Corsair K70 Pro Mini review: A 60% gaming keyboard that ticks almost all the boxes

“What is small and brown?” Perhaps not the K70 Pro Mini with its black dress and gray belly, but it remains an archetype of compactness with dimensions of barely 29.3 x 10.9 cm. As for the height, it will take a good 4 cm, which causes a certain tension on the hands, and a palm rest is not provided to compensate for this, which is very bad.

In terms of build quality and design, the brand uses the K70 Pro RGB formula with a particularly solid chassis reinforced with an aluminum plate and double-injected PBT switches that are more resistant than classic ABS plastic. Moreover, it is well stable, which is tangible in use, and its rough coating grips the fingers well.

With the 60% format, TKL models are shortened further by removing the arrow keys, “Page up/down” area, “Insert”, etc. And the whole row of ‘F’ function keys which are usually on top of the keyboard and we end up with barely 62 keys (compared to about 105 on a full keyboard).

Therefore, these keyboards are for those who like simplicity, a no-frills desk, have the space to handle the mouse without restrictions or the ability to move their keyboard without asking too many questions. However, in this regard, it weighs 640 grams on the scale, and in the end it turns out to be heavier than it looks. Only 62 keys, of course, but that doesn’t mean skipping all the classic keyboard features: each key is doubled with a secondary function activated by pressing the “Fn” key.

So we can do almost everything and thus we will find everything you need, from the arrow keys on “IJKL” to the multimedia controls, via the keys F1 to F12. If this keyboard is mainly for gamers who generally only need a small portion of the keys, it is possible to use the office or developer, provided you take the time to get used to the locations of each function. and hold the Fn key at the same time over time. We’ll also find as additional keys allowing navigation and clicking with the mouse pointer – which is frankly not practical, but can be used on a TV – and other keys to manage the Bluetooth connection of three different devices, or adjust keyboard backlight effects on the fly.

Alternatively, RGB customization can be done through Corsair iCue software for clarity by assigning colors key-by-key, applying a full range of effects to them, and saving up to 50 profiles in the onboard keyboard memory. You can, of course, change the shortcuts and configure the macros in the program, and the LED strip that goes around the keyboard is also customizable, but that’s not all…

Corsair has chosen to go the extra mile by offering parts so that everyone can customize the aesthetic to their liking. The plastic chip around this LED strip can be replaced with a red, blue or white model and all switches can be replaced in a range of colors (green, pink, blue, white, etc.) for about thirty euros. The manufacturer also provides in the box a stylized spacebar as well as a key with its logo and two extractors: one for keys, one for keys.

Actually, this is it hotswappables (interchangeable) to be able to replace all or part of them with technically different keys (click, tactile or quick for example). We’ll go back to the ones Corsair picked for the K70 Pro Mini in Part Two, but it’s worth noting that only three-branched switches are compatible, excluding those with five pins, limiting the possibilities.

Connectivity-wise, the keyboard works either in Bluetooth as mentioned, or through a 2.4GHz receiver based on the internal Slipstream technology that provides ultra-low latency as well as a 2000Hz polling rate for peripherals for video game use. .

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