Corsair K95 PLATINUM – Review and Specs
The build quality of the Corsair K95 PLATINUM keyboard is excellent. The board has an aluminum top plate with a very solid plastic base. The whole keyboard feels very well built, but the ABS keys feel a bit cheap. Some of them even come off quite easily. However, the new Corsair K95 RGB PLATINUM is announced to have double-shot PBT keys. The K95 is considerably better built than the Corsair K68.
Ergonomics are good. It has a tilt adjustment, and the feet open sideways, so you will not accidentally close them if you press the keyboard too hard. It also comes with a detachable wrist rest that has a reversible texture and offers two different options. However, if you’re looking for a wrist rest, check out the Razer BlackWidow Elite.
The backlight of the Corsair K95 is amazing. Each key is illuminated individually, and there is also an underglow Strip on the keyboard as well. You can control the brightness directly on the board. The overall typing experience is great. Linear switches are easy to press, but some people might prefer something a little more tactile with a swipe, like a Cherry MX Brown or blue. The keys feel stable and the spacing of the Keys is good to reduce typos. On the other hand, since the implementation point is fast to reach, incorrect entries can still occur easily. The Corsair K95 RGB PLATINUM is a great programming keyboard. The writing experience is excellent, but the short travel distance before the performance might be too sensitive for some, especially since it makes typos more frequent. However, the spacing of the help Keys and the card is very durable.
The Corsair K95 PLATINUM is a good office keyboard. The typing quality of this keyboard is excellent with Cherry MX linear speed keys, but some may prefer to go with the MX Brown variant, as such switches provide more tactile feedback with a shot before the driving force, but we haven’t tested that variant. The keyboard is also equipped with a good wrist rest, which helps with ergonomics, and is quiet enough not to disturb surrounding colleagues. Photo: Corsair Video: YouTube/Corsair
The Corsair K95 PLATINUM is an excellent gaming keyboard. It feels sensitive thanks to the very short pre-trip, and the keys are light to press to record. The build quality is excellent; it offers dedicated macro keys and is also fully illuminated with RGB, making it ideal for playing in the dark.
The keycaps exhibit a relatively simple design, with a font that might be perceived as unattractive due to its wide appearance. However, within the package, there’s a notable inclusion of swappable WASD keycaps and surrounding keys. These feature a textured, gray finish that complements the macro keys. The Cherry MX Speed switches provide a tactile experience akin to the linear-feel Red switches, demanding only 1.2mm for actuation. Keypress results in a swift and responsive actuation, particularly beneficial for fast-paced gaming scenarios like those found in first-person shooters.
Situated along the top-left edge of the K95 are three buttons: one for quick user profile selection, another for rapid brightness adjustment, and a key for locking the Windows key. The user button allows the storage of up to three distinct user profiles, facilitating seamless transitions between different settings or sharing the desktop with others. On the upper-right edge, a mute button and a textured metal roll-bar for volume control are conveniently placed. The volume control bar maintains the exceptional build quality seen throughout the K95. Additionally, standard media keys are positioned just above the number pad for quick and easy access.
Similar to other recent Corsair gaming keyboards, the K95 Platinum is configured using the Corsair Utility Engine (CUE). While many on-screen interfaces for keyboards can be cumbersome, the CUE system stands out as a user-friendly setup. It provides access to a diverse range of preset lighting configurations through a drop-down menu, allowing for easy customization of color, speed, and other settings. This software empowers gamers to create various actions, including double macros, re-mappable key assignments, timer countdowns, and more. With CUE, gamers can generate multiple color profiles and modes, facilitating distinct lighting and action configurations tailored to specific games or applications. Users can share and collaborate on lighting schemes by exporting and importing profiles, actions, and lighting on platforms like CORSAIR forums.
CUE offers the following features:
- Enable seamless and dynamic illumination with advanced lighting controls for supported CORSAIR devices.
- Construct intricate actions and macros for any programmable button on supported CORSAIR devices, providing nearly unlimited control.
- Customize icons and backgrounds to harmonize with your desktop using the new custom user interface.
- Unify all your CORSAIR gaming peripherals within a single application, streamlining the overall gaming experience.
The Corsair K95 RGB PLATINUM is an amazing gaming keyboard, and can also be used for a wide range of uses. It is equipped with Cherry MX Speed linear switches, which have a very low pre-travel distance and feel very responsive and fast. The keyboard is very well built and also features six dedicated macro keys. This is a full keyboard with RGB lighting that also has a strip for low brightness on the desktop. Unfortunately, the ABS keys feel a bit cheap, but there’s a newer model, the Corsair K95 PLATINUM X, with double-shot PBT caps if you prefer.
Corsair K95 RGB PLATINUM specs: