Corsair has a long history of making quality gaming accessories and peripherals. Its latest at-bat is the K60 line of mechanical keyboards. And at the top of that line is the new K60 RGB Pro Low Profile. But do lower switches make for a better typing experience under review? Boasting Cherry MX RGB Low Profile Speed mechanical key switches and a brushed aluminum frame, Corsair is hoping this will be the last keyboard you’ll need to buy for a while.
Coming in at $109.99, the K60 RGB Pro Low Profile isn’t exactly cheap, but does nestle right into that sweet spot for quality mechanical keyboards without completely breaking the bank. From the second you get your hands on it, you can tell where that money went. Solid construction with quality switches makes for a delightful typing experience.
Out of the Box
The first thing you’ll be apt to notice is the weight. The whole frame is made out of brushed aluminum. This is a major improvement, both in terms of look and feel, over the plastic chassis used in a lot of consumer keyboards. The design adds significant heft to the whole piece, just under two pounds total. It gave me confidence that the keyboard wouldn’t ever slip around under my hands. Additionally, there are rubber feet on each corner of the board, but also at the end of each riser, which is a nice little touch. Basically, no matter what way you set up your keyboard, it won’t move much.
Rubber feet and solid construction will keep this keyboard from shifting around while in use. Credit: Corsair.
Corsair’s K60 RGB Pro Low Profile feels incredibly well constructed and should last you years to come. The aluminum frame refuses to buckle under pressure. No matter how hard you type, you shouldn’t ever have to deal with any deck flex.
The Keys to your heart
Not that you should have to type particularly hard. The Cherry MX RGB Low Profile Speed mechanical key switches require barely a breath to activate. The speed at which you can type is only restricted by how fast you can move your fingers between keys. Each switch has only a 1mm actuation distance, a fancy term for when your press registers, and only takes 45 grams of force to press. Right out of the box I was able to type at around 80 words per minute, even with the unfamiliar feel of the new keyboard.
Credit: Corsair.
For typing, that can be a dream, depending on your accuracy, but it can be a challenge when gaming. Resting your hands too heavily on your default keys can result in accidental presses. It’s not too much of a problem in most action games like Call of Duty: Warzone. But if you’re playing something that takes a bit more precision, like League of Legends, it can result in your spells going off prematurely — which I swear has never happened to me before.
Accepted everywhere
Arguably the best feature of the K60 RGB Pro Low Profile is the adjustable aesthetics. With just a couple of keypresses, you can transform the whole thing from a bright and colorful cacophony of light-up patterns, to a restrained, matte black beauty that would fit right in on any office desk. You can turn off the RGB features entirely with the optional software, or you can restrain it to only lighting up individual keys as you press them, which looks quite nice.
Credit: Corsair.
Each key is entirely customizable, so if you’re playing a MOBA you can light up just the keys you want to focus on. Using the ICue software, you can tie your profiles to individual programs, so your RGB, with a little work, always fits the task at hand. You can even tie the RGB to the performance of your PC. By setting individual thresholds, you can have your keyboard warn you if your system is getting too hot.
Personally, I settled on the type lighting effect, which ripples color out from each press you make. Changing between the default RGB profiles is as simple as pressing the Fn key with a number, allowing you to do it on the fly. Adjusting the brightness of the RGB effects can also be done with just a couple of key presses.
Hush now
The low profile Cherry switches are fairly quiet as well, so your office mates shouldn’t have much cause to complain noise-wise about your mechanical keyboard’s clicks and clacks. Which is great considering how quickly you can type on this baby. The K60 also boasts full key rollover with 100% anti-ghosting, so you’ll never miss a press. This optional ICue software lets you further customize your experience, which options such as locking out alt-tab, alt-F4, and shift-tab, so you’ll never accidentally remove yourself from a game in the heat of the moment. The software also allows you to create custom macros, but the keyboard itself lacks any dedicated macro buttons.
RGB functions can be turned off for a more professional look. Credit: Corsair.
Gripes
Which actually leads to one of my only real problem with the K60 Low Profile: the lack of dedicated spare keys. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a small issue and can easily be rectified by upgrading to the K100, but I never realized how much I would miss dedicated volume buttons until I didn’t have them. This is not to say that the K60 lacks media buttons. It has them, but they are controlled with a combination of the Fn key and the corresponding F key. It’s not the end of the world, by any means. But with the Fn key being located at the bottom right of the keyboard, instead of the typical left, it becomes just enough of a hassle to be annoying.
My last complaint is the lack of any kind of wrist rest. I get that the keyboard looks much cleaner without it, but I’m at the stage of my life where my creaky wrists prefer ergonomics over a tidy-looking keyboard. Considering the cheaper K60 RGB Pro SE comes with a detachable rest, it would have been a nice inclusion.
The final press
Personal problems aside, I really can’t find much fault with the K60 Low Profile. The whole board is a masterclass in design and restraint. While I do wish that it had a few more keys or a palm rest of some kind, none of those issues really diminish the experience in any significant way. If you’re in the market for an affordable mechanical keyboard with all the fancy RGB settings, I couldn’t imagine a much better alternative. The Corsair K60 RGB Pro Low Profile mechanical keyboard is on sale now for $109.99.
All prices are listed in USD.
Credit: Corsair.
Published: Oct 19, 2020 03:00 pm