Corsair K100 RGB Optical-Mechanical Wired Gaming Keyboard – OPX Switches – PBT Double-Shot Keycaps – Elgato Stream Deck and iCUE Compatible – QWERTY NA Layout – Black

Worth it if it is what you want
What I mean by the title is that this keyboard is for a specific group of people. Off the bat, this thing is EXPENSIVE! It is the priciest keyboard I saw when browsing, but given my preferences and my love for Corsair, I had to have it. It is also a laptop style keyboard, or that is to say that it use Ultra Low Profile (ULP) Tactile Switches from Cherry. The keys are thin, and have a very low actuation distance. It’s wireless via dongle or Bluetooth, and comes with a very nice black USB-C cable. It is thin, sleek, and beautiful in my opinion. I love the way the keys feel, look, and type. Overall it is the best keyboard on the market for me, and the one I use. I just think it could have done a couple of things differently, or even had an upgraded model(read further).Looks-wise, this is it. The thickest part of this keyboard is smaller than the thinnest part of my previous k70 LUX. I took a few moments to revel in that upon unboxing. The RGB is gorgeous, but doesn’t have what I have come to see as ‘obnoxious’ backlighting. The font of the keys is so much better than my k70. These have a professional look to them, and even with the RGB it doesn’t scream ‘gamer!’, even though it may satiate that look to those looking for it. It matches my full RGB PC ‘gamer’ setup very well. The brushed aluminum is gorgeous. They fumbled not using it for the keycaps as well. For the price? Come on. It would have an even more impressive shine and it would have such a luxurious feel, possibly staying colder and reducing sweat while improving grip(Corsair I would love to work on your design team ;). Other reviewers were talking about making the bottom metal as well. I don’t really care with that. The screen is beautiful, but why can’t I change the status LED colors, only the logo. Almost three hundred dollars. Small miss but these are the things you look for when you buy this type of keyboard. The brightness settings look good as well.It was easy to use and set up, but might be because I am very familiar with iCUE. Assuming this would be your only slipstream device and you download iCUE prior to plugging the keyboard in, setting it up would probably be pretty easy for anyone. The wireless dongle works very well as long as it is plugged in to a USB 3.0 port or better. Wired mode works great of course.I personally love the iCUE software. I love Corsair and I think iCUE is rightfully considered at the forefront of proprietary RGB tech. The keyboard was easy to set up and integrate, and it works so well. The keyboard has tons of profile slots for wired profiles and 2 for hardware slots. Some people seem to think that only the hardware profiles work in wireless mode. This is not true. You just have to set another lighting layer in your profile for wireless mode, which is only available to be edited in wireless mode. Vice Versa with wired mode editing. This is the only quirk I have encountered to date. Wired switches instantly with the profile button but wireless takes 2-3 seconds. Not ideal but I can live with it. Overall I love iCUE and it works well with the K100 Air.Now, my qualms and an idea. This keyboard is so thin. I said that as a positive earlier, and it is, but after a while of using this on my desk, it became a negative sometimes. Not to say I dislike the actual key and switch size, but the keyboard occasionally comes across as too low to the surface. Like I got a 3/4in book and set the keyboard on there and I liked how it felt a lot. It would be cool if Corsair could make, or include(price, again) some sort of mount you can sit the keyboard on to raise it up. Second, Corsair blew an opportunity not including Nexus into the screen on this keyboard. I’m gonna be mad when it comes out for the next generation right after I buy this one, but I digress. The screen on this one is cool and looks good, but the plastic cover is awful and being unable to change the indicator light colors is just bad.Corsair should have either incorporated Nexus into this keyboard, or had the option for a “K100 Air Pro” with the Nexus for slightly more.Overall, I love this keyboard. It fits my style. The reason I said to buy it if it is what you want, is because this keyboard won’t appeal to the type of person who likes a thick mechanical keyboard, blaring RGB, and their clicks as loud as possible. This is more lowkey and function oriented for typing. The ULP switches are slightly but noticeably quieter than the Cherry MX Red’s I had on the K70 LUX. The RGB does not light up my desk like the K70. This is a very subjective pro. It is so thin. Subjectively a pro and a con at times. ULP switches are another subjective pro. What I am getting at is that except for the couple grievances I had, I love this keyboard. This keyboard performs how it set out to. It is up to you to figure out if that is what you want. It IS what I want, and I appreciate how well it achieves that. Overall a 5/5 for me, and Corsair, I always have more product and design ideas.

One thing to note is that the keys are extremely sensitive, but its relatively easy to get used to it.

I have many keyboards bit only this one die very fast. Not at all reliable for that kind of money.It’s impossible to return it. I’m greeted by a crappy robot. I want a single button with a return form. But you deliberately make the return process complicated so that I give up halfway through.

It’s expensive, quite expensive… but the quality and typing experience are amazing. It would be really hard to go back to previous keyboard. The only issue I found is that I couldn’t make my Hue app to take control over the lighting and change the color of the keyboard. It’s possible to take control over the phillips lightstrip and sync the lights color. For some reason reason is only working one way. As you can see on the attached pic all my Razer devices are fully synchronized with my hue lights except for the keyboard.