You know you’re having a great Holiday season if you have just received or put together a fantastic new gaming rig. However, you can’t get the best out of all that power without a great keyboard and mouse combination.
What makes the best gaming keyboards so great can be bewildering for many. Do you need a mechanical keyboard? What about the Hall Effect? Rapid trigger?
Not to worry, I’m here to help you pick out the keyboard that is right for your needs.
Razer Huntsman V3 Pro is the best overall, if you can afford it
PROS
- Pro-level performance
- Extremely customizable
- Amazing build quality
CONS
- Eye-wateringly expensive
- Razer Synapse can be buggy
- Gamepad emulation is spotty
The Razer Hunstman makes some bold claims right up front, promising Pro-level esports performance, along with a raft of features aimed at gaming enthusiasts.
Thankfully, for the most part, the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro has the capabilities to back up its boasting. The version I use is the Tenkeyless, though it also comes in Full-Size and Mini form factors.
The brushed aluminum top case gives a feeling of solidity, while features such as the dedicated Macro buttons, Media dial, and Rapid Trigger provide a great all-around experience.
Rapid Trigger might be controversial in pro gaming spaces, but the ability to minutely adjust actuation points is a big deal for competitive gaming fans.
In addition, the Hunstman V3 Pro is quieter than several of its Razer predecessors, making it a more practical choice for general productivity tasks. If only it were a bit cheaper.
The Corsair K65 Plus Wireless is perfect if you want a tenkeyless
PROS
- Versatile and customizable
- Fast and responsive
- Comfortable typing action
CONS
- Expensive
- Needs a wristrest
- Heavy
The Corsair K65 Plus Wireless looks fairly unassuming with its subdued black and grey color palette, though it hides a lot of great functionality beneath the surface.
This keyboard is a great choice for those who prefer soft-touch typing. The sensitive Corsair MLX Red Linear switches are very responsive and smooth. Not only that, thanks to a layer of sound dampening, they also avoid the loud click-clack found in many other mechanical keyboards.
A lot of features have been packed into the small chassis. The media controls are lovely, and the prominent media dial on the top left is a welcome addition.
Macro recording can be activated using key combinations or tweaked in a more granular fashion using Corsair’s iCue software. I’ve generally found iCue to be one of the more stable and user-friendly bits of peripheral software compared to several rivals, which is a nice plus.
Despite the small size, it’s a solid and weighty beast, so what it lacks in portability it makes up for in build quality.
The Keychron K3 Max is great for those wanting to keep a low-profile
PROS
- Small and portable
- Low latency
CONS
- Lacks some features
- Software is complex
Despite its small size, the Keychron K3 Max is surprisingly sturdy thanks to its solid aluminum base. Combined with its ability to connect to up to three different devices via Bluetooth, this makes it a great candidate for a ‘roaming’ keyboard.
It does lack dedicated media keys or Macro buttons, but the impressive 1000Hz polling rate arguably makes up for it. Though not designed specifically as a gaming keyboard, it can perform the task well, and can also be turned into an excellent productivity keyboard thanks to its quiet switches and pleasant, smooth actuation.
The only real downside is the software. While it is powerful, getting the most out of it requires genuine programming knowledge, making it less user-friendly for most.
That said, it is probably one of the best keyboard options for those who need or want to take work and gaming with them wherever they go.
You can pick up the Keychron K3 Max from the company’s website, where it is usually on sale.
Get the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 is you want the best rapid trigger
PROS
- Comfortable for typing and gaming
- Great customizability
CONS
- Expensive
- The software can be buggy
Though most people vaguely familiar with gaming keyboards have at least a nodding familiarity with mechanical switches, Hall Effect switches in keyboards are a relatively new development.
Hall Effect switches allow for a huge amount of customization for actuation points, enabling the stand-out features of this keyboard – Rapid Tap and Rapid Trigger.
These features can greatly improve response time, which can make a huge difference for fast-paced competitive games like Valorant or Counter-Strike 2.
Another interesting feature is the OLED smart screen, which can be used to check and change keyboard settings on the fly without needing to dig into another piece of software. Or it can be set to display an amusing gif if you prefer.
The Nyxi Striker is perfect for those wanting a retro (or just distinctive) look and feel
PROS
- Affordable
- Stylish retro design
CONS
- Only available in the US
- All-plastic construction
Those who know the name Nyxi will mostly associate it with its excellent line of third-party controllers, such as the Nyxi Wizard for the Nintendo Switch.
However, they have produced a fairly impressive retro-styled keyboard that makes for a surprisingly good entry-level mechanical keyboard.
The Striker clearly takes design cues from the Nintendo GameCube, with the purple plastic and the font choices, but this is by no means a bad thing. It makes it stand out in a sea of black and grey, even before you start tinkering with the RGB lighting.
The Striker is reasonably versatile, with its full-size layout and quiet switches making it suitable for office productivity tasks, while its Red Linear mechanical switches mean it can also hold its own in many gaming scenarios.
Of course, for the price, it isn’t perfect. It lacks the sophisticated features of some other keyboards on this list, and it is built entirely from plastic, making it less durable than some aluminum models. For less than $100, though, you could certainly do a lot worse.
You can buy the Nyxi Striker at Nyxi’s website.