Corsair Vengeance K90 Pro Reviews

More Macro keys than we’ve ever seen on a keyboard; the K90 could be perfect for hardcore gamers

If you have the luxury of testing out the various Cherry MX switches and you decide that Cherry MX Red feels right for you – then you will not be disappointed with the Corsair K60 or K90 unless you fundamentally disagree with some of their design choices. I personally disagree with giving awards for peripherals which are so wrapped up in personal choice and as such I am not giving the Corsair K60 or K90 an Editor’s Choice award. It will always be up to you to decide whether a keyboard is for you or whether it should be left for someone else.

This is a keyboard you'll find yourself making excuses for though, because day by day, tap by tap, it becomes a luxury you can't imagine gaming without. You don't need those delightfully clicky keys and that rugged build, and you could probably survive without the LEDs. But if you're in a position to shell out for it, your opulence will be rewarded with an almost exemplary level of functionality.

The Corsair Vengeance K90 gaming keyboard pairs a well-built gaming keyboard with a smorgasbord of customization, media controls and ergonomic features.

The Vengeance K90 is a sturdy keyboard that catches the eye with its aluminum chassis and blue lighting, a rare detail among mechanical keyboards. It features a high-precision response and more macro keys than the user will ever need (the pad feels a little overcrowded). You can easily clean the board because the keys are not embedded into it. The configuration program is simple yet powerful, and it can control the K90’s brother mouse, the M90. The 54 macro options are a bit too much to commit to memory (personal memory, not the device’s), but since the foci are MMORPG and RTS games that require many commands, the K9 is more than well-suited for the task.

After heavy usage over a period of two weeks on the Corsair K90, the performance and feel of the keys were definitely outclassing preferred keyboards using even more expensive non-linear Cherry switches. It appears that a natural adaptation is to not press the keys all the way down. Where this practice really excelled was in gaming (when making precision movements utilizing the keyboard was tantamount). The only real issue had was with the physical location of the G-keys being inset a centimeter lower then the rest of the main keys. As far as value goes, this is a fair price point at $130, especially as there are other Cherry MX keyboards that go for more than twice this price with fewer features. The only reason we rated the value of this keyboard at 8/10 is because Cherry MX switches weren't used across the entire keyboard. In terms of quality and construction, this is a very well made keyboard. The metal plate not only adding to the overall aesthetics, but also to strength and durability: as mentioned before, this is the tank of keyboards. Being feature rich there is little to no software footprint (as using the Corsair profiler is not required), making the Corsair K90 not only streamlined in all technical ways, but also portable because of the built in memory. In the end, Corsair created something of quality and everything came together to make using this product a pleasurable experience.

Performance in a keyboard is about being able to type and game without the peripheral holding the enthusiast back. Thankfully, the Corsair K90 performs admirably in both gaming and typing because the Cherry MX Red mechanical switches are great to type on and allow for extremely fast reaction times in games. When compared to the Cherry MX Blues switches the Cherry MX Red switches which lack the auditory and tactile feedback are not quite as good for typing on but, compared to the typical rubber dome keyboards the Red switches perform admirably providing an overall great typing experience. The K90 is one of the most gorgeous keyboards I have laid my eyes on. The brushed aluminum exterior, raised keys, and blue glow come together to create quite a striking looking keyboard. Because of the of the brushed exterior fingerprints do not show up meaning that even after extended use the K90 still looks as beautiful as it was the first day.