in, lights setting: extremely bright)

So, first of all, of course, we should talk about the looks. It is smaller compared to my previous, because it lacks the 18 macro keys which is available in the Corsair Keyboard K95. I realised in the days that I have used that keyboard (which has been 4 years, constantly, everyday), I have only used the macro keys for only one game. And that game uses a lot of the combination of Ctrl + (?), and Alt + (?). But that is the only time i used it. So it started to collect dust, not forgetting the fallen crumbs of goodies that fell through the cracks (I am not ashamed).
Smaller keyboards means more space for me on my table. Most of the time, I will have my meal in front of the monitor so, the bigger the space, the better. I still use a pen and a book at times which is a big plus for that.
However, the only thing that bugs me about this keyboard is the enormous letters on the keys. I understand that this is from the looks of the corsair strafe. But it still bugs me as to why wouldn't it has the looks of the classic old keys. This is due to me being stingy. The Corsair K70 keyboard is still in production but slightly more expensive than the K70 LUX. The supplier that I go to only sells the LUX while the rest of the shops sells at the range of RM 500 to RM 600. I got this for a price of RM 457 which is already the cheapest among the rest. not considering the RGBs in mind.
I love the aluminium frame. I once told my sister that if I were to slap anyone with this keyboard, they may just faint (please don't try this at home, never try, never will). It is incredibly heavy. Which makes it sturdier. It has rubber domes on the bottom left and right of the keyboard to keep it from slipping.
The keyboard comes with a dedicated multimedia controls. Which works even when I am in game. The volume roller feels tighter. Any keyboard that has multimedia controls is a good keyboard for some gamers like me who likes to game while listening to music and I don't have to Alt + Tab out to select other songs.

Let's talk a little about the lighting. Why did I not go for the RGB because I noticed from researching, the RGB for Corsair is very complicated. Yes, I know I can just download but I wouldn't be bothered with it. The settings can be altered with a click of the button located on the top right, beside the window lock button. I find the brightest to be the most uncomfortable and even the lowest is straining my eyes right now. The LED is very bright. It's not very noticeable but the lower part of the key at the second line and the numpad has a slightly lower brightness. This means that the LED is situated directly under the top of the key instead of the middle. This doesn't bothers me much but just a heads up.


Next is the keys. I choose the brown as reasons mentioned above. I have been typing till here which is not something I would call experience, (since it's new and I am biased), I find myself typing much faster and a little lesser mistakes compared to the previous keyboard. A mechanical keyboard does bring a feel of certainty that I am pressing the key. The wrist rest feels a little low (I have short fingers). The height of the top of the wrist rest to the spacebar is surprisingly far. I have to make my fingers fly around the keyboard instead of typing comfortably with my wrist resting on the wrist rest (like DUH!). The bottom key is caressing my bottom palm every time I type which makes it even more uncomfortable.
Other than that, there is no holes or space between the key and the switches which makes it easy to clean. Some keyboards tend to have a hole by the side which makes thing slip in especially when you were absent-mindedly munching something while staring at the screen. With a good duster or a good blower, it will be spick and span in no time, Though having oil stains on an aluminium frame would be the ugliest thing to ever happen to a keyboard this beautiful.
As the picture shows above, the indication to the Shift + (?) keys are located on the bottom of the key. This may not be confusing to some but for a writer, I sometimes could not differentiate the ' and " or the ; and : without looking at the keyboard. This is a small matter that can be overcome one day.

The keyboard comes with one USB port for your mouse or your headphones. Yes, I do have a headphone that uses USB as posted int he earlier post. The keyboard has a BIOS switch(?) which I am afraid I have no clue on the usage yet. I need to dig more.

Let us summarize everything that is written above shall we, in the section called TL;dR.

TL;dR:
Pros: beautiful looking, mechanical, multimedia controls, aluminium frame, rubber dome on the bottom, small size, easy to clean.
Cons: height of key, brightness of key, uneven brightness, visible oil stains, bottom indicator for Shift combination key.

And that is all. Goodnight

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