Alienware Pro Wireless keyboard review: Just shy of greatness

Price When Reviewed

$199.99

Best Prices Today: Alienware Pro Wireless keyboard

I’ve reviewed dozens and dozens of keyboards over a few years, and but I don’t suppose I’ve ever seen the market as aggressive as it’s in the mean time. And if there’s one phase that’s significantly scorching, it’s this very particular one: 75% mechanical boards, aimed toward avid gamers, with a soupçon of options from high-end {custom} boards thrown in. It’s so scorching that even Dell, by the use of its gaming sub-brand Alienware, desires in on this motion.

The Alienware Pro Wireless Keyboard is a critical contender on this admittedly hyper-specific class. It has so much going for it, together with a compact and classy physique, dual-function wi-fi, glorious switches, and stable typing. Unfortunately its good {hardware} is let down by half-baked software program, a tune we’ve all heard earlier than, and the excessive value might dissuade in any other case excited patrons.

Further studying: Best wireless gaming keyboards

Alienware Pro Wireless Keyboard design

Alienware-branded keyboards are nothing new, however in comparison with the sub-brand’s elaborate desktops and laptops, they’ve felt like an afterthought. Like their Dell cousins, they have been merely the stuff you bought with a brand new laptop buy, nothing to be sought out on their very own. Even costly fashions just like the Tri-Mode Wireless Gaming Keyboard provided little that wasn’t already discovered elsewhere available in the market in a greater bundle.

Michael Crider/Foundry

The Pro Wireless Keyboard, together with the Pro Wireless Mouse, looks like Alienware’s try and take its peripherals to a brand new stage. Allegedly designed with enter from over 100 professional avid gamers with the long-running Team Liquid name-dropped, this board is aimed squarely on the professionals…with the standard enchantment to basic customers tagging alongside for the journey. On high of that, just a few good touches from the {custom} keyboard world assist spherical out the design.

And the design is actually rounded. The switches of the keyboard pop proper out of an aluminum deck that softly curves right down to a plastic decrease physique, pleasantly contrasting with the extra angular and aggressive strains of most mechanical keyboards. This floating swap setup, together with eschewing the development of a devoted quantity knob, makes the board really feel severely compact. In phrases of pure dimensions it’s not truly that a lot smaller than different 75% boards just like the BlackWidow V4 Pro, however the rounded physique makes it really feel smaller within the hand, as if it’s prepared and keen to return alongside in your bag.

Michael Crider/Foundry

Other selections lend an identical really feel. The Wireless Pro comes with a USB Type C dongle, nonetheless a rarity even amongst high-end equipment, indicating that Alienware desires you to make use of this with the most recent laptops and desktops. The dongle disappears right into a spring-loaded cubby gap within the physique, a really good contact. The wi-fi setup gives fast switching between the two.4GHz dongle and as much as three Bluetooth units. This makes it a keen companion for tablets and different cellular devices, although “true” avid gamers could be loath to tolerate Bluetooth’s greater wi-fi latency. It’s a bit on the heavy aspect at 29 ounces (.82 kilograms), which I’m placing right down to that curved aluminum deck and a huge inner battery. Alienware claims 72 hours of full-brightness RGB gaming, or almost 800 hours — greater than a month — with the lights off and a couple of.4GHz mode lively.

While we’re speaking about portability, take a gander beneath the physique. Here you see the curvy theme continued with a comparatively enormous angled shelf, which I’m guessing is housing the battery, and single-stage ft that fold out at an angle for higher stability. There’s a protracted silicone strip that runs virtually your complete width of the keyboard on the base, which I used to be advised is there to maintain the factor from sliding round. That does assist, I suppose…although just a little testing doesn’t present it as noticeably higher than smaller pads. It appears that in keyboards, as in life, it’s not sensible to correlate large ft with higher efficiency.

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Other options of the board are borrowed from the semi-custom designs which have change into so well-liked, inside the gaming house and with out. The Pro Wireless comes with some glorious switches pre-installed (extra on them later), however you’ll be able to swap them out to any MX-standard design if you want. And although the physique isn’t meant to be taken aside and customised as indicated by an enormous quantity of imposing Torx screws, inside are twin layers of vibration-absorbing foam. Alienware additionally gives the board in white or black to match your battlestation aesthetic, although I feel the white actually reveals off its extra-bright RGB LEDs to the most effective impact.

Speaking of aesthetics: word that this board has a non-standard configuration on the underside row of keycaps, with completely different sizes for the Ctrl, Win, and Alt keys on the left. That’ll make discovering a alternative set of keycaps much more difficult than with a “standard” 75% board — you’ll additionally must account for the shortened Shift key and 1x modifiers on the precise aspect.

How is the Alienware Pro Wireless for typing and gaming?

Typing on the Pro Wireless feels good. Shockingly good, in reality, contemplating the transient experiences I’ve had with earlier Alienware-branded designs. The keyboard is obtainable with solely Red switches, equipped by Alienware and pre-lubed from the manufacturing unit. I’m sure that Dell is sourcing them from one other firm like Kailh or Gateron, however their clear plastic our bodies (full with an added lens to boost the keyboard’s LEDs) are unbranded.

Michael Crider/Foundry

Wherever they arrive from, the “Alienware linear” reds are glorious. They’re not the most effective switches I’ve ever used, however they’re nicely above the usual for gaming boards, providing super-light and easy operation. Integrating the physique and the keyboard deck makes for zero flex within the switches, which feels fairly good to me, although you would possibly suppose it’s just a little stiff in the event you’re used to a plastic tray or gasket mount. Combined with the stable, foam-filled physique, PBT keycaps, and above-average stabilizers on the lengthy keys, prolonged classes of writing on the Pro Wireless are nice and comfy.

Ditto for gaming classes. In lengthy performs by means of Cyberpunk 2077 and Far Cry 5 I discovered that the quick and responsive setup was particularly good for first-person video games. Here’s the place the stable stabilizers on the house bar and left-side Shift key made an enormous distinction versus different gaming boards. The super-long battery life was additionally appreciated, as I want to sport untethered, and I don’t have the super-human notion essential to detect a distinction between taking part in with the cable and the two.4GHz dongle. If, in reality, there’s a distinction in any respect.

Michael Crider/Foundry

Despite Alienware’s declare that this board is for professional avid gamers at the start, it walks a powerful tightrope between being good for play and sensible for work, one thing I at all times admire in a keyboard. I admire its lack of a wrist relaxation considerably much less, particularly at this value — I needed to provide my very own fairly shortly to stay comfy.

How is the software program?

If the Pro Wireless is Alienware’s try and carry itself as much as extra specialised competitors like Razer, Corsair, and Cooler Master, then its software program is displaying simply how arduous that may be. None of the software program driver packages for gaming equipment are significantly nice, with just a few like Asus Armoury Crate being downright dreadful. Alienware’s “Command Center” isn’t fairly that dangerous, however it’s positively on the decrease finish of the spectrum.

First of all, it always calls for that I set up the Dolby Access app from the Microsoft Store, presumably as a result of it contains integration with Alienware headsets. As I don’t have an Alienware headset, I declined…and declined once more, each time I rebooted my laptop and the Alienware software program popped again up. It additionally has a nasty behavior of shedding connection to the keyboard with the two.4GHz dongle plugged in, even whereas I continued to sort on it. But that doesn’t appear to matter an excessive amount of, since it’s a must to plug within the keyboard to really make any adjustments…one thing that’s not communicated to the consumer in any respect within the interface, and wasted much more of my time.

Michael Crider/Foundry

As far as truly managing the board, it may very well be worse. You have the standard fundamentals of macro and per-key programming, lighting choices (a couple of dozen pre-programmed results, no integration with different programs), and choices to disable Windows and alt-tab in sport mode. You can assign particular packages to launch with particular video games (assuming the software program hasn’t misplaced observe of the board at that time) and save profiles to the keyboard’s inner reminiscence.

It works. Most of the time. But that is positively the low level of the Pro Wireless expertise, and one thing Alienware wants to enhance dramatically if it desires to cope with different gamers within the trade at their costs. Speaking of which…

Is the Alienware Pro Wireless Keyboard price it?

Dell desires 200 American bucks for the Alienware Pro Wireless Keyboard. That appears overly bold to me. Consider that it’s costlier than Razer’s BlackWidow V4 75%, our number one pick in the gaming category. That design comes with a extra mod-friendly construct, subjectively higher switches, and a soft wrist relaxation, with an absence of wi-fi being the one large drawback. The Alienware is barely $10 less than the Keychron Q1 Max, which additionally has dual-mode wi-fi and comes with an enormous, beefy steel physique and a quantity knob.

Michael Crider/Foundry

As good because the Pro Wireless is, and its software program deficiencies however, I’d prefer to see it priced $30 to $50 cheaper earlier than I give it an unreserved suggestion. Admittedly, that could be as a result of I do know Dell’s entry to completely large economies of scale implies that it’s greater than able to providing this design at a cheaper price. But I write as a tech nerd, a gamer, and most significantly a client. This keyboard wants to supply just a little one thing extra — or to ask for just a little one thing much less — earlier than it could possibly be a part of the ranks of the most effective available on the market.

The Pro Wireless is an effective keyboard, with stable typing and gaming efficiency and lengthy battery life. The curvy white mannequin would possibly enchantment particularly to avid gamers who need a distinctive look. But its worth proposition and software program jankiness preserve it from attaining greatness. If you will discover it on sale, or if Dell decides to re-evaluate its quite excessive price ticket, it could be price a sooner purchase.