Overall and Final Verdict
So after spending a little time with the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum, and taking a closer look at its features and software lets break down everything and see where it lands in the market. It's no surprise really that one of the big features is the backlighting on this one. The individual key RGB lighting looks good, is smooth (unlike some previous Corsair keyboards), and is bright enough. The software to control the lighting and everything else on the K95 was surprisingly in depth and worked well. I was also really happy to see that Corsair stuck with the same floating key design that integrates the backplate into the entire keyboard. It makes the keyboard easier to keep clean without having to remove all of the keys. Having Cherry switches is also a big plus, especially with so many companies going with their own custom knockoffs.
As for downsides, I really would like to see Corsair drop the non-standard bottom row. It might not be an issue immediately, but if you ever need to replace keycaps later on it is going to be hard to get any with an odd bottom row. Especially when one of my big complaints is the weird off road texture on the spacebar. I was also a little worried about the clips that hold the wrist rest in place, they work and didn’t break in my short testing period but I have seen this design break many times in the past. The new LightEdge RGB strip across the top of the keyboard doesn’t look too bad when running multiple colors in spectrum but I didn’t really care for it when running a single color. Not listed in my Cons down below, but I’mn also not a fan at all of the mushy media keys as well.
Overall the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum ends up not being perfect but is still a quality keyboard. With a lot of companies dropping extra macro keys altogether, this might end up being one of the best options for people who still want those extra keys, even if Corsair dropped a few of the harder to reach rows. With the MSRP coming in at $199.99 the K95 RGB Platinum is far from the best value in the market as well. Corsairs options without extra Macro keys are always going to be cheaper due to the cost savings but this does end up being their most premium model. I hope that the price comes down a little to help it compete with keyboards like the G910 and the Blackwidow that both have a similar Macro row and RGB lighting at a lower price. At this price, it’s not the first keyboard I would recommend, but once the price settles hopefully it will fill in well in the “gaming” focused market.
Live Pricing: HERE
