HyperX Alloy FPS Pro Review

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Just plug it in and kill stuff.

By Jason Cross

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Kingston entered the mechanical gaming keyboard market with the HyperX Alloy FPS, a solid and affordable no-frills full-sized gaming keyboard. Now the company has essentially chopped off that keyboard's number pad and turned it into the Pro version; a tenkeyless compact model for tournament players and LAN party enthusiasts, or anyone that simply wants or needs a keyboard with a smaller footprint. Like the Alloy FPS, it’s slim on features, but it’s also very attractively priced. At only $79.99 (See it on Amazon) it's one of the least expensive keyboards of its kind, and is a very solid, basic mechanical keyboard.

Design and Features

The design of the Alloy FPS Pro is similar to HyperX's other keyboards, with the keys perched on top of a flat metal deck. The metal layer on the FPS Pro seems a little thinner than that on the Alloy Elite, and the base underneath it is plastic, but there’s a steel frame within. The resulting feel is dense and rigid with plenty of weight: almost two pounds. It’s a good amount of heft for a keyboard this small. It includes Cherry MX switches in your choice of Red, Blue, or Brown.

Around the back you’ll find a mini-USB plug for the removable, braided USB cable. Yes, that’s mini-USB rather than micro-USB, which is sort of a bummer. Most consumer electronics gadgets have moved to micro-USB, and it would be nice to use those cables with this keyboard if you wanted to.

Controls are simple and limited. Hold down the Fn button (located on the right side between the Alt and Menu keys) and press F6-F8 to control media playback, F9-F11 to adjust volume, and F12 to enable game mode (which disables the Windows key).

As with the other HyperX Alloy keyboards, the FPS Pro only has red LED lighting, which is one of the reasons it's less expensive than some of its competitors. You can hold down the Fn button and use the arrow keys to change between five levels of brightness and six lighting styles: always on, breathing, wave, trigger, FPS, and explosion.

That’s all you get. There’s no USB pass-through or charging ports like on the larger HyperX keyboards, and no macro recording either. You don’t even get any extra key caps as you do with the pricier HyperX keyboards. Kingston sells separate colored keycap kits, with a keycap removal tool, for about $15. And of course, the many Cherry MX compatible aftermarket keycaps will work just fine.

Kingston provides no keyboard software at all—this is an entirely driverless peripheral. There are times when that’s welcome, but a simple and optional utility to adjust lighting, reprogram keys, and record macros would be appreciated.

Gaming

Cherry MX switches are a favorite among gamers for their responsiveness, feel, and durability. As long as you select a switch type that suites your preferences (red, blue, or brown), you’ll be more than satisfied with the key action of the Alloy FPS Pro. The key caps are full size and shaped well, with a gentle scalloped curve on top and a smooth finish.

All Kingston keyboards offer n-key rollover and 100% anti-ghosting, and this compact budget model is no different. I confirmed with Aqua Key Test that, no matter how many keys I pressed at once, they all registered instantly and correctly.

Gaming is as you would expect with any high-quality mechanical keyboard using Cherry MX switches. I personally prefer the “clicky but quiet” Brown switches, but the linear motion of the Red switches suits me fine too. I played Agents of Mayhem, Conan Exiles, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and this keyboard never failed to properly and instantaneously register my input. And of course, I typed thousands of words with nary a problem. Of course, that seems like table stakes for mechanical keyboards these days—any perceptible lag, ghosting, or incorrect key registrations would be considered shockingly bad.

For better or worse, that’s all there is to say about the HyperX Alloy FPS Pro. It’s an incredibly simple keyboard. No macros, no software, no USB pass-through, and you can make the LEDs any color you want as long as it’s red. You get quality Cherry MX switches and a nice durable build, and not much else. As is the case with other compact tenkeyless keyboards, I would gladly make the footprint slightly taller to add dedicated media controls and a proper volume knob.

Purchasing Guide

The HyperX Alloy FPS Pro has an MSRP of $79.99, and that's the exact same price you can get it for on Amazon:

• See the HyperX Alloy FPS Pro on Amazon

The Verdict

There are lots of mechanical gaming keyboards out there with more features than the HyperX Alloy FPS Pro. Still, its durable construction, Cherry MX switches, and great price make it an attractive option for numberpad haters and FPS gamers that don't need any frills.

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