MSI Vigor GK71 Sonic keyboard review

Venix

2022-01-14 00:37

Loobyluggs:

Y'know. I looked and looked for a decent keyboard, but all I found was either out of stock products, or, keyboards which were overpriced and had the keys above the keyboard. You need to bear in mind I was replacing a very old and very worn out G15 from 2005, which although still works, does have roll on some keys sometimes. What is surprising to me is the wear on the actual plastic which has turned a different color than the rest of the keyboard where my WASD resting position is. I'll post a picture if I can remember sometime. After nearly a year of trying to find a good replacement, I decided to just get a cheap temporary keyboard - which turned out to be the best keyboard I had used in such a long time: the Lenovo K300 RGB. Soft and fast, pin-sharp responsiveness. Highly recommended.

as someone that prefers membrane keyboards you have my attention , may i ask are the keys prone to washing off the char or they are fine ? edit: the keys are painted 🙁

#5982291

Dimitrios1983

2022-01-14 04:51

Wish I got this. I'm kinda disappointed with this new Corsair keyboard but it was $50-$70. There was a fruit fly that seemed to be attracted to the light with BLUE but not RED lol I ended up killing the fly with a rolled up paper and ruined my SPACE BAR. Now the bar gets stuck to one side if I don't precisely hit the bar dead center. I never had a fly problem but boy that stupid fly loved the lighting on that board. For a while I seriously had to turn off the lighting off at night a few times! If your wondering I have OCD and I'm not a slob. Also the keys are smaller/skinnier and feel lose. I love the audio features but the CAPSLOCK white button is blinding and annoying while gaming.

#5982296

mikeysg

2022-01-14 05:16

FrostNixon:

I hope this is a paid sponsorship, because the pricing is not reasonable, there are way cheaper alternatives which use Cherry, instead of trash switches, also it looks terrible.

It doesn't have to be Cherry MX switches to be good, there're alternatives like Gateron, Kailh, even Razer's own switch (I'm NOT a fan of their switch types, but to each his own).

#5982342

FrostNixon

2022-01-14 09:30

anthos:

Haven't ordered it yet but I am intending to get the Roccat Vulcan Pro which costs near twice as much as this one and doesn't have cherry switches.. soooo.. me?

So not you, since you havent ordered it.

#5982344

Loobyluggs

2022-01-14 09:40

Venix:

as someone that prefers membrane keyboards you have my attention , may i ask are the keys prone to washing off the char or they are fine ? edit: the keys are painted 🙁

They are RGB backlit, and, the keyboard is cheap - so, painted or not, you are gonna see which keys are what, and, I would probably argue that with a cheap keyboard, the actual time it would take for anything to rub off is gonna be in the 10 year ballpark. It also has all of the functions you want for volume control, illumination settings, software you can specify the colors of the RGB, with animated stuff for fun - as well as a gamer mode to turn the windows key off and on. It takes a gentle touch, and as mentioned is pin sharp and responsive. Cheap, yet high quality - with a decent amount of weight to it so it doesn't slide across the desk at all. As an aside, Lenovo are the number one manufacturer of PC's in the world with 'like 25% of the global market, and now I see why!

#5982383

Venix

2022-01-14 12:01

Loobyluggs:

They are RGB backlit, and, the keyboard is cheap - so, painted or not, you are gonna see which keys are what, and, I would probably argue that with a cheap keyboard, the actual time it would take for anything to rub off is gonna be in the 10 year ballpark. It also has all of the functions you want for volume control, illumination settings, software you can specify the colors of the RGB, with animated stuff for fun - as well as a gamer mode to turn the windows key off and on. It takes a gentle touch, and as mentioned is pin sharp and responsive. Cheap, yet high quality - with a decent amount of weight to it so it doesn't slide across the desk at all. As an aside, Lenovo are the number one manufacturer of PC's in the world with 'like 25% of the global market, and now I see why!

last time i had a zalman backlit keyboard (( i know no lenovo :P )) the wasd keys rubbed off with in 6 months .. and they where just half fingerprint size dots :P , if they where not painted over this keyboard would have been on the way already ! (( the lenovo one :P ))

#5982484

Loobyluggs

2022-01-14 16:35

Venix:

last time i had a zalman backlit keyboard (( i know no lenovo 😛 )) the wasd keys rubbed off with in 6 months .. and they where just half fingerprint size dots 😛 , if they where not painted over this keyboard would have been on the way already ! (( the lenovo one 😛 ))

My G15 keys are painted, and they still, after nearly 18 years, have not fully worn off (checks) in fact the only keys to have suffered are the "S" key and the "n" key, oddly, but it is sooo bad the actual black plastic layer is the thing that has worn off, I will post a piccie at someone point, but not today.

#5982501

tsunami231

2022-01-14 16:53

check/acceptable for mechanical KB i guess, accectible price in general for KB, not even close imo then again I still use membrane kb's I refuse to pay the price for mechanical keyboard. Dont care one bit for RGB crap, look like it would real easy to vaccum the gunk out of it though. slim design too

#5982527

Venix

2022-01-14 17:27

Loobyluggs:

My G15 keys are painted, and they still, after nearly 18 years, have not fully worn off (checks) in fact the only keys to have suffered are the "S" key and the "n" key, oddly, but it is sooo bad the actual black plastic layer is the thing that has worn off, I will post a piccie at someone point, but not today.

I guess there is quality on paints too !

tsunami231:

check/acceptable for mechanical KB i guess, accectible price in general for KB, not even close imo then again I still use membrane kb's I refuse to pay the price for mechanical keyboard. Dont care one bit for RGB crap, look like it would real easy to vaccum the gunk out of it though. slim design too

Rgb is something i do not care as well , but backlight is nice for the night. So if i get an rgb keyboard i would just stick it to one color that i will be on only when i need it .

#5982573

Loobyluggs

2022-01-14 19:06

Venix:

Rgb is something i do not care as well , but backlight is nice for the night. So if i get an rgb keyboard i would just stick it to one color that i will be on only when i need it .

That is precisely what I do.

#5982655

Abc666

2022-01-14 23:21

Not even PBT caps, is it even standard layout ? No hotswap either. I dont see how this board has anything going for it all compared the other "real" keybaords.

#5982680

tsunami231

2022-01-15 00:21

Venix:

I guess there is quality on paints too ! Rgb is something i do not care as well , but backlight is nice for the night. So if i get an rgb keyboard i would just stick it to one color that i will be on only when i need it .

yes at night the RGB or what you want to call it come in handy, I turn off at night too less i actual using the keyboard

#5985902

bst857

2022-01-22 19:16

Hilbert Hagedoorn:

No, we never ever charge for reviews, unlike some other media outlets.

That may be true, but you do seem kind of snobby about what you'll do news or reviews on. I sent you my product which was a couple of mechanical keyboards with silent mechanical switches, and at the time it was about a third of the cost of other silent mechanical keyboards. So it was kind of unique in that regard and something that might be interesting to your readers, at least more interesting than another "new cisco switch for enterprise use". But didn't even get a reply 😀 It makes me wonder how many interesting things you miss out on while you do another MSI/Asus etc review.