Corsair has created a mechanical keyboard for laptop computer keyboard lovers, however will it have the ability to flip us?
Up to date: Oct 4, 2022 4:11 pm
The Corsair K100 Air is among the most original wireless keyboards we’ve obtained for overview in a very long time.
It seems prefer it was ripped straight out of a gaming laptop, however beneath its anodized brushed aluminum pores and skin, there are some attention-grabbing elements at play.
Essentially the most attention-grabbing of which is Cherry’s all-new ultra-low-profile mechanical swap expertise, which hasn’t been seen on a Corsair gaming keyboard but.
Regardless of our enthusiastic mechanical keyboard evangelism right here at WePC, now we have to confess that there’s a vital quantity of individuals on the market preferring laptop-style keyboards, so with that in thoughts, let’s see if the Corsair K100 Air is the reply they want.
Corsair K100 Air specications
Corsair K100 Air wi-fi keyboard
Change sort
Cherry MX Extremely Low Profile Tactile
Type issue
100% Full-size
Connectivity
USB Kind-C, 2.4GHz, Bluetooth 4.2
Professionals
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Tremendous clear design -
Excellent construct high quality with little or no flex -
The very best low profile switches we’ve examined -
Tremendous skinny, 10mm at it’s thickest level
Cons
-
Far too costly -
Some may discover the design uninspired
Cherry MX Extremely Low Profile Tactile
USB Kind-C, 2.4GHz, Bluetooth 4.2
Cherry MX Extremely Low Profile fashion
What’s within the field & setup
- Corsair K100 Air wi-fi keyboard
- Corsair Slipstream wi-fi dongle
- USB-Kind C cable
- Instruction guide
- Guarantee data
Given the $279.99 worth, we anticipated extra from the K100 Air packaging. You get no foam, no protecting bag, and the cardboard is fairly fundamental. Our pattern arrived in excellent situation, nevertheless it’s nonetheless value mentioning.
Opening the field you discover the K100 Air beneath a plastic shell to guard it from impacts and scratches and beneath the board, we discover a USB Kind-C charging cable.
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The dearth of a dongle initially confused us momentarily, till we found it hiding in a little bit alcove on the high of the keyboard, which is useful for portability.
The keyboard involves life as quickly as you plug the dongle into an empty USB port and switch it on with the swap on the highest on the left-hand facet of the board.
It really works superb as is, however if you wish to play with the RGB lighting, you’ll want Corsair’s iCUE software, which can be useful because it lets you mess with different settings too.
Design
It’s flat, like actually flat, in actual fact, the keyboard is 10mm at its thickest level and about 4mm at its thinnest. The spectacular engineering work to make this occur leads to a considerably villainous look.
It’s because every thing is sharp, the corners of the board, the sides of the keys, and the shallow angle of the board. It’s all very extreme, and wouldn’t look misplaced being slapped by Christian Bale within the Batcave, whereas Robert Pattinson would in all probability paint flames on it.
Sharpness apart, the K100 Air superficially resembles most of Corsair’s current full-size keyboards in design. With the basic sails emblem entrance and heart, surrounded by a shiny clear ‘window’.
Beneath that is the place the indicator lights for stuff like caps lock and scroll lock dwell, however even when all these are illuminated, it’s a reasonably empty area general.
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To the precise of this space, you get a full complement of media controls: play/pause, ahead/again, mute, and the shallowest quantity curler we’ve ever encountered, however that’s type of the entire level with the Corsair K100 Air.
You additionally get bodily buttons to lock the keyboard, cycle by means of profiles, and alter the brightness of the RGB lighting, which is useful as locking all these controls behind the software program is a cardinal sin in our books.
Construct high quality
The construct high quality of the Corsair K100 Air may go a way towards explaining the excessive worth as, regardless of the thinness of the board, it feels actually impressively stable.
That is thanks in no small half to the aluminum high plate, which doesn’t look very substantial, however when you think about the general measurement of the board, it’s undoubtedly creating a number of additional structural solidity.
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The provided cables and dongle are nice too, the cable particularly is braided with tremendous delicate black material that enhances the stealthy vibe of the K100 Air.
We are able to’t converse to the standard of the switches themselves as this board is not hot-swappable, nonetheless, we’re sorry to report that the keycaps are bathroom customary ABS, so you’ll be able to count on them to wear down and develop into shiny before you’d like.
The K100 Air does exhibit a little bit little bit of flex when urgent on the middle of the highest plate, however general, the development may be very inflexible and our complaints regarding the construct high quality are restricted to the ABS keycaps solely.
Typing and gaming efficiency
We talked about at the start of this overview that there are lots of people preferring the flat chiclet-style of keyboards usually present in laptops, so we’re going to try to place away our choice for thocky mechanical keyboards for this part.
For such a thin board, the switches really feel fairly good, with a reasonably heavy actuation pressure that offers means with an impressively tactile thunk. There isn’t any audio suggestions for the switches on this board, however Cherry additionally makes clicky variations of its ultra-low-profile switches.
So, for many who want a laptop computer keyboard, that is the very best you will get as Cherry has carried out an ideal job of miniaturizing their mechanical swap expertise, and Corsair has carried out an equally commendable job of integrating them into the K100 Air.
With regards to typing, these of you who’re used to an everyday keyboard may discover the pre and whole journey of the switches too quick, leading to bottoming out means too early and means too onerous, which initially led to some fatigue for us.
After just a few days, nonetheless, our keystrokes softened and the Corsair K100 Air turned completely satisfactory for day-to-day workplace use, and that fatigue went away.
We don’t suppose that this board is good for players, nonetheless, because the very quick pre-travel implies that the keyboard isn’t tremendous exact, so customers could be topic to a very drastic studying curve in the event that they selected to change to this board.
Regardless of this, we will’t fault the K100 Air when it comes to velocity as Corsair’s 2.4GHz Slipstream wi-fi expertise leads to no noticeable latency, and you’ll join as much as 3 units to a single dongle, so in case your setup is predominantly Corsair already, you aren’t dropping any extra USB ports.
Corsair K100 Air overview: Closing verdict
Sure, we want large chonker mechanical keyboards right here at WePC, and this isn’t going to alter with no appreciable paradigm shift in keyboard expertise.
Nonetheless, Corsair and Cherry have carried out inarguably spectacular work right here in creating the K100 Air because it’s far and away essentially the most tactile laptop-style keyboard we’ve skilled.
So, for the individuals on the market who actively want this fashion of keyboard, the Corsair K100 Air wi-fi is the perfect you will get, however the $280 worth is perhaps onerous to swallow, no matter how good the keyboard is.
