Corsair with a built-in Stream Deck controller at . The Galleon 100 SD is a mechanical keyboard with a 5-inch screen, two rotary encoders and a full complement of Stream Deck buttons.
For the uninitiated, the Stream Deck is basically a that execute various commands. It’s been incredibly popular for streamers and the like, but it’s also become a boon for PC gamers.
Corsair is advertising the Galleon 100 SD directly to gamers, so it boasts of hot keys being used to “access abilities, call in airstrikes and manage inventory without diving through menus.” The Elgato Marketplace offers profiles for specific games, eliminating the need to manually program the buttons. The included screen can display relevant stats while playing.
However, this is a real Stream Deck. It has 12 big buttons, which can be programmed to do all kinds of things beyond gaming. People use it to stream, yes, but also to control smart home devices, assist with creative tasks and a lot more.
Corsair
It’s also a true mechanical gaming keyboard with hyper-polling rates up to 8,000Hz, which the company says “transmits your keystrokes up to eight times faster” than standard releases. It features MLX Pulse keyswitches that have been “tuned for fast actuation and smooth yet tactile feedback.”
Everything is housed in a durable aluminum frame with gasket housing and six layers of sound dampening. There’s a cushioned palm rest and configurable RGB lighting.
The Galleon 100 SD , but there’s a catch. It costs $350, which is a lot of dough for a gaming keyboard. For that amount of money you could buy an actual Stream Deck XL and a decent keyboard and still have plenty to spare.
The best gaming keyboards bring a greater feeling of comfort and control to your PC play time, whether you’re sinking into a 100-hour RPG or sweating through an online shooter. They may not always feel as premium for typing as a good custom mechanical keyboard, but they’re usually a nice upgrade over the ordinary keyboards sitting around the office. To help anyone looking to upgrade, I’ve spent more time researching gaming keyboards than any person reasonably should, testing dozens of well-reviewed models along the way. Whether you want something mini, analog, wireless or just plain cheap, these are the best I’ve used.
What to look for in a gaming keyboard
To be clear, any keyboard can be a “gaming keyboard.” If you play lots of video games and have never sighed to yourself, “man, this keyboard is holding me back,” congratulations, you probably don’t need to pay extra for a new one. Self-proclaimed gaming keyboards often come at a premium, and while the best offer high-quality designs, snazzy RGB lighting and a few genuinely worthwhile features, none of them will give you god-like skill, nor will they suddenly turn bad games into good ones.
Mechanical vs non-mechanical
Now that we’ve touched grass, I did prioritize some features while researching this guide. First, I mostly stuck to mechanical keyboards, not laptop-style membrane models. They can be loud, but they’re more durable, customizable and broadly satisfying to press — all positive traits for a product you may use for hours-long gaming sessions.
Size
Next, I preferred tenkeyless (TKL) or smaller layouts. It’s totally fine to use a full-size board if you really want a number pad, but a compact model gives you more space to flick your mouse around. It also lets you keep your mouse closer to your body, which can reduce the tension placed on your arms and shoulders.
From top to bottom: A 96 percent keyboard, an 80 percent (or tenkeyless) keyboard and a 60 percent keyboard.
(Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget)
Switches, keycaps and build quality
Linear switches, which are often branded as “red,” are generally favored by gamers. These give keystrokes a smooth feel from top to bottom, with no tactile “bump” that could make fast, repeated presses less consistent. They usually require little force to actuate, and they tend to be quiet. However, if you prefer the feel and/or sound of a more tactile or clicky switch, get one of those instead. You might lose some speed in esports-style games, but nothing is more important than your comfort.
Some gaming keyboards are based on different mechanisms entirely. Optical switches, for instance, use a beam of light to register keystrokes, while Hall effect switches use magnets. These often feel linear, but they allow for a more versatile set of gaming-friendly features, such as the ability to set custom actuation points, assign multiple commands to one key and repeat key presses faster. In general, they’re faster and more durable too.
The Wooting 60HE+ is one gaming keyboard that has helped popularize the use of magnetic Hall effect switches.
(Jeff Dunn for Engadget)
This analog-style functionality has become the big trend in the gaming keyboard market over the last few years. Most of the major keyboard brands now sell at least one model with Hall effect switches and, based on my testing, it’s easy to see why: Many of their customizations really can give you a more granular (yet still fair) sense of control, especially in more competitive games. Consequently, many of our picks below are built with the tech.
Keyboards with these kind of features usually aren’t cheap, however, and they’re far from essential for those who mainly play single-player games. Some of their tricks have also stirred up controversy: One known as SOCD (Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Directions) cleaning allows you to activate two different directional keys at the same time, making it possible to, among other things, achieve impossibly perfect strafing in shooting games. A few games such as Counter-Strike 2 have banned the feature as a result, though it can still be a fun thing to play around with in games that don’t involve other people. SOCD isn’t limited to magnetic switches either; some mechanical keyboards support it too.
A small handful of recentkeyboards have shipped with inductive switches, which promise the adjustable actuation features of Hall effect keyboards but with better battery efficiency. We haven’t been able to test one of these just yet, but we’ll look to do so in the future.
A handful of dye-sub PBT keycaps.
(Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget)
Keycaps and build quality
Regardless of switch type, you want a frame that doesn’t flex under pressure, keys that don’t wobble and stabilizers that don’t rattle when you hit larger keys like the spacebar. I prefer double-shot PBT (polybutylene terephthalate) keycaps over those that use cheaper ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic, as they won’t develop a greasy shine over time and their icons are less likely to fade. A hot-swappable PCB (printed circuit board) that makes it easy to change switches if the mood arises is ideal, as are dedicated media keys.
For the sake of simplicity, I only considered prebuilt gaming keyboards for this guide, though many of the picks below allow for customization down the line. If you (and your bank account) really want to go wild, check out our guide to building a custom keyboard.
Software, connectivity and RGB
If a keyboard has companion software, it should let you program macros and custom key bindings for games without frustration. For convenience, a wired keyboard should connect through a detachable USB-C cable. A good wireless keyboard won’t add serious lag, but only if it uses a USB receiver, not Bluetooth. (It’ll probably cost more as well.) Some gaming keyboards advertise super-high polling rates — i.e., the speed at which a keyboard reports to a computer — to reduce latency, but unless your monitor has an especially fast refresh rate, the usual standard of 1,000Hz should be fine. And while nobody needs RGB lighting, it’s fun. Consumer tech could use more of that, so the cleaner and more customizable the RGB is, the better.
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
How we tested
The best way to evaluate a keyboard is to just… use it, so that’s what I did. To cover a variety of use cases and design styles, I’ve researched dozens of keyboards over the past several months that’ve broadly received high marks from professional reviewers and users alike. I’ve then used each model I’ve brought in as my daily driver for a few days. Since I write for a living, this gave me enough time to get a strong sense of each keyboard’s typing experience.
For gaming, I give special focus to each keyboard’s responsiveness in fast and/or reaction-based online shooters such as Halo Infinite, Counter-Strike 2, Apex Legends, Valorant, Overwatch 2 and XDefiant, as many would-be gaming keyboard buyers get one in the hopes that it’ll help with that genre in particular. I made sure each keyboard felt comfortable with other types of games, though, such as Baldur’s Gate 3 (a turn-based RPG), Hi-Fi Rush (an action game with an emphasis on timing and rhythm) and Forza Horizon 5 (an arcade racing game). I used the latter to better evaluate the pressure-sensitive features of the analog keyboards I tested.
If a keyboard could be configured with multiple switch types, I got the linear model. Upon receiving each keyboard, I removed several keycaps to ensure none were chipped or broken. I noted whether any keys felt wobbly, whether the case flexes under pressure, whether the texture and finish of the keycaps changes after use and whether larger keys like the spacebar felt particularly rattly or hollow. I typed on each keyboard in quick succession in a quiet room to get a sense of where they ranked in terms of noise. For wireless models, I checked whether the battery drain at 50 percent RGB brightness aligned with a manufacturer’s estimate. I looked to results from sites like Rtings to ensure nothing was out of order with latency. I did my testing on a 144Hz monitor with my personal rig, which includes a 10th-gen Core i9 CPU and an RTX 3080 GPU.
This helped me ensure each keyboard met a baseline of overall quality, but to reiterate, so much of this process is subjective. I can tell you if a keyboard is loud based on how I slam my keys, for instance, but you may have a lighter touch. What my tastes find “comfortable,” “pleasing,” or even “useful,” you may dislike. As I’ve written before, keyboards are like food or art in that way. So, keep an open mind.
With most gaming keyboards, claims of “improving your play” are just marketing fluff. With the Wooting 80HE, it’s actually kind of true — or at least, it can be. The key is its analog “Lekker V2” switches, which can respond to varying levels of pressure, much like the triggers on a PlayStation or Xbox controller. These use magnetic Hall effect sensors, which means they have fewer physical contact points that can suffer from wear and tear over time.
This setup enables a few genuinely beneficial features. For one, you can adjust the actuation point of each key anywhere between an ultra-low 0.1mm and 4mm, in 0.1mm steps. With a fast-paced FPS, setting the actuation point low makes the keys more sensitive and thus exceptionally responsive to quick movements. For a turn-based RPG or simply typing, raising that pre-travel distance makes each press more deliberate and less prone to errors. You can also mix and match, making your WASD keys faster to actuate but leaving the rest at a less touchy level.
Another feature, “rapid trigger,” registers the actuation and reset points of a key press dynamically. This lets you re-actuate a key mid-press, before it has to go all the way back up, so you can repeat inputs faster. It’s a boon for shooting and rhythm games in particular: In a 1v1 shootout in Halo Infinite, you can strafe, stop and start with a little more speed and granularity. We’re still talking milliseconds of difference, but sometimes that’s all that separates defeating an opponent and leaving them with a sliver of health. You can combine this with a couple of SOCD settings for even faster strafing, but know that those specific features could get you banned from some esports-style games. (See our notes on switch types above for more on this.)
Beyond that, you can tie up to four actions to one key based on how far it’s pressed. In Halo, for instance, I’ve made it so I can mark enemies and switch grenades by long-pressing Q and E, respectively — i.e., the keys right next to WASD. Short-pressing those keys, meanwhile, still lets me use their default bindings. In another game, you could lightly press a key to pull out a grenade, fully press to throw it, then release to reequip your main weapon. All of this requires some brain retraining, but it ultimately lessens the need to contort your fingers to perform a full set of commands. Which, in turn, can save you more precious seconds during a battle.
Because the keys are pressure-sensitive, you can also set them to mimic an Xbox controller. With a racing game like Forza Horizon 5, the W and S keys could stand in for the LT and RT buttons, while A and D replicate the left joystick. Does this feel as natural as using real joysticks or a good wheel? Of course not. But for games that don’t expect you to use a mouse alongside the keyboard, it’s really not as clunky as you’d expect.
That caveat is important: Plenty of games aren’t designed with analog keyboards in mind, so don’t expect the 80HE to replace your gamepad. Owning this won’t magically make you a top-tier player either. When you’re up against other people around your skill level, though, the extra bit of precision these features provide is tangible.
There’s been a tidal wave of analog keyboards released in the last couple of years, but the 80HE stands out for getting the fundamentals right. There are certainly nicer-feeling mechanical keyboards for $200, including many that don’t have all-plastic cases. But its double-shot PBT keycaps feel crisp, its keys are comfortably spaced and the pre-lubed linear-style switches are smooth and satisfying to press. (The switches are technically hot-swappable as well, though the market for third-party Hall effect switches is relatively small.) An internal gasket mount provides a cushioned landing for your fingers — though presses aren’t quite as springy here as they are on the best keyboards with this sort of design — while multiple layers of foam and tape give it a soothing thocky tone that isn’t annoyingly loud. The per-key RGB backlighting is tidy and deeply customizable. The keyboard can technically support a fast 8,000Hz polling rate as well, but that’s mostly overkill.
Where Wooting really wins is with its software. The company’s Wootility app is fully accessible through the web and makes it easy to remap keys, assign macros and Fn layer shortcuts, create profiles, adjust RGB lighting and set up all of those actuation-based tricks. It just works in a way so many other apps we’ve tested for this guide do not, taking pains to make sure you understand what you’re changing with each feature and see that your changes are active and actually functioning as intended. You can save up to four profiles to the device itself, and swapping between them is as simple as hitting a two-button shortcut.
What’s more, the 80HE has a four-year warranty, which is longer than most of its peers. The braided USB-C cable comes with a USB-A adapter, a nice touch that makes it easier to use the keyboard across devices. Wooting offers a few different customization options as well: You can buy the 80HE with a more premium zinc alloy case (albeit for $90 extra) and dye-sub keycaps or grab a module version that lets you build it out with your own (magnetic) switches and keys.
There are still a few downsides. The 80 percent layout is an odd half-step between traditional TKL and 75 percent designs: It still fits in arrow keys and takes up far less space than a full-size model but omits a couple of the usual Nav cluster keys. The space bar has a bit of rattle to it. There’s no wrist rest in the box. There are a few pairs of rubber stops that slot into the back of the keyboard and allow it to rest at different fixed angles — those keep the device steady in place, but attaching them is more cumbersome than simply adjusting the feet built into most boards.
At $200, the 80HE also isn’t the best value, especially given that it lacks any sort of wireless connectivity. That’s before any tariff impacts, which Wooting has said could lead to a price hike. And you can only buy the device direct from the company, which sells its gear in batches. For more competitive-minded players, though, this is the best blend of features, typing quality and ease of use that we’ve tested.
If you want to pay as little as possible for an acceptable, honest-to-goodness gaming keyboard, get the G.Skill KM250 RGB. For $45, it offers PBT keycaps, hot-swappable switches, per-key RGB backlighting, adjustable feet, a detachable USB-C cable and even a dedicated volume control knob. Its translucent “pudding” keycaps look funky but help show off those RGB effects. The linear Kailh Red switches are quick and smooth enough, without the pinging noise that often plagues budget keyboards. Its 65 percent layout doesn’t chew up space, but it still fits in a set of arrow keys. Though there’s no dedicated software for programming the KM250, you can quickly swap through lighting effects right from the device. Avoiding potential bloatware may be better at this price anyway.
The KM250 isn’t a miracle, mind you. The plastic frame is lightweight and surprisingly sturdy, but you don’t get the level of sound-dampening foam, reinforced stems or pre-lubed springs you’d find in a more premium keyboard. Key presses sound hollower and feel a bit stiffer when you bottom out as a result. Plus, while having PBT keycaps at all in this range is great, they aren’t as pleasingly textured as more expensive options.
But come on, it’s $45. For that price, everything here is beyond functional. And if you ever want to upgrade some of its lesser elements, you can.
If you want a gaming keyboard you can take on the road, or you just despise cable clutter, check out the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless (Gen 3). Like the Wooting 80HE, its linear-style switches use magnetic Hall effect sensors, which open up a range of useful gaming features. You can raise or lower the actuation points of individual keys anywhere between 0.1mm and 4mm, enable a rapid trigger setting to repeat presses faster and bind multiple commands to one key based on how far it’s pushed. (So you could, say, lightly press W to walk, then hold it to run.) There’s a handy “protection mode” that lowers the sensitivity of nearby keys when one key is pressed, which makes it harder to “fat-finger” wrong inputs by accident, plus an SOCD feature and preset profiles for a few popular games. There’s no dedicated analog mode for driving games, and you can “only” assign two actuation-based commands to a key at once, but the Apex Pro still allows for finer control than most of its peers.
The “keyboard” part of the Apex Pro TKL is beyond satisfactory as well. The double-shot PBT keycaps resist grime and aren’t overly sculpted, so they’re easy to reach. The RGB lighting is clean, while the aluminum-plated deck doesn’t noticeably flex. Adjustable feet and rubber pads on the back do well to keep the board stable, and there’s a soft magnetic wrist rest included in the box. On the front is a volume roller and a mini OLED display, the latter of which lets you quickly swap profiles, adjust and view actuation levels, check battery status and even see info from certain apps, among other tweaks. With Counter-Strike 2, for instance, it can display the current round and your K/D ratio. You can also connect over Bluetooth in addition to the included dongle and USB-C cable.
The typing experience, meanwhile, is a noticeable improvement over the last-generation Apex Pro (our previous wireless pick). The lightly pre-lubed switches make presses feel smooth and distinct, while a few layers of sound-dampening foam provide a mild thocky tone. It’s not full-on quiet, but it’s muffled enough to give that sense of feedback most people enjoy from a mechanical keyboard without totally aggravating everyone around you.
The larger keys are mostly handled well, too, though the space bar could be tighter, while the enter and right shift keys rattle a bit more than the larger stabilized keys on the left side of the board. In general, you’d still buy the Apex Pro TKL for its gaming features first, but it’s a decidedly Nice Keyboard even without them.
That’s good, because with a list price of $300, this thing is expensive. If raw typing feel is your main concern, there are cheaper alternatives in our honorable mentions and “others we tested” section below.
Besides the price, our main gripes are with SteelSeries’ GG software. It’s certainly usable, but it’s a bit less refined than Wooting’s Wootility app. The process of assigning multiple inputs to one key requires jumping between two different tabs, while setting up custom RGB profiles forces you into a separate app. There’s no obvious way to tie an RGB layout to a specific actuation profile, and you need to leave the software running for some settings tweaks to stay active. The battery life, rated for 37.5 hours with the wireless dongle, isn’t especially long either. Still, if you’ve got more cash to burn and must go wireless, the Apex Pro gets much more right than wrong.
As an aside: At least one review has said that the Apex Pro’s custom actuation settings aren’t always accurate. We reached out to SteelSeries about this, and a company spokesperson told us that inaccurate readings could stem from a filter in the keyboard’s firmware that’s designed to stop accidental key presses from happening when the included wrist rest is attached or removed. According to the company, this filter would normally have no effect on the press distance, but it may run and cause presses to be deeper than intended if someone were to use a mechanical device (like a robotic testing arm) to push a key extremely slowly. We couldn’t find any accuracy issues in our own “real-world” testing, so we stand by our recommendation.
If you aren’t intense about esports-style play and just want a good mechanical keyboard you can also use for games, try the Keychron V3 Max. For $115 pre-tariffs, it offers a wireless design with hot-swappable switches, double-shot PBT keycaps and a volume knob. By default, it comes with Gateron’s Jupiter Red (linear), Brown (tactile) or Banana (more tactile) switches; the Jupiter Reds are sufficiently light for everyday gaming and, with the help of an internal gasket mount and multiple layers of sound-dampening foam, mostly quiet. Each switch comes pre-lubed, which helps keep the out-of-the-box typing experience from feeling or sounding cheap. Presses make a lovely little pop. The keycaps are comfortably spaced and gently rounded, making it easier to avoid accidental inputs, though they have a somewhat a somewhat high profile, so they can feel a little more in the way than the keys on the Wooting 80HE or SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless for quick actions. All of it connects over a removable USB-C cable, Bluetooth or a wireless adapter, and there are USB-C and USB-A dongles in the box.
The V3 isn’t as focused on ultra-low latency as a dedicated gaming keyboard, and it doesn’t have any of the special analog features available with the 80HE or Apex Pro, but it should be responsive enough for all but the most competitive players. A built-in switch lets you swap between Windows and macOS modes, and there are OS-specific keycaps in the box. You can program the board through Keychron’s Launcher web app, which is harder to grok than something like Wootility but lets you remap keys, create macros or adjust the backlight across OSes.
The V3 Max’s keys are individually backlit, and you can adjust its RGB effects right from the board. That can look odd with the default, non-shine-through keycaps, however. There’s a pair of foldable feet on the back, but since this is a high-profile keyboard with no wrist rest in the box, it’s not the most universally ergonomic setup. The chassis is also made of plastic, so it’s hard to call “premium.” And the stabilizers could be better: There’s a faint but audible rattle when pressing the backspace or enter keys, while the space bar is louder and more hollow-sounding than everything else. Still, this is a comfortable and customizable entry point for those looking to get into mechanical keyboards as a hobby, one that’s nicer for typing than most options in its price range. It’s a strong value for non-twitchy games.
The V3 Max is a tenkeyless model, but Keychron sells several other size and layout options as part of the V Max series, too. We previously recommended the Keychron V3, an older wired model, and that one is still OK if you want to save a bit more. But the Max’s wireless connectivity and improved acoustics make it a better buy.
The Lemokey P1 HE is a wireless model with Hall effect switches and a 75 percent layout. On raw build quality and typing experience alone, it is a clear step above our top picks. Its full aluminum frame has zero flex, while its gasket-mount design and pre-lubed magnetic switches make keystrokes feel springy. Layers of noise-dampening material keep everything sounding pleasant, and the stabilizers on the larger keys successfully prevent any serious rattling. In many ways, it’s reminiscent of the Keychron Q Max — the top recommendation in our guide to the best mechanical keyboards — just with flatter stock keycaps that are shine-through and easier to move between. (Lemokey is Keychron’s gaming sub-brand.)
Like other Hall effect keyboards, the P1 HE offers customizable actuation points, rapid trigger, the ability to assign multiple commands to one key and a gamepad-style analog mode. Unfortunately, Keychron’s Launcher software doesn’t quite match up to the hardware. It won’t recognize the keyboard unless you connect over a cable, for one, and the process of setting up custom profiles isn’t as readable as it is with SteelSeries’ GG app or (especially) Wooting’s Wootility. You can only save three profiles to the onboard memory, too, and the shortcut for swapping between them is convoluted by comparison. You can’t assign unique RGB lighting setups to different profiles, either.
All of those analog tricks still work, and the P1 HE is so delightful to type on that it’s worth considering over the Apex Pro TKL Wireless if you care about the “keyboard” part of your gaming keyboard first and foremost. That’s especially true given that the P1 HE costs $130 less — but the Apex Pro is a smoother experience for gaming specifically.
Note: The following is a selection of noteworthy gaming keyboards we’ve put through their paces, not a comprehensive list of everything we’ve ever tried.
Wooting 60HE+
You can consider the Wooting 60HE+ our “1A” pick, as it’s essentially a more compact version of the 80HE with a 60 percent layout. It supports the same analog gaming features, has the same four-year warranty and still uses the great Wootility software. It’s also $25 cheaper. If you prefer a smaller design and don’t need arrow keys, you can buy it with confidence. However, more people will find the 80HE’s larger layout easier to use on a day-to-day basis. Its gasket mount, updated switches and extra sound-dampening material make it more pleasant-sounding and comfier for typing out of the box. Plus, while the 60HE+ can only rest at one fixed angle, the 80HE comes with a few sets of removable feet.
It’s also worth noting that Wooting has announced an updated model called the 60HE V2 since our last update. That one is expected to arrive by the end of 2025, so if you’re not in a rush it may be worth holding out for a few more months.
Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid
The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid is a good magnetic-switch alternative to the Wooting 80HE if you must buy from one of the major keyboard brands. It’s wired-only, but it looks good, with clear RGB lighting, a built-in volume roller, dedicated media keys and a sturdy metal top plate. The expected rapid trigger and adjustable actuation tricks all work fine, and Logitech’s G Hub software is easier to get around than most apps from the big-name manufacturers. It can recognize when you’ve launched certain games, for instance, then apply any custom profiles you’ve made for them automatically. It’s $10 cheaper than the 80HE as well. Where it falls short is the typing experience: The default switches are pretty noisy, and bottoming out the keys feels stiffer here compared to our top picks. If you want those Wooting-style features and prefer a clackier sound, however, it’s a decent buy.
Logitech G Pro X TKL and G Pro X 60
The wireless Logitech G Pro X TKL and G Pro X 60, which use more traditional mechanical switches, aren’t as hot. They’re built well, but they’re too pricey to not be hot-swappable or lack the analog features of the 80HE. There isn’t much sound-dampening foam in either models, too, so neither sounds great. We like that both come with a carrying case, though.
The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid.
(Jeff Dunn for Engadget)
Keychron C3 Pro
The tenkeyless Keychron C3 Pro is the top budget pick in our mechanical keyboard guide, and it remains a great stand-in for the G.Skill KM250 RGB if you want to stay under $50. With its gasket mount design, internal foam and pre-lubed switches, it feels and sounds fuller to press. The base version we tested lacks hot-swappable switches and only has a red backlight, but Keychron has released a revised model that addresses that and add full RGB. That said, its ABS keycaps still feel cheaper and can develop a shine over time, plus there’s no volume knob. Some may find KM250’s smaller size more convenient for gaming, too.
A more recent update called the C3 Pro 8K does include PBT keycaps for $55; we’ll aim to test that one in the future.
Keychron Q1 HE
The Keychron Q1 HE is sort of an older version of the Lemokey P1 HE with the same magnetic switches and a similarly excellent aluminum chassis. Its double-gasket design, pre-lubed switches and layers of foam make it a joy for typing. But its gaming features rely on the same iffy software, while the stock keycaps are sculpted in a way that makes them trickier to press quickly. Those keycaps aren’t shine-through either, and the whole thing is more expensive, so there isn’t much reason to buy it over the P1 HE.
The Keychron Q1 HE.
(Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget)
Sony Inzone KBD-H75
The Sony Inzone KBD-H75 is another one that ticks most of the boxes we’re looking for. Its 75-percent frame is compact but not cramped. It looks plain, but it wouldn’t be out of place in an office. The metal top comes off as substantial — though the bottom is made of plastic — while the PBT keycaps are durable, with shine-through lighting. A gasket-mount design and some quality stabilizers help the typing experience feel and sound great. Presses have a nice clack, but they’re muted enough that they shouldn’t annoy anyone around you. The magnetic Hall effect switches let you customize actuation points and utilize a rapid trigger mode. General latency is excellent, and Sony’s Inzone Hub isn’t as fussy or obtuse as many companion apps in this market. There’s also a volume knob.
The problem is that all of this costs $300, and that’s a lot for a keyboard without wireless connectivity (or proper macOS support). Competitive gamers may not care about that, but for most others, there are better values out there. If you ever see this one on sale, however, it’s well worth a look, as the stock typing feel is a bit nicer than that of the Wooting 80HE.
Razer Joro
The Razer Joro is a decent choice if you want a portable scissor-switch keyboard instead of a bulky mechanical one. It’s essentially a “gamer” take on Apple’s Magic Keyboard, with a slick black finish, sturdy aluminum top plate, RGB lighting and SOCD support. The 75-percent layout is super low-profile and weighs just 0.8 pounds, so it’s extremely travel-friendly. The typing experience is stable, wonderfully quiet and comfortable for what it is — put it in a laptop and it’d be a standout. It all works across Windows, macOS, Android and iOS.
That said, it’ll never feel as cushy as a good mechanical board over extended sessions. The design is fixed at one flat angle, which some may find uncomfortable. The ABS keycaps aren’t great for something priced at $140, and while there is 2.4GHz wireless support, you need to buy a separate dongle to actually use it. Otherwise, you’re playing over Bluetooth, which adds latency, or a short USB-C cable. The Joro serves its niche well enough if you’re always on the road, but it’s a skip if you don’t game beyond your desk very often.
The Razer Joro (top) and Sony Inzone KBD-H75
(Jeff Dunn for Engadget)
Razer Huntsman V2 TKL
We previously recommended the Razer Huntsman V2 TKL as a mid-priced pick thanks to its light optical switches, crisp PBT keycaps and impressively muffled tone (with the linear-switch model, at least). Its lack of analog features make it a harder sell these days, though, and its keys wobble more than those on the Keychron V3 Max. It’s not hot-swappable, either. Beyond that, only the version with clicky switches — which sound uncomfortably sharp — is still in stock as of this writing.
Razer Huntsman V3 Pro
The Razer Huntsman V3 Pro is a line of wired analog keyboards that comes in 60 percent, TKL and full-size options. They have just about all the features we like on the Wooting 80HE, but their optical switches are noisier and more hollow-feeling.
The Razer Huntsman V2 TKL.
(Jeff Dunn for Engadget)
Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%
The BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% is Razer’s top-of-the-line wireless keyboard. It’s fully hot-swappable, with heavily textured PBT keycaps, a robust aluminum top case and a nifty OLED display. The tactile Razer Orange switches in our test unit consistently feel tight, the larger keys don’t really rattle and the RGB backlight shines through beautifully. It’s a good keyboard — but it’s just not luxurious enough to warrant its $300 price tag, especially since it lacks any sort of analog-style functionality. The stock switches are a little too sharp-sounding for our liking as well.
Razer Huntsman Mini
The Razer Huntsman Mini is a fine choice if you want a 60 percent keyboard and don’t need Wooting-style software tricks, with textured PBT keycaps, a sturdy aluminum top plate and the same fast optical switches we praised with the Huntsman V2 TKL. The 60HE+ is much more versatile, though, while the KM250 RGB is a more appealing value.
The Razer BlackWidow V4 75%.
(Jeff Dunn for Engadget)
ASUS ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless
The ASUS ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless (phew) is a strong alternative to the Apex Pro TKL if you want to go wireless. It’s a joy to type on, with superb sound dampening, pre-lubed ROG NX switches, an impressively sturdy case and stable, PBT-coated keys. It’s hot-swappable, its battery life rating is much higher than the Apex Pro TKL Wireless (90 hours with RGB on) and it has a multi-function key that puts volume, media and RGB controls in one place. At $170 or so, it’s usually much cheaper than our SteelSeries pick as well.
However, it doesn’t have the rapid trigger or custom actuation tricks of Hall effect keyboards like the Apex Pro TKL Wireless or Lemokey P1 HE, and ASUS’s Armoury Crate software is a bit of a mess. The Lemokey P1 HE’s all-metal design feels higher-end, too. But if you care about typing experience more than extra gaming-friendly features, this one is still worth looking into.
ASUS ROG Azoth
The ASUS ROG Azoth is like a smaller version of the ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless with a few more enthusiast touches, such as a gasket-mounted design — which gives keystrokes a softer feel — a programmable OLED display and a toolkit for lubing switches in the box. It’s exceptionally well-made by any standard, not just “for a gaming keyboard.” But its feature set still isn’t as flexible as the Wooting 80HE or SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless, which makes its $275 list price a tough ask. ASUS recently released a new model called the ROG Azoth X, though that one costs $300 and has a much louder aesthetic.
The ASUS ROG Azoth.
(Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget)
Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Keyboard
The 75 percent Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Keyboard is much better than its bland name suggests, with high-quality PBT keycaps, smooth linear switches (which are hot-swappable), wonderfully clean RGB lighting, a steady wireless connection and a rigid yet lightweight design. But it’s fairly loud, and at $200 there isn’t much reason to take it over the Lemokey P1 HE, which has a higher-quality design and more capable magnetic switches, or the ASUS Strix Scope II 96 Wireless, which offers a similarly pleasing typing experience at a slightly lower price. It’s worth considering if you see it on sale, though.
NZXT Function 2 and Function 2 MiniTKL
The full-size NZXT Function 2 and tenkeyless Function 2 MiniTKL are totally solid midrange options with fast optical switches and the ability to swap between two universal actuation points, but they’re let down by mediocre stabilizers on the larger keys.
The Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Keyboard.
(Jeff Dunn for Engadget)
NuPhy Air75 V2
The NuPhy Air75 V2 is a stylish wireless keyboard with a low-profile design. We’ve recommended it in our mechanical keyboard buying guide, as it’s an excellent choice if you want something that blends the flatter, compact shape of a laptop keyboard with the more tactile feel of mechanical switches. The design isn’t entirely ideal for gaming, though, as the wide keys can make it a little too easy to fat-finger inputs by accident and the stock keycaps aren’t shine-through. This is another one that recently received a refresh, though. NuPhy also sells a model with Hall effect switches. We’ll aim to test those for a future update.
Corsair K70 Max
The Corsair K70 Max is another one with magnetic switches, but trying to program its more advanced features through Corsair’s iCue software was a pain.
The NuPhy Air75 V2.
(Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget)
Corsair K70 RGB TKL
The Corsair K70 RGB TKL is a decent if basic midrange model, but it’s also on the noisy side compared to our top picks and it’s saddled with middling software.
Logitech G515 Lightspeed TKL
The Logitech G515 Lightspeed TKL is another low-profile model that generally feels comfortable and well-built, even if it’s entirely made of plastic. It’s a decent alternative to the NuPhy Air75 series, as it’s much quieter with its GL Tactile switches and comes with shine-through keycaps by default. However, those switches aren’t hot-swappable, and the board can’t connect to multiple devices simultaneously over Bluetooth. The low-profile shape still isn’t the best for gaming either, plus the stock keycaps aren’t quite as grippy as other PBT options we’ve used.
The Logitech G515 Lightspeed TKL.
(Jeff Dunn for Engadget)
Recent updates
September 2025: We’ve taken a sweep to make sure our picks are still accurate and added testing notes on a couple new keyboards in the Razer Joro and Sony Inzone KBD-H75.
February 2025: We’ve overhauled this guide with new picks: The Wooting 80HE is now our top recommendation overall, the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless (Gen 3) is our new “best wireless” option and the Lemokey P1 HE slots in as an honorable mention. We’ve also added notes on several more gaming keyboards we’ve tested since our last update, including Logitech’s G Pro X TKL Rapid and G515 Lightspeed TKL, Razer’s BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% and Alienware’s Pro Wireless Gaming Keyboard. Finally, we’ve made a few minor updates to our “What to look for in a gaming keyboard” section.
June 2024: We updated this guide with a new “traditional mechanical keyboard” pick, the Keychron V3 Max, plus a couple new honorable mentions and more notes on other gaming keyboards we’ve tried. Note that we’ve tested — and will continue to test — several other keyboards that aren’t explicitly marketed toward gaming, but we’ll direct you to our general mechanical keyboard buying guide for more info on those.
The right computer keyboard can make a big difference to how you work or play. Whether you’re typing reports, programming with complex macros or spending hours on a mechanical gaming keyboard, the right model can boost both comfort and efficiency. Some people prefer a compact layout for portability, while others want a full-size QWERTY board with a Numpad for data entry and spreadsheets.
From wireless options that keep your desk tidy to wired models built for low latency, there’s a wide range of designs, switches and features to choose from. In this guide, we’ve tested and rounded up the best keyboards for different needs so you can find the one that best fits your setup.
Table of contents
What to look for in a keyboard
Best keyboards for 2025
Logitech
Connectivity: Bluetooth and Logi Bolt USB receiver | Size: Full-size layout | Material: Plastic chassis with low-profile scissor switches | Switches: Scissor switches | Hot-swappable: No | Backlight: Yes, smart illumination with ambient light sensors | Software: Logi Options+
Logitech knows how to make a solid keyboard, and the Master series has been an excellent one over the past few years. The MX Keys S is the latest full-sized edition and it combines a low-profile design with comfortable keys and handy customization tools. It looks quite sleek in black, white or graphite, measuring just under 17 inches in width and only 0.8 inches high off your desk. Its spherically-dished keys cradle your fingertips every time you press, and while I wouldn’t go so far to say they totally prevented me from putting any typos in this guide, the shape definitely helps more than other, flatter keycaps I’ve used.
This is a backlit keyboard with “smart illumination,” which just means the backlight will kick on when your hands approach the board and adjust depending on the lighting in your environment. I have a decent amount of natural light in my home office during regular working hours, so I opted to turn the backlight off — if you do the same, you can get up to five months of battery life out of the MX Keys S (Logitech estimates 10 days with smart illumination on). The keyboard has a built-in USB-C port for charging as well.
In addition to the low-profile design that still includes a number pad, the biggest kickers for the MX Keys S are its wide compatibility and customizable features with Logi Options+. This peripheral works with Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Linux and iPadOS, and it has three device pairing buttons so you can connect it to up to three devices at once and switch between them as necessary. Logi Options+ is free software that many Logitech accessories use, and for the MX Keys S, it allows you to customize brightness levels and duration, set smart actions (one-key shortcuts you program to your liking) and more.
The Master Series also includes a “mini” version of this keyboard that nixes the number pad and $10 from the price tag. I’ve used that and enjoy it as well, but when you’re only saving $10, the full-sized version feels like a better value. Can you find cheaper wireless keyboards than either of these? Of course. But Logitech’s expertise in this space really shines in the Master series, and with the MX Keys S in particular as it stands out as a high-quality wireless keyboard with a bunch of extra features at a decent price. — Valentina Palladino, Deputy Editor
Pros
Good build quality
Comfortable typing experience
Logi Options+ provides a ton of customization options
Works across all major OSes
Cons
Not the cheapest keyboard out there
Not a big price difference between the full-sized version and the mini model without the number pad
Connectivity: Bluetooth and Logi Bolt USB receiver | Size: Compact (75% layout) | Material: Plastic frame with retro-style keycaps | Switches: Mechanical switches | Hot-swappable: No | Backlight: No | Software: Logi Options+
Logitech’s Pop Icon Keys takes a lot of notes from the Master series and translates them into a more fun (and cheaper) package. The $50 keyboard doesn’t include a number pad, but instead has a row on the right side that includes four buttons that you can customize using Logi Options+. I have mine programmed to activate macOS’ mission control, open the emoji keyboard and to move page up and down, respectively. But those aren’t the only buttons you can customize — 11 of the top function keys can also be programmed to your liking as well.
The Pop Icon keycaps have a slight indentation to them, though not as dramatic as those on the Master series keys, and the typing experience is a comfortable and quiet one overall. While this isn’t billed as a travel keyboard, it’s small enough to fit into a standard work bag or backpack, so you could take it with you without much hassle.
You can connect the Pop Icon keys to up to three devices at once and switch between them easily, and the keyboard supports macOS, Windows, Linux, Chrome, iPadOS, iOS and Android devices. Besides there being no option for a number pad configuration, arguably the biggest downside to this keyboard is the fact that it runs on two AAA batteries. Logitech estimates it will last up to three years before you need to replace them, so maybe that’s a pro for some rather than a con. I also appreciate that, when connected to a Mac computer over Bluetooth, you can still monitor the Pop Icon Keys’ battery life from the Bluetooth menu.
This is also a great price for a solid wireless keyboard. Logitech itself makes even cheaper ones, but the Pop Icon Keys strikes a good balance between design and capabilities at this price point. The biggest question, if you choose this keyboard, is which colorway you fancy the most out of the five options. — V.P.
The Ergo K860 from Logitech combines four helpful ergonomic features in a keyboard that operates much like any standard board. The Alice split shifts your elbows apart while keeping your forearms and wrists lined up. The tenting raises the keys upward in the middle, rotating your palms subtly toward one another. The optional negative tilt slopes the bottom edge above the top edge to keep the backs of your hands straighter. And there’s a palm rest built in, which some find more comfortable during long typing sessions.
Unlike other more aggressively ergonomic boards, there’s no learning curve here. Typing on the Ergo K860 feels a lot like typing on a standard set of keys. The low profile, scissor-switch keys are springy and easy to hit. You even get a ten-key number pad, navigation keys and arrow buttons, all of which make it a full-featured and familiar accessory. You can program the keys with Logitech’s software, but this will likely appeal most to those who just want a plug-and-play board for a Mac or PC setup. — Amy Skorheim, Senior Reporter
If you’re ready to make a serious commitment to increasing your ergonomics, I recommend the ZSA Voyager. I use it every day and, even though it’s not super portable, I brought it with me when I worked away from my home office for a week. But at first, it took me at least three weeks before I was comfortable typing on it. Not only will you need to reprogram the keys (and remember what they do), you’ll need to use your fingers in a different way than you’re used to. For one, your thumbs will do far more than just hit the spacebar. They’ll operate the return, shift, control and even layer buttons, depending on how you program the board.
But the ergonomic benefits are equally significant. The fully split board lets me open up my arms and chest. On days when I’m feeling particularly tight, I’ll put the two halves a full foot apart. Relocating the return, command and forward-delete key to the thumbclusters saves me from shifting my hands around the board and the layers function allows for far more functionality than a standard keyboard.
That said, it also adds to the security of my computer, making it all but impossible for other people to type with the Voyager. It comes with magnetic knobs for the center tenting feature, but I wish it came with the option to lift the middle a little higher. I created extra lift by adding rubber bumpers to the board, but for the price, it’d be nice not to have to MacGuyver it. Still, whenever I’m forced to use a regular keyboard, I feel like I’m toiling in the typing pool at Sterling Cooper. — A.S.
Pros
Ergonomic, fully split board
Programmable thumb cluster minimizes hand travel
Low profile, mechanical keys make typing easy
Compact size and clever key mapping keep your hands in the home position
The Keychron Q Max series doesn’t come cheap, but it has just about everything we want out of a high-end mechanical keyboard. Its full aluminum case is exceedingly sturdy, hefty and cool to the touch. While its PBT-coated keycaps are on the taller side, they have a lovely texture and are sculpted in a way that gently hugs your fingertips. There are multiple switch options available, all of which are hot-swappable, while a double gasket-mount design inside the keyboard gives each press a cushioned yet springy feel by default. Combined with several layers of foam, those presses have a delightfully poppy and even sound.
We tested the tenkeyless Q3 Max, but Keychron offers several other size and layout options as well. Each can connect over a wireless dongle, Bluetooth or USB-C and includes extra Windows- and Mac-specific keycaps in the box. There are still things to nitpick — there’s a faint bit of rattle to a couple of the larger keys; you can’t adjust the keyboard’s height; and Keychron’s one-year warranty is pretty short — but if you just want to buy a mechanical keyboard that delivers a premium experience from the jump, this will get you there. – Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter
Pros
Superb typing feel and sound
Premium aluminum case
Crisp PBT keycaps
Hot-swappable
Reliable wireless performance
Tons of layout options
Knob!
Cons
A bit pricey
Keycaps aren’t shine-through and may be too tall for some
We recommend the Keychron C3 Pro if you want to spend as little as possible for a delightful mechanical keyboard. It’s a stellar value at just under $50, with factory-lubricated switches, a gasket mount, multiple layers of internal foam and other touches we don’t usually see in this price range. The stabilizers avoid any aggressive rattling, and there’s none of the pinging noise you get from many cheaper cases. All of this helps feel comfortable for typing, while the tactile Brown switches in our test unit sound pleasantly clacky.
As with any budget keyboard, you have to make some sacrifices. It only works wired, for one, and the ABS keycaps feel slicker and cheaper than the best PBT caps. While the case doesn’t exhibit any serious flexing, it’s still made of plastic. You also need to pay $10 extra to get a version with RGB backlighting and hot-swappable switches — the base model is still a great buy for those looking to get into the hobby on the cheap, but it saddles you with a red-only backlight and prevents you from easily popping in new switches down the road. – J.D.
Pros
Inexpensive
Tremendous typing experience for the money
Programmable with software
Shine-through keycaps
Cons
ABS keycaps are a bit slick
Wired only
RGB lighting and hot-swappable switch cost a little bit extra
The Wooting 80HE is our favorite keyboard for gamers thanks to its magnetic Hall effect switches, which can respond to varying levels of pressure. This lets you customize the actuation point of each individual key, so you could make them more sensitive during quick-twitch shooting games or more deliberate when you just want to type. Another feature called rapid trigger lets you repeat inputs faster, without having to wait for a given key to return to a fixed reset point. That can be a real boon for, say, strafing back and forth more precisely during a 1v1 shootout in Overwatch. You can also tie multiple commands to one key: In Halo Infinite, for example, you could make it so lightly pressing W makes you walk more stealthily, while pressing it all the way down makes you run at full speed.
Does everyone need all of this? Of course not. Any keyboard can be a “gaming keyboard,” and nothing here will magically make you good at games. But for more hardcore types looking for any extra bit of granular control, they can make a tangible difference.
The 80HE isn’t the only keyboard to offer this set of tricks, but it stands out for getting the rest of the package right as well. Wooting’s Wootility software is best-in-class, making it particularly easy to tweak settings and customize the RGB lighting. You can save multiple control profiles directly to the device. And while the all-plastic case isn’t the highest-quality thing out there for $200, the stock hardware still feels and sounds pleasant, with crisp PBT keycaps, smooth pre-lubed switches and a pleasingly thocky tone. – J.D.
If you want the Wooting 80HE’s gaming-friendly features in a wireless keyboard, we like the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless (Gen 3). It offers most of the same adjustable actuation and rapid trigger tools as the 80HE, plus a “protection mode” that makes it harder to hit nearby keys by accident and preset profiles for some popular games. The typing experience is a plus as well, with crisp and easy-to-reach PBT keycaps, a sturdy aluminum top plate and smooth-feeling switches that are sufficiently muffled. There’s a magnetic wrist rest in the box, and the whole thing can connect over a wireless dongle, Bluetooth or USB-C.
Our main issues with the Apex Pro involve SteelSeries’ GG app. So much of the experience with these analog-style keyboards comes down to software, and GG is a bit less refined than Wootility across the board. At $270, the Apex Pro is definitely on the higher end of the price spectrum, too. Still, the app is easy enough to grok over time — especially compared to other gaming models we’ve used — and the board as a whole gets much more right than wrong. – J.D.
The first thing you’ll want to consider when it comes to your next computer keyboard’s design is size. There are a number of different keyboard layouts to choose from, but the most common are full-sized, tenkeyless and those smaller than tenkeyless.
Full-sized keyboards, or 100 percent, include a function row at the top and a complete numpad with arrow keys on the right side, along with all of the rest of the alphanumeric keys you’d expect on a standard QWERTY layout. Tenkeyless, or 80 percent, removes the number pad but keeps the arrow keys and the function row, reducing the overall width measurement of the board by a decent amount. Compact keyboards keep things ultra simple by including only the alphanumeric keys and modifiers like Alt, Shift, Ctrl and others and they come in different sizes like 60 percent, 65 percent and more. These are the most popular sizes out there, but you can find plenty of other designs that include different mixes of keys along with the standard letters and numbers all should have.
Aside from size, there are two other big categories that you could use to define a keyboard: ergonomic and mechanical. Ergonomic keyboards are designed with, you guessed it, better ergonomics in mind, taking into account where you should position your fingers, hands and forearms to maintain proper posture. Separately, mechanical keyboards use mechanical switches (of which there are many types) that differ greatly from the membrane or scissor-switch keyboards you’ll find dominating most wired and wireless options widely available today. We have guides to the best ergonomic keyboards and best mechanical keyboards, but we’ll summarize what you need to know about both here.
Ergonomic keyboards
If you deal with discomfort from working at a computer all day, ergonomic keyboards can help. These specially designed boards re-orient the keys, allowing you to hold your elbows farther apart and maintain a straighter line from your forearms to hands. Some people find this subtle change more comfortable.
Ergonomic keyboards typically fall into two categories: Alice and split keyboards. The former is a single unit with an A-shaped gap in the center of the keys. Split models come in two separate pieces which you can arrange as you like on your desk. Additional ergonomic features like tenting and negative tilt can make typing feel even more comfortable, and are often available on both Alice and split boards. Tenting raises the middle of the keys up so your hands take on more of a “handshake” position. Negative tilting lowers the top of the keyboard to keep your wrists angled downward instead of back towards your forearms.
The way the keys are arranged on the keyboard may make typing easier as well. Traditionally, keyboards are staggered, with one row of letters slightly offset from the row beneath it. Columnar keyboards arrange the keys in a grid of rows and columns. This style takes a little getting used to, but some people find it allows them to type faster. You can also make the keys of some keyboards do more than just produce letters. Programmable boards let you map shortcuts and other functions, including macros, which may keep you from reaching for the mouse quite so often, saving you time and possibly strain as well.
Mechanical keyboards
Mechanical keyboards have blown up in popularity as more people have been thrust into creating their own workspaces at home. It’s easy to see why: Compared to a traditional membrane keyboard, a good mechanical board is more durable, more satisfying to press and, most importantly, infinitely more customizable. The best of them usually come with a price premium, but even some cheaper models let you “hot-swap” between keycaps, switches and other materials, letting you tinker with different typing sensations and sound profiles until you find a combination that best expresses your preferences.
Do you want each press to feel deep and full or fast and light? Do you need them to sound loud and clacky or almost totally muffled? Do you prefer your keycaps to look subdued and professional, stuffed with RGB lights or written in an Elvish language from The Lord of the Rings for some reason? With the right new keyboard, it’s all up to you — the only things really holding you back are your imagination and your wallet.
We have a dedicated buying guide that digs deeper into the key aspects to consider when buying a mechanical gaming keyboard, so we encourage you to look at that for a full rundown. To keep things high-level, the most influential part of your purchase is your keyboard’s switch type. These little mechanisms slot underneath the keycaps and generally have the biggest effect on how your keyboard feels and sounds as you type away.
You can broadly separate mechanical switches into three buckets: linear, tactile and clicky. Linear switches feel smooth all the way down; they’re often popular with gamers since they tend to be light and fast to actuate. Tactile switches create a tangible “bump” sensation partway through a press; many people who spend all day typing prefer them because they clearly confirm each press without (always) being all that loud. Clicky switches are functionally similar to tactiles but make an audible “click” sound to match the bump; your coworkers may hate them, but others love the full-throated sense of feedback they provide. To be clear, just because two switches fall within the same bucket doesn’t mean they feel or sound exactly the same. The only way to figure out which switch works best for you is to do your research and, preferably, try some out for yourself.
Other keyboards have a mechanical-style feel but are built on different mechanisms entirely. The hot new trend in gaming-focused keyboards, for example, is Hall effect switches, which use tiny magnets to register keystrokes and let you customize the sensitivity of each press. Optical switches, meanwhile, offer similar functionality by replacing the physical contact point of a typical mechanical switch with a beam of infrared light. More recently, we’ve seen a couplekeyboards launch with inductive switches, which can work like magnetic switches but use inductive coils in the keyboard’s printed circuit board (PCB) to cater to all switches collectively and don’t require a sensor for each individual switch. We touch on a couple of magnetic-switch keyboards in our picks below, but for a fuller breakdown of this sort of tech, we recommend you check out our dedicated buying guide to the best gaming keyboards.
Connectivity
You’ve got two options here: wired or wireless. Wired keyboards typically have an attached cable that plugs into a USB-A or USB-C port on your computer (or docking station), although some come with cables that can be removed. Wireless mechanical keyboards connect to your machine either via Bluetooth or a wireless receiver dongle. There’s always the chance of some latency with wireless keyboards, so keep that in mind if you’re picking one up to use primarily with a gaming PC. Of course, you’ll only have to worry about battery life with Bluetooth keyboards.
A new pro-level keyboard is making its way into the gaming sphere. From the global leaders of gaming and PC peripherals, Logitech introduces the Logitech G PRO X 60 LIGHTSPEED Gaming Keyboard, its newest model of a heavy-duty gaming keyboard that will surely upscale your every gameplay.
The PRO X 60 boasts a remarkable 60 percent keyboard form factor, a first-of-its-kind from Logitech. It offers more space for dynamic mouse movements compared to TKL and full-size keyboards. It easily adapts to most setups and is the perfect choice for gamers who need a keyboard that is both portable and efficient for on-the-go gaming.
To maximize control within its compact frame, Logitech has pioneered an innovative feature called KEYCONTROL. This technological breakthrough allows users to assign up to 15 various shortcuts and combinations per key.
This user-friendly tool provides quick access to any commonly used command, macros, and audio and lighting effects, allowing tasks to be streamlined and tailored specifically per the user’s needs.
The LIGHTSYNC RGB grants users the ability to individually customize every key’s colors from approximately 16.8 million brilliant, programmable colors with dual-shot PBT keycaps allowing these colors to shine through flawlessly.
The PRO X 60 also features the high-performing LIGHTSPEED wireless, designed for strong connectivity even under difficult environments in addition to Bluetooth and USB compatibility. Its upgraded software now supports 2:1 pairing with a PRO gaming mouse as well as game mode control for top-tier experience.
Select your preferred colorway from the three available options — White, Black, and Magenta — and choose between two GX Optical Switches configurations, either tactile and linear.
These upgraded switches boast faster and more precise actuation, coupled with increased durability, surpassing standard mechanical switches.
The PRO X 60 was collaboratively engineered with and for top Esport athletes worldwide. It delivers exceptional performance and precision designed to meet the ever-evolving demands of professional gamers.
With a host of new and highly customizable functions, it seamlessly complements any play style and personal preferences, ensuring an unparalleled gaming experience.
Experience gaming at its finest with the Logitech G PRO X 60 LIGHTSPEED Gaming Keyboard, priced at PHP10,955.
To learn more about this revolutionary keyboard and elevate your gaming setup, visit the official Logitech website and official Facebook Page.
