In a class of its own.
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Corsair's K95 RGB Platinum (See it on Amazon) is like the fully-loaded Ferrari of keyboards: packed with features, totally gorgeous, and at almost $200 it's incredibly expensive compared to its peers. Still, it's the company's flagship keyboard and packs every bit of technology at Corsair's disposal into an exquisite and comfortable package. There is no doubt the K95 is a very solid, high-quality investment, but do its extras justify the premium price? Let's dive in and find out.
Design and Features
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From the moment the I pulled the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum out of its box I was impressed. As a full-sized keyboard with both a number-pad and six programmable macro keys it's large, but more importantly at first hoist the K95 felt heavy and expensive instead of flimsy. This is due to the heavy deck made from “aircraft-grade” aluminum and a thick base, allowing it to land on my desk with a satisfying thud. The Cherry MX Speed switches and an ungodly amount of LED lighting sit above the aluminum deck, meaning its array of lights are super bright, dancing off the dark aluminum finish. Pictures don't do the K95 justice—it's beautiful.
And those lights. There are so many lights. Not only does each key feature its own programmable multi-color LED, but a light bar with 19 programmable RGB zones lines the top bezel of the keyboard. If you're the type of person who enjoys a single, static color in the background the K95 will let you do that, of course. But if you're spending about $200 on a gaming keyboard, there's a good chance you're looking for more. Want a swirling rainbow of colors? No problem. How about a feature where hitting a single key causes a ripple of light to emanate from that point? Done. Basically, you can set up whatever bonkers light show you can dream up with the K95, and it all looks fantastic.
The keycaps are relatively basic and the font printed on them is kind of ugly and wide. But inside the box there's also a nice set of swappable WASD keycaps and surrounding keys in a textured, gray finish to match the macro keys. The Cherry MX Speed switches feel similar to linear-feel Red switches, but require only 1.2mm for actuation. Pressing the keys feels results in a fast and responsive actuation, as the best mechanical switches do, and it's particularly useful for fast-paced gaming such as in first-person shooters.
Along the top-left edge, the K95 features three buttons: a quick-select for user profiles, a quick brightness adjustment, and a button for locking the Windows key. That user button offers the ability to save up to three distinct user profiles, which is really great if you're sharing a desktop with other people or just want the ability to quickly swap your light show or macro settings. On the right upper-edge, you'll find a mute button and textured metal roll-bar for volume control. Using the bar to set volume is great and packs in the same excellent build quality seen on the rest of the K95. A standard set of media keys are also placed just above the number pad for quick access.
Rounding things out is a USB 2.0 passthrough—perfect for plugging in a mouse or headset—and a rather robust magnetic and rubberized wrist rest. The wrist rest feels awesome and you can flip it over for either a textured or smooth grip. Unfortunately, much like the brushed aluminum deck, the wrist rest also seems to attract every piece of dust and lint in a 10 mile radius. Thanks in no small part to the USB passthrough, the K95's USB connection is about as thick as a sharpie marker.
Software
Like most recent Corsair gaming keyboards, the K95 Platinum is set up through the Corsair Utility Engine (CUE). Frankly, most keyboard on-screen interfaces are just a step above the worst inventory management screen you can find in a role-playing game, but the CUE system is definitely one of the more user-friendly setups. There's a wide range of preset lighting configurations accessible through a drop-down menu and from there you can customize anything—color, speed, etc—fairly easily.
Assigning configurations to a user profile is easy, but more than a couple times the K95 seemed to forget my settings and I had to open CUE to get things going right again. Corsair also has a vibrant community of RGB fanatics who upload their favorite lighting schemes for everyone to enjoy, and is one of the cooler features of the K95.
This screen is also where you can set up macros. While the K95 doesn't feature an on-deck button for setting macros on-the-fly like the G.Skills Ripjaws KM780, for example, the process is still super easy. The best feature allows you to enter a long-string macro by recording your keypresses. After you've recorded the string, you can then remove the pauses between actions automatically or leave them in, depending on your needs. There's even the option to attach a custom sound to each macro press, and let me tell you, being able to blare Aerosmith's “Living on the Edge” with a simple key press every time my PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds squad got too close to the blue line is worth the price of admission alone.
Gaming
As mentioned above, the Cherry MX Speed switches are great for twitchy gaming. I could feel a legitimate difference between a standard Cherry MX Red keyboard and the K95 Platinum while playing Overwatch. There isn't a massive adjustment to be made if you're accustomed to mechanical keyboards, but when you're not gaming, those super fast Speed switches seem to lead to more typos. Realistically, people plunking down $200 for an RGB mechanical keyboard with Speed switches for work-related tasks is a bad idea, but it's something to keep in mind if you're crafting your holiday wish list.
The swappable WASD keycaps are actually a huge bonus. Generally, swappable “game-centric” keys can be a bit hit-or-miss, but the textured feel and perfectly raised edges were a real advantage in first-person shooters. Just the simple act of running around in Battlefield 1 even felt better and finding my way back to the WASD keys without glancing down was pleasantly simple. The macro keys have the exact same textured finish and while I did accidentally hit the first macro key while intending to hit Escape more than a few times, I wouldn't mark it as an overall deterrent. With time, muscle memory kicks in and the distance between the rest of the keys and macros is sufficient.
Purchasing Guide
The Corsair K95 Platinum has an MSRP of $199.99. It gets knocked down to $169.99 on a semi-regular basis, but more often than not holds steady at its $199 asking price:
• See the Corsair K95 Platinum on Amazon
The Verdict
The Corsair K95 RGB Platinum is a near-perfect mechanical gaming keyboard. It includes almost every conceivable feature a PC gamer could ever want, offers incredibly fast and responsive switches, and it's all packaged in what is arguably the highest quality build I've ever seen on a keyboard.
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