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Corsair relaunches popular gaming keyboard with optical switches

Monica J. White
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Corsair has just launched a new optical-mechanical keyboard, the K70 RGB TKL Champion Series. It’s not an entirely new device, as it’s a refresh of an existing product, but it’s the first K70 with the optical-mechanical design.

The keyboard, primarily aimed at gamers, features a tenkey-free design and quick response times.

Corsair RGB K70 TKL keyboard seen from above alongside a mouse, headphones, and monitor.
Corsair

Optical keyboards use infrared light and photoelectric switches in order to track keypresses and react to them faster. To that end, Corsair’s new keyboard certainly seems like it will be pretty fast. The company talked about the keyboard in a blog post, describing the features that are said to make the K70 RGB TKL a viable contender on any list of the best gaming keyboards.

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The optical-mechanical key switches used in this keyboard have a short 1.0mm actuation distance. Corsair also enables 8,000Hz hyperpolling, which means that every keystroke will be transmitted to the PC really quickly. Corsair promises to be up to 8x faster than standard gaming keyboards, but it doesn’t divulge any particular models to compare the K70 RGB TKL to.

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Corsair’s new device seems to offer a good mix of durability and performance. The frame is made out of aluminum and the PBT double-shot keycaps have been precision-molded in order to stand the test of time and wear and tear. Corsair guarantees that each switch will be able to last through a whopping 150 million keystrokes.

Aimed at gamers, the keyboard seems to also be prepared for esports at large, with features that are useful for travel and various tournaments. It connects via a USB-C cable that can be removed at any time in order to pack it up, and it has a switch at the back that helps users follow tournament rules. The switch locks the RGB lighting to a static color and also disables all keyboard macros, ensuring that the player is unable to use them while competing.

Corsair K70 RGB TKL
Corsair

Although the switch will not be useful to the majority of users — after all, how many of us are esports champions — the keyboard itself looks like quite a treat for gamers who care about input speed and accuracy. The fancy RGB lighting is just a bonus, and it’s very customizable, too. Using Corsair’s proprietary iCUE software, you can program each key and save up to 50 lighting profiles. The keyboard comes with onboard storage that lets you save these profiles and bring them with you if you travel.

Corsair K70 RGB TKL is already available directly from Corsair’s official website, priced at $150. An older variant of the keyboard seems to have received a discount on Amazon and is now much cheaper at just $100, making it a decent alternative, but one that lacks the optical capabilities that the latest model provides.

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Monica J. White
Monica J. White
Computing Writer
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
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