Move over K70 RGB Pro, there's a new kid in town. The K70 Pro Mini Wireless keyboard is Corsair's first hot-swappable keyboard and it packs a lot of nifty gaming features into the small compact form. With more gamers looking to customize their typing experience via custom switches and keycaps, the K70 Pro Mini Wireless seems to want to fill that gap. Maybe you can actually have your cake and eat it too, or, is the cake a lie? Keep on reading to find out.
Specifications
- MSRP: $174.99 USD (Amazon)
- Keyboard Warranty: 2 Year
- Weight: 0.64kg
- Lighting: RGB
- Keyboard Layout:NA
- USB Polling Rate: Up to 8,000Hz with AXON
- Keyswitches: CHERRY® MX SPEED Silver
- Matrix: 61 Keys
- Connectivity: Wireless, Wired
- Adjustable Height: Yes
- Additional colored and textured keycaps: Radiant Spacebar, CORSAIR logo ESC
- Media Controls YN: Yes
- Keyboard Type Size: K70
- Keyboard Product Family: K70
- Keyboard Rollover: Full Key (NKRO) with 100% Anti-Ghosting
- Form Factor: 60%
- Wired Connectivity: USB 3.0 or 3.1 Type-A
- Wireless Connectivity: SLIPSTREAM Sub-1ms Wireless, Bluetooth 4.2
- Battery Charging: USB to Device
- On-Board Memory: 8MB
- Number Onboard profiles: Up to 50
- WIN Lock: FN Shortcut
- Media Control: FN Shortcuts
- Palm Rest: No
- Keyboard CUE Software: Supported in iCUE
- Cable Type: Braided
- Intergated Touchpad 293mm x 109mm x 40mm
- Keyboard Battery Life: Up to 32 hours with RGB effects or 200 hours with backlighting off
- Keyboard Battery Type: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Polymer
- Wireless Range: Up to 33ft (10m)
As my first 60% keyboard, the K70 RGB Pro Mini is going key-to-key with my current love: the HyperX Alloy Elite 2. The K70 Pro Mini Wireless is extremely small at 293mm lengthwise and has a width of 109mm, but right out of the box it feels very sturdy and raring to go. I didn't actually know that I loved keyboards with a heavy aluminum body until my current Alloy Elite, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the K70 Pro Mini also has a hefty aluminum baseplate. Due to this, the keyboard feels very solid and doesn't budge at all when on the bare desk or resting on a deskmat. The box also included a Slipstream wireless adapter, USB-C cable, radiant spacebar keycap, CORSAIR ESC keycap, keycap puller, and a keyswitch puller.
I'm probably a minority amongst my friends and fellows, but I actually like my arrow keys and numpad. Yes, it takes up much more space, but I find myself relying on the directional keys so much when it comes to both editing text and playing little indie titles. Due to its small size, just about every key on the K70 Pro Mini Wireless has another key bound to it via the FN key. This includes those arrow keys. To its credit, the keyboard holds 8MB worth of onboard storage, which lets you have up to 50 onboard profiles for custom macros and commands. If you don't use them too frequently, you probably won't miss them much-but I did. While it offers an insane amount of customization and storage, it took me a long time to get used to the current positioning of the onboard shortcuts. I'm not a huge fan of where they are currently placed as it just didn't feel very intuitive to me. I found myself wishing I could use the left ALT key to activate them instead of the FN key, which felt a little awkward for my right hand to trigger and I had to take a ton of time to look through all the keys to find out where a specific shortcut was located. You definitely have to do a little bit of brain re-wiring, but I'm sure once you got used it it, it would be fine.
One of the coolest features of the K70 Pro Mini Wireless, in my opinion, is the CORSAIR slipstream wireless technology. While I have absolutely no way of being able to physically determine the difference between the wired 8000Hz and the wireless 2000Hz connection, having the keyboard connected wirelessly felt just as good as having it connected via the USB-C cable. It was fast, and effective! I experienced zero lag or hiccups. I also really like that there is a dedicated slot on the back of the frame where you can keep the wireless dongle when it's not in use. No more losing or confusing them with other wireless adapters you may have lying around!
Of course, you can't have a gaming keyboard without lights, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the RGB part of the K70 Pro Mini Wireless You can change all the colors. There you go, I said it. Using CORSAIR's iCUE software, you can have up to 20 lighting layers with varying effects and colors to make your streamer dreams come true. I'm personally always a big fan of a "fading" effect or the classic rainbow transition. Rainbows go with everything and you can't convince me otherwise. Let me live out my Lisa Frank dreams. If you decide to actually go with an everlasting gobstopper array of colors, you can do so for about a solid 32 hours without having to go through cable management again. If instead you want to take a break from your office rave, the K70 RGB Pro Mini will last for a whopping 200 hours with the RGB toggled off.
Another surprising detail that I happened to love about the K70 Pro Mini Wireless is the included keycaps. All of the PBT keycaps are doubleshot and have a fantastic, matte, grippy texture. No one likes to see streaks all over their keyboard, and the material just feels great during long gaming sessions (especially for those of us with sweaty palms). With hot-swappable Cherry MX switches, everything about the K70 Pro Mini just feels great from box to desk. I really like that you have been given all the tools you need to customize and mix it up, but that isn't necessary at all. Everything that is included with this keyboard feels smooth and like you're getting an effective, professional product without any tweaking at all. If you want more of a tactile and "clicky" sound to your keys, you can absolutely switch them out. The K70 Pro Mini will take both Cherry MX and all compatible 3 pin switches. If you'd like to customize the look of your K70 Mini even further, you can even buy a different color accent bar directly from CORSAIR. You won't see the accent bar most of the time, but it's a nice touch for those that want to know that everything in their setup matches perfectly.
As for the form and shape of the keys, the proximity of keys to each other made the typing experience pretty smooth and comfortable. There was definitely a stark difference between my Alloy Elite and the K70 Pro Mini Wireless, because there wasn't nearly as much travel time between buttons (with the K70). With that being said, I did notice a slight 'rocking' motion to the keys, almost as if they wobbled slightly when moving them around. I didn't have much issue out of it when it came to typing, but it's something I did notice and wanted to point out on the larger keys like my spacebar. I would say that the K70 Pro Mini Wireless isn't very ergonomic even though there is a small curve to the keys. Even though there was a curve present, I found myself having to reach repeatedly for my galaxy wrist rest to try to give my wrists a little break. With no wrist rest, I definitely started to feel the fatigue after an hour or two of gaming. There isn't a lip or ridge at all to rest your palm on, which is something I would have really hoped to see in a gaming keyboard.
So for the price, you're getting a heavy-duty chassis, PBT keys, RGB lighting, superfast wireless connection, long battery life, and lots of macro potential. For a suped-up gaming setup, this is a fantastic starting place. The Cherry MX switches are always extremely popular for their polling rate and smooth feel. After using it for a while, I think I've simply come to the conclusion that 60% keyboards are just not for me. I honestly still miss having my numpad and directional keys separate from the rest. I don't mind having a little more clutter if it means I don't have to spend several seconds hunting for a key. Maybe as I continue to use it I'll get more used to the format. The K70 Pro Mini Wrieless is a fantastic first step into the world of custom keyboards with some really nice, high quality features and included parts. If you don't mind the condensed form, I'd highly suggest it to any gamer looking for a wireless alternative.
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