⭐️ Buy the Corsair K57 RGB Wireless Gaming Keyboard: https://geni.us/aP9Gro
What’s up guys, Sagi here and welcome to another Tech Gear Talk. Today we’re going to check out the new Corsair K57 RGB wireless gaming keyboard. Corsair announced this board a few months ago at CES and COMPUTEX. You may have seen my reviews of the K68 and the K70 MK2, but with the K57 Corsair allows gamers to cut the cord while maintaining RGB customization, custom macros and key remaps.
So let’s look at some key features of this keyboard and then go into them in a little more detail and do a sound test.
Alright, so in case you’re looking to pick up a K57 RGB Wireless, let’s take a closer look at this board in a little more detail and I also want to give a shoutout to Corsair for sending me this keyboard to test out.
Range is only one important aspect of wireless connection, the others are speed and stability. Intelligent Frequency Shift (IFS) immediately detects and hops to the fastest available channel on the fly, promising that the wireless signal between the board and the computer is strong and reliable. And this could be really important as we’re getting more and more wireless devices.
Aside from SlipStream Wireless, you can also use Bluetooth 4.0 or higher and the K57 is compatible with LE 4.2. Corsair recommends using Bluetooth for multi-platform use, if you’re more of a casual gamer or for general productivity tasks. There is also an option to use the board in wired mode with the provided USB cable.
A question I got a lot on some of my other reviews was whether the specific board would work on a Mac, and the answer is YES, the K68 will work on both PC and Mac.
The K57 uses the new typeface that you’ll see on the new Corsair boards but it is a smaller font-size and seems to be a lighter weight. That means that less light is passing through the translucent area of the keys. You might think that this makes the board less bright than something like the K70 MK2 or the K68 but you’d be wrong.
The K57 uses the new Capellix LED Technology that we saw implemented on the Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB RAM. This new technology is able to accomplish brighter lighting, while consuming less power than conventional LEDs. A traditional LED has a diode that is set up in a housing, with a lens and a solder points and it’s mounted to the PCB separately.
The Capellix LEDs take up less than 1/10th the surface area and can be mounted directly to the substrate. Corsair reports that these new LEDs can shine up to 60% brighter than conventional LEDs at the same power level. So we’re now able to use up less power, get more lumens per watt – so we’re getting that bright look that we all like, and generate less heat. Being able to use up to 60% less power and to be more efficient allows Corair to offer RGB lighting in devices like wireless keyboards as well as other peripherals and performance memory. It also means that the LEDs have a lifespan that is up to 35% longer than traditional LEDs.
This is a good time to talk about battery life where Corsair reports 35 hours when using Slipstream with standard lighting and 175 hours without backlighting. With Bluetooth, we’re looking at up to 40 hours with standard lighting and 200 hours without backlighting. The K57 offers per-key RGB backlighting which means you could technically program each key to use a different color.
The board comes with 10 built-in color profiles (11 if you’re considering OFF a mode) and I really like that you can switch between the different profiles by using the FN key plus a designated number. This means that you can easily make this change without having to use the iCUE software. So for example, if you want to use Spiral Rainbow, you hit FN + 1. If you want to switch to Rain, you hit FN + 2, and so on.
If you want more control, Corsair’s iCUE software gives you access to the entire RGB spectrum of over 16 million colors so that you can choose from any hue combination you can think of. With most presets you can also select the speed and direction of the movement which is pretty cool. I want to mention that when you’re using the board wirelessly, you only have access to the preset lighting profiles. To use the fully customized lighting profiles you have to use a wired connection.
The logo at the center of the board is white, rather than RGB like on the K70MK2 or chrome on something like the K68.
If you haven’t used these before, or you’re not sure about the difference, let me quickly go over it. Membrane keyboards have a “membrane” that has pressure pads. This means that they have a mushier feel and don’t provide significant tactile or audible feedback. This specific board uses a rubber dome, tactile design. If I’m comparing it to a linear switch like the Cherry MX Reds, the keys on the K57 seemed to require more pressure to activate. I don’t know that this makes the board better or worse, but having used REDs pretty much exclusively for over a year, it was a difference that I noticed right away.
Unlike another wireless board from Corsair, the K63, the K57 is a standard full-sized board, and not a Tenkeyless board, and on top of that we have the 6 macro keys which we’ll get to later on. This means the board is going to take up more desktop space so this may be a consideration if you’re tight on space.
Corsair also offer a detachable palm rest to add comfort and support. I’m at my desk for 10-12 hours a day so ergonomics are a priority for me. My desk can be moved up and down so I always make sure that the keyboard is at the optimal height, but I like the additional support this clip-on palm-rest offers. It is plastic and so it doesn’t add padding but if your keyboard is positioned at the appropriate height, and your arms are resting comfortably, there shouldn’t be a lot of pressure on your palms to begin with and the wrist rest offers added support because it’s lifted to align with the level of the board.
On the back of the board we have wireless USB dongle, an on/off switch and micro USB port used to charge the board and if you plan on using the board in wired mode.
Let’s take a look at the bottom of the board. There are little risers on the back on the keyboard that can be flipped up to tilt the keyboard a bit. It’s something you may use if you find that the slight angle change is more comfortable.
Especially when you’re gaming, and sometimes in other situations, you may be pressing multiple buttons at the same time. For example, you may be moving your character in different directions and at the same time you’re reloading. This used to be an issue with older membrane boards where this could result in keystrokes being ignored or even interpreted as a completely different keystroke, but with the K57, we have 8KRO, meaning that you can simultaneously press up to 8 keys, plus any modifier keys like Ctrl, Alt or Shift, and every single stroke is quickly and accurately registered.
One thing that I love about the membrane design is that combining it with the Capellix LEDs gives off a really bright light. You can see that the whole board seems to light up because the membrane seems to be carrying letting the light spill over between keys, similarly but even brighter than on my K68. Going back to the membrane keyswitches, they are much quieter than my REDs and definitely quieter than the BLUES. I’ll give you a sound test so that you get an idea of what the keys on the K57 sound like.
And here is a comparison with the REDS on the K70 MK2.
This comes down to personal preference, I actually really like clicky sound, but I’m also alone in my office so I don’t really have to worry about other people.
Moving on, a feature that is usually reserved for premium boards is having the 6 dedicated MACRO keys on the left side of the board. These are fully programmable keys that give you tons of options and give you an in-game advantage. You can execute very complex commands much faster than you could by having to manually go through each keystroke, and you can record up to 50 key events to each button. Of course you can also use these to remap another key, if you prefer to have it closer to your left hand.
It’s super easy to do both, you just press the MR (MACRO RECORD) button, then whichever MACRO key you want to assign. Now you can start recording actions and when you’re done hit the MR button one last time – and that’s all there is to it. And I also use these even inside Photoshop and Premiere Pro when I’m editing photos or videos.
On the right, above the number pad you’ll find the dedicated media buttons. You have a Stop, Previous, Play/Pause and a Next button. Above that row of buttons you’ll see the Mute button as well as volume up and down buttons. What’s super nice about this is that I can easily have access to this feature. I use this all the time when I get a phone call and need to quickly mute what I have playing in the background. I don’t have to reach for the physical speaker volume control, use the speaker icon on the taskbar or assign a macro key, I can just reach over, hit that MUTE button and I’m good.
Moving from right to left, beyond the volume controls, we have a row of LED indicator lights. We have the Windows Lock and Macro Status indicator, CAPS Lock, NumberLock and Battery/Wireless Status Indicator light. There are 3 other keys next to the LED lights, and again from right to left we have the Windows Key Lock Mode button. This will let you lock the Windows key so you don’t accidentally hit the Windows key and dump yourself out to the desktop in the middle of a game. If you connect to the iCUE software, you can also disable other functions like Alt-F4 or Alt-Tab – so this is a very handy feature.
The next button is a dedicated key for controlling the brightness of the keyboard. You can use it to alternate between three brightness levels and an OFF state. And finally there is an MR or MACRO RECORD key that I mentioned earlier and is used to program the 6 dedicated MACRO keys.
The membrane keyswitches are quieter and a little more firm than what I’m used to, tut they are responsive and together with anti-ghosting and 8 key rollover make sure each keystroke is always registered correctly. I love the premium functionality of the 6 dedicated MACRO keys and the dedicated multimedia and the volume controls.
The K57 RGB Wireless sells for $99.99 and I’ll put links in the description because there are always specials and discounts and the links will be automatically updated with the lowest pricing.
I really hope this video gave you a good overview of the Corsair K57RGB Wireless. If it did, please let me know by giving it a thumbs up, tweet it, share it, and if you’re interested in more keyboard and other peripheral reviews and tutorials, join the community by hitting that subscribe and notification buttons.
Also, if you’re using a mechanical keyboard instead, and are looking for a how to clean a mechanical keyboard tutorial, I put one together for you.
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And you know what I always say, buy it nice or buy it twice, good luck and see you soon.
⭐️ Buy the Corsair K57 RGB Wireless Gaming Keyboard: https://geni.us/aP9Gro
