I honestly don't dabble much into different keyboards. Through my time at GameZone I've gone through three different keyboards, an old non-mechanical Logitech keyboard with various Macro switches and slight backlighting to allow me to play with the lights off, then the exact opposite, the Feenix Autore, a mechanical keyboard with no fancy macro switches or shortcuts of any kind, with zero backlighting, to the most recent, the Corsair K70 RGB, which happens to be the perfect blend of the two previous keyboards, with some neat extras as well.
The K70 is Corsair's mid-tier RGB keyboard. It doesn't have any Macro keys on the sides, but does include the Numerical Pad, whereas the K95 has Macro keys on the left side being the top-tier keyboard, and the K65 is missing both the Macro keys and the Num Pad, making it the smallest of the bunch. Honestly, I don't really play that many MMOs so not having the extra Macro keys wasn't a big deal for me personally.
The keyboard itself, even when not backlist looks gorgeous, this is mainly due to its anodized aluminum finish. However, plug that baby in and it shines, literally. Each key has access to 16.8 million different colors, which is just a fancy way of saying there are a lot of shades of blue, red, yellow, green and everything in between.
The keyboard comes with the Corsair Utility Engine, which allows you to program a bunch of different aspects on the keyboard, from various Macros to various lighting sequences, even down to each individual key. Being a fan of the new My Little Pony series (and also because my two year old daughter loves it), I made a lighting preset after my personal favorite pony, Rainbow Dash. I made the keyboard light up in light blue, like her color, and then made a wave of rainbow lights dash from the left side to the right, according to the rainbow pattern found on her tail and mane. And you can do so much more. If you want, you can make each key go through a sequence of colors upon each key stroke. You can make the middle of the keyboard ripple out in various colors on each key stroke. You can even change the color of the entire keyboard on each keystroke. The amount of customization is truly impressive.
If producing a lightshow from your keyboard isn't really your thing, you can set preset colors to specific keys to outline their different uses. For example, you can set the WASD and arrow keys a certain color, the 1-0 keys another color, and then various keys around WASD different colors as well, denoting that they all do something different. Again, it's not really all that practical as it is showboat-y, but it's still a pretty sweet feature.
The program also allows some staggering amount of customization for various Actions. You can record keystroke sequences complete with millisecond breaks in between each of them, program a mouse DPI change for when you're shooting with a Sniper rifle for instance, or even set various Media shortcuts. The amount of customization is truly amazing.
But what about the keyboard itself. Like I mentioned before, it's a standard 104-key keyboard, with some extra media controls on the top right which allow you to control your music, as well as a volume roller. You also have a backlight button that has three different levels for lighting, as well as the ability to turn it off completely.
The K70 RGB uses Cherry MX Red switches, which compared to the Feenix Autore's Cherry MX Brown, are a little less clicky and slightly more squishy. However, they're still satisfying to press and have so far been extremely responsive with every single game I've tested out on it. It's actually a lot less noisy than the Feenix's keys were, which I personally like a little more. But that all comes down to personal preference. Some might prefer the Cherry MX Brown keys for their more sturdy and clicky keystrokes, but it's like they say, different (key)strokes for different folks.
The type of Corsair that's right for you will personally come down to preference, and also budget. The cheapest K65 will cost you $150 but it is missing the numerical keypad. The next tier, the K70 retails for $170, and has the num pad. The biggest K95 retails for $190, includes the num pad but also a slew of Macro keys on the left.
I personally love the look and feel of the keyboard and don't mind the slightly less clicky feel of the Cherry MX Red keys, so of course I can heartily recommend it. However, it's not exactly the cheapest mechanical keyboard, so unless you're in the market for a new one with a bit of extra change, you might want to look elsewhere.
