Corsair K70 PRO RGB Optical-Mechanical Gaming Keyboard – OPX
Corsair K70 PRO RGB Optical-Mechanical Gaming Keyboard – OPX Linear Switches, PBT Double-Shot Keycaps, 8,000Hz Hyper-Polling, Magnetic Soft-Touch Palm Rest – UK Layout, QWERTY – White
DETACHABLE BRAIDED USB TYPE-C CABLEMakes the K70 PRO easy to set up and ready to take on the go.
” data-position=”triggerHorizontal” />DEDICATED MEDIA KEYS AND VOLUME ROLLEREasily control your media at the push of a button, while the signature CORSAIR aluminum roller smoothly adjusts volume levels and is fully programmable in iCUE software to perform custom actions.
” data-position=”triggerHorizontal” />MAGNETIC, SOFT-TOUCH PALM RESTSeamlessly snaps onto the keyboard, with a soft-touch patterned surface for grip and comfort during the longest gaming sessions.
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| Weight: | 1.12 kg |
| Dimensions: | 44.4 x 16.6 x 4 cm; 1.12 Kilograms |
| Brand: | Corsair |
| Model: | CH-910951A-UK |
| Colour: | White |
| Manufacture: | Corsair |
| Dimensions: | 44.4 x 16.6 x 4 cm; 1.12 Kilograms |
Used mainly for gaming and general usage, and it is really nice so far. I don’t have a bad word to say about it and it is worth the rather high price.
Was looking for a keyboard replacement, as my old cherry mx blue board had started double pressing some keys after many years of hard service. I wanted a full size replacement without macro keys and cherry mx blue switches. This fits the bill perfectly, and I got a good deal on an open box item via Amazon warehouse.
My only minor complaint is that because of the metal
backplate the keys make a metallic noise when bottomed out, it’s not too intrusive and you soon get used to it though. I’m sure you could dampen the noise with some light modification if it really bothered you.
Great keyboard overall.
Nice switches with great sounds.
Comes with textiled keys for Q,W,E,R,A,S,D,F with different height and angels to help with hand positioning.
Keyboard is quite large with the wrist rest. This my first keyboard with a wrist rest and I have appreciated it being there.
The keyboard has a great media player allowing you to pause/play and go back to the previous or skip to the next track. The media player also functions for YouTube except the previous/next funtion.
Great LED options with brightness and pattern buttons. LEDs are also fully customizable via the ICUE software.
I keep the keyboard in rainbow mode, where the colors shift with a nice pattern.
Overall is a good quality, though for fast typing – I use it for both work and gaming – it can occasionally happen that a key is repeated twice (reason for the 4 stars).
It quite configurable with the iCue software and allows you to create macros and define the lighting you prefer.
It’s a very standard UK keyboard layout (hence the ‘average’ score for Ergonomics) without too many extra things to get in the way (media control & volume controls are present and nicely unobtrusive). I generally prefer laptop style (very low profile) keyboards so this was the closest thing to really low profile that I could find with the right features and it works just great for me. The switches are fast and silent (that doesn’t mean it’s a silent keyboard as you still hear the tap of the keys bottoming out unless you type very carefully – it just means that the switches under the keys don’t make a click when activated/pressed) and the RGB lighting is bright (and adjustable) with nice rich colours.
While Corsair’s iCue software is available for both Microsoft and Apple operating systems (and I have used it without issues on Windows7/10 and Mac) it is a little bit weird in operation. It does the job though. Support for Linux is a bit more tricky – the keyboard works just fine of course but the software to drive/configure the backlighting is a bit old and clunky.
Overall though, it’s a good solid keyboard with dependable switches and pretty lights and that’s exactly what I wanted.
Firstly, I initially ordered this from Amazon Warehouse “like new”, but the keyboard I received was faulty. It was like someone was pressing every key on the keyboard simultaneously and my PC was going crazy as a result. So I ordered a new one which worked fine. Just a heads up on buying returned electronics. They don’t seem to be tested beforehand. To be fair though, Amazon customer service is great when this kind of thing happens and if you’re lucky you could end up getting a great deal.
As for the product itself, this is my first mechanical keyboard. I came from a Microsoft Sidewinder X4 keyboard which I’ve had for many years. It took me a few days to get used to this new one as the keys are so sensitive. This is understandable considering these are speed switches, but after that initial break in period I’m now typing faster than I was before. Some other reviews mention that they make lots of typos and this will probably happen if you are someone that rests your fingers on the keys with any kind of force at all. I have to emphasise how little the keys need to be pressed to activate them. So keep that in mind. For me it’s great.
I also like the low profile aspect of this. I was fortunate to be able to try the full sized version of the K70 as my dad has one, and I wasn’t a fan of how tall the keys are. The low profile keys allow my wrists to stay a bit more neutral which is more comfortable for me. The wrist rest is plastic but has a nice slightly rubberised texture on it.
For gaming, it’s great as well. With the keys actuating so easily it’s not tiring on my fingers at all. Another improvement over my old keyboard.
I find the software perfectly fine as well. It lets you customise the colour of every key, and to save 6 profiles. That’s 3 software profiles (which can be used only when Corsair’s iCue software is running) and 3 hardware profiles which are saved to the onboard memory of the keyboard. That’s nice for people don’t like having additional software running in the background all the time.
Bought this to replace my STRAFE, and they’re almost identical keyboard apart from the fact that the top keys (escape, F1-F12 etc) are a smidge lower, there’s a volume wheel which is very handy, and there’s no edge to the backplate. No edge on the backplate makes this keyboard infinitely easier to clean, because it can’t actually get stuck under anything but the keys – just pop the keys off to clean and you’ve got full access.
If you’re buying because you want to upgrade from Cherry MX Reds to Cherry MX Speed Silvers, I’d say don’t bother. In comparison, typing is just flat slightly more difficult as its much easier to mis-click letters on the way due to the lower actuation height, same for mis clicking in-game. The lower height doesnt really affect click speed though, so there’s no reason to get Speed Silvers these instead of MX Reds.
As a benchmark, I can type about 90-100 wpm on MX Reds, and after a month of owning this I’m about 5wpm slower just because mis-types are more common.
Same keycaps as my old STRAFE, and those wore out on the common letters to be illegible within 2 years, so I dare say the same will happen with these too.
TL;DR
Easy to clean, MX Silvers are ok but MX Reds would be better, no major complains.
Corsair have taken everything that made the Mk1 great, and improved upon it in many ways. The font lettering is bolder, which allows for more light bleedthrough on the keycaps, making for better illumination, The build quality is still outstanding, there’s now a dedicated profile switch button, there’s USB passthrough, cable managing tunnels, and last but not least, a light-up Corsair logo! Best of all, the software makes this a plug-n-play experience (If you’ve previously owned a K70 RGB), just plugged straight into my main PC, and the software applied all my lighting, macros and profile settings that I’ve been using on my Mk1 K70 RGB.
I, along with my many friends who also use K70 RGBs, completely swear by it. I honestly cannot recommend this keyboard enough, it is the best bang-for-your-buck in the market of mechanical RGB keyboards
This is my very first mechanical keyboard after the Corsair K30 – a cheap but solid membrane keyboard. I had a choice to make, either this or the Pro Apex. I chose this mainly because it was on sale at the time (110) and this was actually the highest rated keyboard generally across the internet for a couple years straight too. I didn’t need macro keys as I never used them in my previous keyboard at all so I decided to stick to this Corsair K70 instead of the K95. If you do need the extra macro keys, I’d recommend you get the K95.
I tried the Steelseries Apex Pro at a friends house and each key press on it felt beautiful – the keyboard itself looks so clean and professional. The little OLED screen is a nice little personalized touch but for a solid 200 I couldn’t bring myself to buy it. This K70 was half the price for me and the deal was just too good to pass up, though I can see why you would want to buy the Omnipoint switches on the Steelseries.
Cherry MX is a respected switch maker amongst some other brands so you should feel comfortable with the K70, though BE CAREFUL as the blue switches have some quality control issues. Also, before buying look into whether you want a “linear” or a “tactile” switch.
The software for Corsair RGB works well (unlike the Razer Chrome stuff.. stay well away for your own good, trust me) and it feels good to use. I’ve given it a clear 5 stars. I’m more than happy at the discounted price I got it for. Just know you can literally build your own keyboard for cheaper but if you just want a good quality, straight up plug-n-play keyboard without all the hassle, I can easily recommend this. If money is no object and you don’t mind experimenting to find your “true” actuation depth, go for the Steelseries Pro Apex.
Hope this helps. If you found this helpful, please hit the “HELPFUL” button below. It’ll really help me too. 🙂
I love this keyboard; it’s used for my gaming PC and the construction is only matched by the software. The mechanical keys sound and feel great to use, the palm rest is comfortable for me and can be detached, I like having the use of a keypad, the volume and media controls are a nice quality-of-life improvement, the cables are firm, threaded and durable, and allows for a USB passthrough, so I have my little bluetooth dongle in the back of the keyboard. After almost a year of usage, I cleaned it out, which was a long – but easy – process thanks to the keycap puller included.
Corsair’s lighting / control software – iCue – can be a little unintuitive at first. You create lighting or macro assignments and *then* assign them to keys, rather than click your key and then set what you want to do. It’s predicated on the idea of building up a ‘library’ of lighting sets and actions and then re-using them. Once I got used to it I can use it pretty fluidly, and I really like the results. I can set keypress reassignments or macros (for example, I set some buttons to ‘toggle’ an action on and off rather than hold), and colour code my keyboard lights depending on game to act as action reminders – blue keys are movement, red keys are attacks, yellow keys are user interface, et cetera. Profiles can be assigned to applications and the colour change over between active applications is instant.
The only complaints I would have is that some darker colours, like browns and dark reds, don’t show up very well. The media control keys cannot be removed with the keycap puller, meaning they are the only keys that can’t be cleaned so easily (but are also, because of how they’re built and infrequency of use) less likely to receive dirt, and that it is very difficult and buggy to assign lighting ‘hardware profiles’ that get saved to the keyboard itself; however, this only effects you when you are just starting up the computer before iCue starts, or using it on a computer without icue.
Overall a great keyboard made better by great software.
So in my search for a new keyboard my goals where to get one with back lighting and better ergonomics. I am not particularly interested in RGB so plain white would have been enough.
And then I ended up with the Corsair K70. Why you might ask? Well I have read and viewed so many reviews of cheaper back light keyboards but there were always compromises: not full size, having back light but still poor ergonomics, poor driver support or quality.
The Corsair K70 keyboard solved all of these things: the back light is really good and it can be adjusted with the touch of a button. I really love the button that can turn off the windows key (so no more sudden return desktop in the heat of a game), it has full media buttons with a solid feeling volume control rod (?). The keyboard software take a bit to get used to but after that you can program every button to whatever colour you prefer and to swap you just have to press one button. This is great for games or programs where you want to highlight the important keys.
Then we get to the point of the feedback of the keys and the build quality. This is absolutely brilliant and I regret not moving earlier to a much higher standard before. The keys give proper feedback but the sound is not overwhelming.
All in all I highly recommend this keyboard; you will not regret it 🙂
I decided to go for this keyboard for two main reasons:
1. I wanted a wrist rest (The wrist rest accessory for the K68 has been out of stock for a good while now and I couldn’t find on anywhere else).
2. I wanted a quicker response switch for the fast pace games I play – My reaction time is not the best, so the quicker switches allow me to react quicker than I could before.
To keep this review short, here is my list of pros and cons of this keyboard:
Pros:
1. Great RGB (no need to download software) – there is a built-in selection of RGB modes but if you want more customisation you have to download the iCUE software.
2. Switches are quick and responsive
3. Sturdy build – no flexing when pressing down on keys
4. Included textured keycaps (WASD) and keycap removal tool are a welcome addition.
5. Volume wheel – Is great for quickly adjusting the volume
Cons:
1. Sharp corners
2. Personal one – some of the keycaps had fallen off in the packaging – they were pressed up against the switches – luckily neither the keycaps or switch were broken and this was most likely down to poor packaging and inspection.
In conclusion, I found this keyboard to be great for my use case. The typing experience is also great with a good amount of space between the keycaps. If you are in the market for some quicker switches then this keyboard is the one for you.
At the end of the day, the most important thing to consider when buying a keyboard is to consider the switch type and what you personally like – if you can, it is recommended to physically try each of switches in computer shop so you can get an idea of the switch for you.
Purchased this because I wanted a mechanical keyboard with decent switches and a bit off heft to it.
As with all Corsair products it comes well packaged in a distinctive and colourful box, included with the keyboard where some extra textured keys for first person shooter and moba games plus a key remover.
I was immediately impressed with the quality of the keyboard – from the weight of it to the chunky braided cable and the way it lit up when first plugged in.
You will need to install the Corsair iQue software to manages the illumination side of things – this takes a bit of getting used to but provides a lot of options. You can basically set every key to the colour you want if you so desire. Plus you have a bunch of light effects.
Tbh I’m not sure how you would get any typing done if you had the full fireworks display of colours going – far too distracting.
I have just set a few accent colours. You can have a few different presets too depending on what you are doing.
The keyboard has a usb pass through which I plug the single for my wireless mouse into.
I really like the audio controls a really nice tactile roller for volume plus play, pause etc dedicated keys.
The keys themselves have a great tactile feel as you would expect from cherry.
My one complaint is the decision to put the shift character label underneath the main character label – I mean why do this? I can’t understand the reasoning 99.9% of the worlds keyboards have the shift character over the main, why do this it’s just confusing.
OK, that’s not really fair! First off, the keys on this feel absolutely fantastic. I use this as my daily driver for office work and typing, never gamed on it and never will on this PC in this location. It’s permanently in my dock for my laptop. The keyboard chassis is black anodised alumminium and feels super premium. I don’t use the wrist-wrest as I can type properly without out, but each unto their own there. As a keyboard in of itself them, it’s great, and I can’t see me ever wanting or needing to change it, and if I did, I’d probably get the same.
As for the lighting, it’s as flexible and out-there as you want it to be. iCue is a pretty neat but of software, gets some stick, but learn to use it and it’s fine. I downloaded some pre-done profiles for things like halloween, christmas etc., along with some movie-related stuff. But, my go-to is a simple red glow, with a white type lighting effect that spreads out from the key you just pressed. Very subtly, very effective.
If you want a low-profile laptop-style mechanical keyboard with a solid feel, great effects, and genuinely nice volume scroller, and media keys, you could do a lot worse than this. Perhaps the most telling test is pressing the space bar. In most keyboards the space bar rattles and sounds different – worse, in most cases. In this case, while the sound isn’t exactly the same as a normal key, it is MUCH better and closer in sound and feel that most others. If that’s also important to you, again, something to consider in its favour.
This is a stunning keyboard. In 2016 I had another Corsair Keyboard (the Corsair STRAFE). that was a nice keyboard but I found that I was constantly mis-typing as I found the keys are very high and you had to push down a long way to type the key. I am not used to this so never got on with it and sold it. Then I recently learned about this low profile keyboard with Corsair’s Speed keys and thought I would give it a go. I have to say now I own this I would never go back to a normal keyboard, this Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 Low Profile keyboard with speed keys looks stunning, has very bright back light making it easy to see the keys and has a lovely light action and you don’t have to push the keys down half a mile!
As much as I love this keyboard, I have to say that I find Corsair’s decision to switch the position of keys with symbols on them baffling! The /? key for example, every other keyboard in the world has the / at the bottom and ? at the top, so you push shift to get ? however for some bizarre reason Corsair seem to think that is wrong! they have the / at the top and ? at the bottom! I find it very hard to understand this, makes no sense at all. However it would not stop be from buying the keyboard as it is perfect in all other areas.
I can’t think of much else negative to say about it, if pushed the only other minor point is that the volume wheel does not work when rolled slowly, you have to roll it at a certain speed or nothing happens.