Price When Reviewed

$180

In the final couple of years it looks like each PC gaming accent maker has tried its hand at a 60 % mechanical board, generally greater than as soon as. They see keyboard lovers dropping lots of on semi-custom bespoke builds and desire a piece of the pie. But I’ve but to see considered one of these compact keyboards come out as an unqualified success. 

The Corsair Okay70 RGB Pro Mini Wireless is the newest entry. It’s technically nearly flawless, full of practically each characteristic a gaming board can have, and comes with premium upgrades like PBT keycaps, hot-swap keys, multi-point connections, and case lighting. It’s undoubtedly a step above the competitors, assuming that you simply’re okay with what’s now “basic” swap tech. 

But between my very own private programming pet peeve and the premium pricing, this tiny keyboard is decidedly mid-tier total. It’s in all probability the best choice if you happen to should have a wi-fi gaming board at 60 %, however for anybody with out bottomless pockets or a with extra general-use focus, there are higher (and cheaper) choices.

See our roundup of the best wireless keyboards for extra suggestions and product comparisons.

Okay70 RGB Pro Mini Wireless: A characteristic checklist so long as its title  

Name a mechanical keyboard characteristic, and the Okay70 RGB Pro Mini Wireless (I’m simply gonna name it the Okay70 Mini any further) in all probability has it. RGB lighting? Check. Premium PBT plastic keycaps? Yup. Wireless? Two completely different flavors (USB and Bluetooth), three completely different units. It’s rocking the ever-popular 60 % kind issue, chopping off the operate row and all the pieces east of Enter, and it even has a reasonably distinctive angular look with bonus lighting round 360 levels of the case. 

This is a gaming-focused board, so it makes do with out among the extra ridiculous excesses like a full metallic case or gasket mounting. But its bodily customization sport is on level, because of an ordinary key format appropriate with most keycap units. You may swap out the switches themselves for any Cherry MX-compatible fashions. But with wonderful genuine Cherry elements on board (“Speed Silver” linear switches on our evaluation unit), you may not wish to, particularly if you happen to purchased this factor for gaming. 

What’s that? You need extra? Well it is best to, contemplating the value tag. How a few spare area bar that may showcase that RGB mild present, devoted keycap and key swap pullers, and a candy 6-foot braided cable for when the battery runs out? Corsair additionally included a branded alternative Escape key, in case the conspicuous badge on the entrance isn’t sufficient. Round it out with single-stage keyboard ft and an aluminum deck, and also you come to the underside of an extended characteristic checklist.

Premium all the pieces

Jumping in, typing on the Okay70 Mini feels premium immediately. The silky-smooth switches and the gritty, grippy texture of the keys mix for a wonderful expertise. I often want a day or two to acclimate to a brand new keyboard, since I’m used to spoiling myself with premium elements. It solely took an hour or two this time because of all that expensive plastic, although I want a keyboard relaxation might have been included, like other Corsair models. Chalk it as much as the Okay70 Mini’s transportable kind issue. 

Michael Crider/IDG

And transportable it’s. Going with a plastic physique and leaving metallic for the deck was a wise transfer, as even with all of the bells and whistles this keyboard weighs in at simply over a pound and a half. That makes it extremely simple to throw in a bag to your subsequent LAN occasion or a bit of on-the-go Genshin Impact along with your cellphone or pill. True, competing 60 % boards are simply nearly as good in that sense, however the multi-point Bluetooth provides the Mini a bonus on this space.     

One little bit of bodily design I’d like to spotlight: a big, easy-to-find energy swap, hanging out proper above the Escape button. Too many small boards make it laborious to show the factor on and off, and that’s an essential element with a design that may suck down battery energy with the sunshine present enabled.

Software leaves out one small (massive) characteristic

With near-endless customization of the keycaps and key switches, you’d anticipate the software program for the Mini to be equally customizable. And you’d be proper… up to a degree. Mechanical keyboard purists can be upset that you may’t program the keyboard through open source QMK or VIA firmware, however Corsair’s iCue is astonishingly well-equipped and surprisingly simple to navigate. That’s greater than I can say for some competing “gaming” driver packages, like Logitech’s G software program. 

There’s a staggering quantity of choices in iCue. Polling charge, brightness, nationwide format, debounce time, even a toggle that permits you to function the keyboard in “PlayStation mode” for console followers. And all of it may be saved to considered one of two onboard reminiscence slots. If solely the programming of the keyboard’s precise features was so full. 

Michael Crider/IDG

Like so many different mini keyboards, it’s not possible to maneuver the Function button, so actually customizable layouts are incomplete by definition. That consists of my most popular format, with arrow keys on the principle layer at Alt/Fn/Windows/Ctrl, and the Fn button changing Caps Lock. It’s simple in QMK, not possible in iCue. For 60 % keyboards that reside and die on person customization, that’s an enormous disadvantage. 

Small board, massive price ticket

Programming deficiencies apart, the Okay70 RGB Pro Mini Wireless does tick all the usual bins for players. But it’s additionally $180, costlier than loads of wi-fi mechanical boards. It’s about on par with Razer’s BlackWidow V3 Mini, however that board’s additionally wickedly costly—check out the Logitech G613 and even the Asus Falchion for one thing extra inexpensive. And although it’s a matter of style, the latter manages to get full arrow keys within the design with barely any additional dimensions. 

Michael Crider/IDG

If cash isn’t any object and also you need each attainable characteristic you may think about (minus the choice to maneuver that Fn key round), the Okay70 RGB Pro Mini Wireless matches the extraordinarily particular area of interest of tiny wi-fi gaming mechanical keyboards very nicely, with the standout characteristic of hot-swappable switches. But if you happen to’re in any means frugal, if you happen to don’t want each characteristic underneath the solar, and also you need extra versatile programming, look elsewhere.