I don't understand why people hate icue--I hear lots of people say they dislike it but never "why" they dislike it. It's very very easy to configure everything on the k70 max and I've had zero issues with it. The bugs he brings up in this video seem to have been all patched as I don't have these issues.
@@AnnoyingSwedishGuy They just updated the software a few weeks ago so you can run all your keyboard settings without iCue active. I think that's what you're asking. You still need iCue to create the profiles but you can basically delete iCue when you have your keyboard setup. There is still an annoying bug that won't let you copy the profiles you made in icue to the keyboard memory.... you have to create the new profile directly in the keyboard memory when configuring. They may have fixed that as well, I'm on my comp with the cherry MX reds not my K70MAX. The K70 Max is still hands down better than my mechanical with cherry MX reds and I use this one because it's near the kitchen.
@@TurboLoveTrainI don’t have a Corsair keyboard, but I have Corsair fans, liquid cpu cooler, and ram all controlled by iCue in a computer I just built, and I can completely understand what people are complaining about. ICue is constantly bugging out, changing or forgetting configurations, or just plain not working. I was originally thinking about getting a Corsair keyboard to have everything controlled by the same program, but I already hate iCue so much I will probably be going with a different brand.
Picking up one of these today based on the review, thanks! I've been using a Cherry Red K70 for over a decade and a couple switches are finally starting to go.
Merry Christmas Thomas. Life has a habit of doing to ones free time what Cherry MX Brown did to clean tactility, but I still never miss a video. Thanks for another year of keyboard wit and wisdom. The K70 Max indeed seems a good harbinger for modern keyboards in 2024 :-)
Keychron is a very good entry point aswell, they have a some pretty cheap models. But i agree with not appreciating the more expensive ones if you never went through the worse ones.
I think the best move is to buy something that's hot-swappable. That gives you the ability to test out what you like in terms of switches before committing to a build.
Adjustable actuation and double actuation also have applications in writing. Having the capital/lowercase for each letter available without needing to manually hold the shift key is great, it just requires very stiff switches to prevent accidental capitalisation. You can also set accented letters to secondary actuations to avoid having to f*ck about with the hex menu constantly
I don't see this working great for a keyboard with linears. I mean, it's great that you don't have to bottom down for mech keyboards, but actually telling me that I shouldn't during normal typing is something different. Now I would happily pay for a keyboard that could have some kind of Alt-Gr where you can walk through the various accents of a key, especially if it is able to give some kind of on screen feedback. But that's something different from what you are proposing I think.
I've been looking forward to this one since the unboxing. It's really terrific that so many innovations have happened in keyboards the last few years. I *love* my steelseries apex pro 🙂 Happy holidays to you and yours Tom!
Keychron's V series are my go to recommendation for newbies. Slightly pricier than some of the other rebranded hot-swap keyboards out there, but solidly built and easy to program using VIA/QMK
i was about to say that id always recommend wooting since their keyboards are as close to perfect as it gets but probably not the best for newbies since they are like 160-180 bucks or so. (or 200 for full size)
I have two magnetic switch keyboards: this one and the Drunkdeer A75. The K70 Max is much more comfortable for me because it is full-size, ISO-DE and has dedicated media buttons but the Drunkdeer sounds much nicer and doesn't feel as dampened as the K70 but rather crisp. I like what dampening does to some of my other keyboards but something about the K70 Max is a bit overdone.
yup. i have 2 keyboards from chinese companies. they work great and didn't cost an arm and a leg. oh and they have all the fancy foams and silicone. hot swap etc.
I thoroughly agree with starting with a cheap china keyboard. In fact, if you have no issues with using a soldering iron, I suggest considering just taking one of the cheap chinese mechanical keyboards, liberating it of its switches, and replacing it with your favorite switches once you have decided on something. That makes for a compelling budget entry point to keyboard customization if you ask me. Yes, more expensive boards offer additional benefits, like individually software-addressable RGB lighting, better acoustic properties and whatnot, but those also always come with a price.
I'm not going to recommend anybody to be soldering unless they are willing to go there themselves. Nowadays it is easy to get hot-swap keyboards, no soldering necessary.
@@reav3rtm yeah, but the V1 has way better build quality, full QMK support, and even an optional (programmable) knob. A V1 with nice doubleshot keycaps and serviceable switches pre-installed is $75, cheap enough to be a first time keyboard but customizable and durable enough that you'll actually want to keep it long term. Besides, a lot of those super cheap boards (i.e. Redragon) have Outemu sockets, meaning they can't use the majority of switches on the market.
@@TheMsdos25 V1 is good pick indeed. I thought you meant Q series which is way too expensive imho. I'm in Cidoo camp with V87 (wanted to go with Keychron Q3 initially), imho it's Keychron-killer. Just needs more switch and DIY options.
I was trying to decide between this or the Steelseries Apex Pro, then i noticed the lack of removable cable with the Apex Pro. Complete deal breaker.I learned my lesson from the original K70 - Don't buy keyboards without removable cables.
Been using this board for six months now and it's hands down better than anything with MX switches. I have a gaming configuration and a typing configuration and switching between them is easy as hitting one key. I love i-cue. Mine runs at around 50MB's of memory which is on par with the start menu or background windows manager. If I kill IQ it keeps the last profile loaded will stay loaded. If I have active lighting (like per key press or flickering lights) those all stop but the static lighting stays active and it seems like the actuation pressure settings also stay. They must have fixed all the bugs you've identified because I don't have those issues.
The quality of $40 Chinese MX clone boards has really improved since you reviewed that Ling Bao many years ago. I have a TKL with lubed Outemu linear switches, a gasket mount, a layer of foam, actually decent RGB with pre-programmed effects that don't require software, and two switches on the back. One can turn off the backlighting all together. The other changes between Mac and Windows layouts. The chassis is solid enough, and there's no spring ping or stab rattle. With products like this, there is absolutely zero reason to consider any of the far more expensive boards from the name brands.
My hack, for that is get a dental pic, dip it in dielectric grease and shove the grease in between the stabilizer bar and the stabilizer bar housing. Works like a charm.
I agree, there are some very interesting chinese budget keyboards. For 50€ you can get an Attack Shark which seems very impressive in the context of wanting your first bling bling mechanical "gaming" Keyboard
I did start with a K70 a decade ago. An MX Brown K70 RGB. Eventually I modded a usb C port onto it and foam modded it, but due to the non standard bottom row I can't be arsed to improve it any further. It's also useless in gaming sessions due to how bloody loud the stabilizers are. I've been debating a replacement ever since, but as I barely use it I've been procrastinating on that decision. And don't get me started on ICUE. It's caused me so many game crashes and failed heists in GTA V. And they make their keyboards totally reliable on their software but then also don't provide a version that runs on Linux? I'm flabbergasted that that's still the case today.
I am repeating myself: Ducky Keyboards don´t use a windows software. Everything is saved onto the Board (rgb setting and MACROS that is). The "Ducky One 3" is a hot swap keyboard with a lot of different Key cap colour scemes and it costs 159 Euro and as i said: you may choose the mx style switches (I chose kailh jade box) the chassis colour sceme and the key caps (doubleshot pbt with retro font).
for recommendations, i usually go a bit further and suggest a keychron V series. they aren't super expensive, which is great for a first keyboard, but they are also hotswap, have some foam dampening, and are usable with VIA, which are all things that give the keyboard reason to come back to later, even if you upgrade.
thanks for a good review and for the laughs I did when you roasted iCUE 😂 I am looking for a keyboard that is similar to the ones I own, one "Corsair Gaming Strafe Red LED (Cherry MX Silent)" and one "STRAFE RGB MK.2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - CHERRY MX Red". Reason: I spilled Fanta Exotic for the fifth time on them and I think it is time I get another backup. (I dishwash them without keycaps whenever this happens which VOIDS the warranty but it works. I followed a Linus Tech Tip video about the procedure lol) So yeah. The K70 Max is on sale here right now and I feel like trying these weird contactless switches. okay lol Im done writing Great review :D
I started out with Corsair keyboards, which at the time were great, but switched to Das Keyboard Pro 6 thinking it would be a huge upgrade. Don't get me wrong, it was far better than the Corsair keyboards I had used up until then but... After buying Keychron keyboards and now the Zoom75 I realize how much I've been actually missing out. Personally I don't think Corsair keyboards are worth it when something like Keychron exists.
I think I picked up the old optical version of that thing for my nephew. Now the sale price was epic and the upgrade for him, enormous, but my lord the keycaps on that piece of crap were ear-shatteringly loud and high-pitched. I would have been furious if I'd bought that thing at sticker price, even as a gift, but for $43 bucks it's a different matter.
@@Chyrosran22oh also I was wondering how I could convert a HP persario v2000 laptop keyboard to USB, could you help me contact the dude who made converters for other keyboards
@@Chyrosran22 yeah. It's one of my favorite laptop keyboards. I'm getting an old persario v2000 keyboard(25 pin) to USB to connect to a single board computer Also what is DT 😅 Edit(it is deskthoritt)
To save the lighting to the keyboard in iCUE you have to do it manually via the Device Settings popup. They don't make it obvious and they should prompt you for that. Otherwise agree with the 'premium brands' they're constantly playing catchup instead of innovating new features that are actually useful. Detachable cables are something Corsair should've done year ago and same with hotswappable keyswitches... be nice if LEDs followed suit too. Again something that should be built in. I think for this one they actually listened to the people complaining about spring ping and dampened them.
Dear Corsair marketing/sales , I was about to buy this, but hearing you have to waste half a giga RAM just to have the software running to keep the light on... nah. Not wasting money on being annoyed.
7:30 this shit is the reason why I swore off Corsair in 2015 and haven't looked back despite liking the volume roller and layout; whatever executive thinks that's how peripheral software should works should have been bulled a lot harder as a kid.
Heh, I swapped keyboard mainly because of Icue (from K95 RGB) to Apex Pro... Yet now I have to use icue to manage my cooling solution made by Corsair...
I wish manufacturers somehow agree on making standards about the hall effect switches so that their PCBs and switches are compatible and hall effect switches are not just luxury for "high-end" keyboards like current MX-clones. Products are just way out of my budget for now.
@@Chyrosran22 Oh, I just mean the sensitivity or setting of HE sensor and strength of the magnets in the switches (and relatively, their z-axis position). I assumed that those value are different so that switch-PCB should be matched. it seems that the shape and dimensions are rather MX-clones like for keycaps. So if those two factors are standardized, more customs and rather cheap products from other manufacturers would be expected.
It sounds really nice and different to me after having heard so many "premium" modded marbly, clacky and poppy mechanical ones. Friendly, the evilish words don't help, you or the audience 🙂happy 2024.
5:26 The way it actually works is fawking lame as hell. I would rather it worked like this: You start the activation by lightly pressing to aim and then a full depth press for quick casting.
Now that's an ugly mother f***er of a solfware. Even the one in cheap Chinese keyboard isn't that messed up. When someone asked what's the keyboard they should start with, i always tell them to get some Chinese prebuild with customize-able feature. Being in Vietnam, keyboards from China tends to be super cheap compare to other counties. With under 50$ you could get something even better than the NJ80 you used to review, while normal ass "gaming" keyboard also sold at that price but with flimsy case, pinging plate and Outema switch that last 3 months.
Hi, I've been watching your videos for a while now and I generally enjoy them. I've found an interesting keyboard that I'd like to send to you (for fun or for review), do you have a PO box or something similar?
