WEBVTT

00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:07.120
Linus Tech Tips coverage of CES 2014 is brought to you by ncx.com, your source

00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:13.920
for great technology, selection, and service along with Corsair Memory and

00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:17.359
Western Digital. This, you guys, is not

00:00:13.920 --> 00:00:22.400
your average Corsair K70 keyboard. This

00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:25.760
is the world's first fully RGB backlit

00:00:22.400 --> 00:00:28.080
mechanical keyboard featuring Cherry MX

00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:31.679
switches. Now, you might say to me, Lionus, we have tons of RGB backlit

00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:36.320
keyboards. Why would we care about mechanical? In which case, I would direct you to any of the other videos

00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:42.000
that we've ever made about why mechanical keyboards are vastly superior

00:00:39.360 --> 00:00:47.200
and particularly Cherry MX is a favorite of all the staff here at Linus Tech

00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:51.760
Tips. So, you cannot replicate the quality, at least from what we've tried

00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:54.960
in the past, with other differently branded switches. It just doesn't really

00:00:53.680 --> 00:01:00.719
happen. and they're still manufactured in Germany and there's not much stuff you can say that about these days. All

00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:05.040
right, so onto this keyboard. First up, well, okay, it's RGB back lit. Second

00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:08.720
up, what I was kind of expecting to see was programmable backlighting, and you

00:01:07.360 --> 00:01:13.760
could just kind of change the full backlight to any color, maybe like a WD

00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:19.840
zone to go along with one of the other zones or something like that. What we

00:01:15.520 --> 00:01:22.560
got is probably one of the most complex

00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:26.479
um one of the most complex keyboards ever. I mean, they're actually using a

00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:30.640
digital signage processor from Panasonic. The first time this has ever

00:01:28.720 --> 00:01:35.119
been implemented in a consumer-grade device in order to drive what is

00:01:32.720 --> 00:01:38.720
effectively an LED display. I mean, that's what this processor is for. It's

00:01:36.479 --> 00:01:43.600
for digital signage, large format LED displays, and that's what we're looking

00:01:40.720 --> 00:01:48.479
at here. So, I've seen 16.8 8 million color RGB back lit keyboards that really

00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:52.240
when you tinker around with them and you configure all the settings in the in the

00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:56.880
you know the color dials is probably more like 256 colors that is not the

00:01:55.360 --> 00:02:01.840
case here. We have an extremely wide variety. We've also got Okay. All right.

00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:04.399
Let's talk about the LED reliability. So, you've got all these colors and one

00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:11.360
of the things that I was really concerned about when I first heard about this keyboard was you see you see LEDs

00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:14.640
die. I have a K90 that's got a dead LED on it. It's like, yeah, okay, it still

00:02:12.959 --> 00:02:18.959
works just fine. The key switch works, but it's not perfect anymore, and that

00:02:17.440 --> 00:02:22.879
doesn't make me happy. So, what I was informed of is that they're using a

00:02:21.040 --> 00:02:27.040
completely different method of mounting the LEDs in order to dramatically

00:02:24.959 --> 00:02:32.239
increase reliability. Now, the way that LEDs on keyboards apparently usually die

00:02:29.760 --> 00:02:38.560
is actually from ESD, so electrostatic discharge. And by mounting the LEDs

00:02:34.640 --> 00:02:42.239
within the key switch rather than to the

00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:44.239
PCB of the keyboard, you can virtually

00:02:42.239 --> 00:02:48.800
eliminate that. So in spite of the fact that the LEDs are much more complex, we

00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:53.280
should still be looking at a situation where it's very difficult for them to

00:02:50.959 --> 00:02:57.040
fail even over an extended period of time. Now, in terms of lighting

00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:01.120
patterns, Corsair has pretty much everything under the sun. You can do

00:02:58.720 --> 00:03:07.599
your standard, you know, wave or breathing or fully lit here or color

00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:10.239
zones or individual colors on each key

00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:14.239
or you can have, you know, reactive uh reactive fadeins and fade outs and you

00:03:12.480 --> 00:03:18.959
can adjust the timing of that or like, you know, laser beams frigin zapping

00:03:16.720 --> 00:03:21.920
across the thing. And they have a very complex piece of software that's going

00:03:20.480 --> 00:03:26.800
to launch at the same time of this as this keyboard that's going to allow you to configure a lot of that stuff. Don't

00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:30.080
worry, there will be like an easy beginner's mode for just like, well, I

00:03:28.480 --> 00:03:34.640
just want an orange keyboard. Can't I just have that? No one's ever made an orange LED back lit keyboard before. Why

00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:38.799
can't I have that? If you want that, then that's still just fine. Or you can

00:03:36.720 --> 00:03:43.280
do some of the more advanced stuff. Or because they're keeping the software

00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:48.560
architecture open, you can even code your own way of lighting up the keyboard

00:03:46.640 --> 00:03:52.239
and have it do whatever you could possibly want. You can share that with

00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:56.080
friends. And Corsair is encouraging the modding community to just kind of take

00:03:54.000 --> 00:04:00.000
charge and run away with it if that's what they want to do. In addition to

00:03:58.480 --> 00:04:03.040
being fully programmable in terms of the lighting, every single key on the

00:04:01.519 --> 00:04:07.439
keyboard is fully programmable. We've seen this with uh uh Steeler's latest

00:04:05.760 --> 00:04:11.200
Steel Series Engine software, and it's something that I'm personally very

00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:16.239
excited about. I think it's great. So, not only could you remap one to seven if

00:04:13.920 --> 00:04:19.600
you wanted to, you could remap it to uh control 7. So, you can do macros, you

00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:23.360
can do straight remappings, whatever you want. Every key on the keyboard can be

00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:27.600
changed into something else if you prefer it that way. Now, of course, the

00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:32.080
question you're going to be asking me now is Lionus, how many hundreds of

00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:36.960
dollars am I going to have to pay for it? And Corsair

00:04:34.960 --> 00:04:41.280
is being very wishy-washy about it. They won't tell me a straight price. I was

00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:46.639
like, okay, tell me this. Is it 200? Is it 250? and they said, "Okay, we won't

00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:53.759
tell you, but we will tell you that there are RGB backlit membrane keyboards

00:04:50.479 --> 00:04:56.479
that will cost more than this, which to

00:04:53.759 --> 00:05:02.000
me means under 200. Although, I could be wrong, but I hope I'm right. Cuz if this

00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:04.240
comes in around 150 to 170, I think it

00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:09.360
is a knockout punch to pretty much anyone who is not delivering such an

00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:14.080
advanced LED backlit mechanical keyboard. It's going to be available in

00:05:11.280 --> 00:05:18.000
red switches, black switches, and no, not black switches, red switches, brown

00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:22.160
switches, and blue switches at the start. And uh so that addresses one of

00:05:20.479 --> 00:05:27.520
my other complaints about Corsair keyboards, and that's that they seem to always lead with red. And I'm more of a

00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:31.680
brown guy. So there you go, guys. If you have always wanted an Easter themed

00:05:29.520 --> 00:05:37.120
keyboard, Corsair will be delivering it sometime this year. Don't miss any of

00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:40.880
our CES 2014 coverage here, guys. Our trip to the show is powered by ncx.com,

00:05:39.440 --> 00:05:46.240
your source for great technology selection and service, as well as our

00:05:43.919 --> 00:05:49.520
other sponsors, Corsair, which has nothing to do with why I'm raving about

00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:53.120
this keyboard. If you guys will notice, I was actually raving about this before

00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:57.440
I'd even seen it yet because I was super excited, and a Western Digital. Big

00:05:55.919 --> 00:05:59.520
thanks to those guys for allowing us to be