Functional usage
Functional usage
The K65 RGB MINI comes with Cherry MX Red key switches. An actuation force of 45 cN is required for the pre-travel of two millimetres. The overall travel distance is four millimetres. CHERRY MX RED switches strike a good balance between typing and gaming sessions. It’s not the quietest keyboard, although there’s no clicking (so that’s good). The keys can be reasonably quiet if you press them really softly, but it’s definitely not the easiest thing to do, and getting used to typing this way takes time. A quiet keyboard might come in handy for some users, especially for typing or gaming at night, but you’d need the MX Silent RED for that. Luckily, my computer is far from the bedroom (on a different floor), because the K65 RGB MINI can get a bit noisy in the heat of the moment.
We have tested the K65 RGB MINI over many hours of typing and gaming. In games like Starcraft 2, PUBG, Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: WW2 or even DiRT: Rally, the keyboard responded to my actions quickly and very accurately. Precision is one of the reasons why people buy mechanical keyboards, and there’s definitely no shortage of it here. The option to record macros may come in handy in several contexts.
The keyboard passed the N-Key rollover test without any hiccups. The anti-ghosting technology serves its purpose great. I didn’t get any missed keystrokes when typing, either. The polling rate is 8,000 Hz and there’s also 4,000Hz key scanning, but to be honest I didn’t see any real, practical difference in this respect vs 1,000 Hz keyboards. Well, I don’t compete in any e-sports on a professional level, so maybe that’s the reason? The ergonomics are good overall, but one thing that’s missing here is a palm rest (yeah, this keyboard should be small, I know, but still the habit is strong once you get used to something like that). There’s also the fact that you need to use the Fn to access F-buttons, and that can be a struggle sometimes (but it’s a thing you can get used to). The media keys are also “hidden”, so this makes them less likely to be used than a dedicated set. The lighting is vivid and visible, and not annoying in the dark (you can disable it or bring it down a notch). There’s no USB pass-through here, but you can’t have it all in this form factor. Yes, this is a small keyboard, but it does offer a lot.
