I’ve been using Corsair’s K70 MK2 keyboard for at least a year now, but I’ve never written about it until now. Since there’s been a lot of time since I started using it, I have been able to tell what I like and don’t like about it. So this week, I’ll be writing about my experience using the keyboard for things like games, but also general use.
First, I’ll mention that the model I have uses Cherry’s MX Speed or Silver switches which are have the lightest and fastest actuation out of the Cherry switches. That come’s with some pros and cons, but I’ll get to that later. The Speed switches are also linear switch which means its a straight up and down switch with no tactile bumps or clicks.
Some of the nice things I found with the Speed switches is that my finger’s didn’t get as tired compared to when I was using my old keyboard which was membrane. Especially for things like osu!, not having to press as hard to actuate the key was a pretty big plus. I still bottom out the keys a lot when I play, but if I have to press the keys really fast, I sometimes won’t actually press the key all the way down and the switch still actuates. In general, the switches just make it easier on your fingers while using them.
However, one thing that I don’t really like about the Speed switches is that the short actuation distance makes it really easy to accidentally press other keys. Sometime’s I’ll just be resting my hands on the keyboard, but I’ll accidentally hold down a key without even noticing. This also makes making typos really easy while typing, and can be kind of frusturating at times.
In terms of the build quality of the keyboard, it uses an aluminum frame and smooth ABS plastic keycaps. The aluminum frame gives it a good weight, and the cable is pretty thick and durable. The ABS keycaps aren’t the best though and started getting a bit shiny after a few weeks. Still, I think it’s still a lot better than what I used to use.
Some of the extra features the keyboard comes with include RGB lighting, macros, and multimedia buttons. To be honest, most of the times I just use the white colour for most of my keys. For a few games, I’ll only light up the keys I use for that game, but otherwise I don’t really do any other customization. I also never use the macro feature since there isn’t a whole lot I need them for. The multimedia buttons aren’t really too useful either since I can just use the arrow keys, although, I do use the volume wheel quite often. The keyboard also comes with a plastic wrist rest, but I personally don’t use it.
Overall, the keyboard has done me quite well in the past couple years. It’s definitely a lot better than my past keyboards, but there’s a pretty big difference between how well it performs playing games and during normal use. I’d say the biggest plus for me is just how light the keys are, but other than that, it’d probably be better to have some sort of tactile bump for typing. However, I don’t really feel that big of a need to upgrade yet. If I were to though, I’d definitely want to try building my own custom keyboard instead of a prebuilt one.