Corsair Raptor K40 Keyboard Review

by E. Fylladitakis on 4/10/2014 6:00 PM EST
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  • SodaAnt - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    I have two different mechanical keyboards, and I've never even paid the same amount as this keyboard for them. I'd much rather get a barebones mechanical keyboard than a full featured but mushy keyboard. At the end of the day the point of a keyboard is to hit the keys, and rubber domes don't do a very good job at that.
  • EnzoFX - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    Same here, would never get or recommend something like this. With great mechanical ones going for ~$60 (Looking at Coolermaster, but not Rosewill) there's just no point in these mushy ones for me.
  • cbrownx88 - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    Whats wrong with the Rosewill's? I have two of the RK-9000's, one blue for work, browns for gaming at home, and they're wonderful.

    No gimmicky features, full NKRO, and HEAVY. Sounds like a wonderful recipe to me
  • Ammohunt - Monday, April 14, 2014 - link

    I own two rosewills myself with Cherry red switches best money ever spent on a keyboard..clickity clack.
  • CleavonBuford - Wednesday, April 23, 2014 - link

    Ain't a thing wrong with the Rosewill mechanical keyboards. I've got an RK-9100 MX Blue (blue backlighting too) and it is fantastic. I got it on sale so I paid about $85-90 for it. Money well spent. I love the clickity clack.
  • chrome_slinky - Saturday, May 10, 2014 - link

    There are MANY complaints on Newegg about the Rosewill Mechanical keyboards. They seem to have a mini-USB connection on them, and it gets difficult to keep the keyboard plugged in.

    Had there only been a few of these, I might have purchased one, but there are more than a few, and I really don't like to return things, especially when some of those people have stated that because the problems set in after 30 days use, Newegg was not helpful whatsoever, and Rosewill was difficult to deal with.
  • Mr Perfect - Saturday, April 12, 2014 - link

    Yeah, no kidding. There's clearly a market for boards in between bottom of the line $12 throw-aways and the expensive mechanicals, but an $80 rubber domer isn't anywhere near that. That's more then some mechanicals!
  • Alexey291 - Saturday, April 12, 2014 - link

    Gaming with a mech keyboard is often considered to be very awkward (I share that view). Typing with a loud and clicky keyboard always feels silly (especially if you're not some shut-in and have others in your household).

    Oh and mech keyboards usually hold minimal extra features yet present manufacturers with amazing margins.

    Great deal for us consumers all in all.
  • LordOfTheBoired - Sunday, April 13, 2014 - link

    Not all microswitched keyboards click.
    And I doubt the profit margins on microswitched keyboards are that much larger than their rubber-domed brethren. I'd wager the situation is actually the opposite in most cases, just because materials and assembly costs are so insanely low for a rubber-dome keyboard.
  • Mr Perfect - Sunday, April 13, 2014 - link

    Right, there are people who will want something like this, but why the hell is it $80? It's entirely made of plastic, macro keys are par for the course, and there's no mention of NKey. Something like this would probably be worth $40 or maybe $50 if you really wanted the customizable backlighting.
  • Alexey291 - Monday, April 14, 2014 - link

    Oh I agree - this thing is a pointless oddity that shouldn't really exist xD

    But then again its Corsair so...
  • artifex - Sunday, April 13, 2014 - link

    I think it's more than I paid for my K60, after rebate at least.
  • thomas-hrb - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    I agree with @SodaAnt. I have lighting turned all the way down on my keyboards to avoid being distracted. I like to play in a darkened room and have the screen brightness set to allow me to experience as wide a dynamic range as possible. Blacks need to be black and even the smallest amount of contrast when you are in a dark tunnel gets obliterated by the keyboard backlighting. IMHO if you are a gamer worth your salt, you do not need backlighting on your keybaord or mouse to know where they are or how they function. Looking at your peripherals instead of the screen will only get you killed.
  • cbrownx88 - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    Amen - looking down is for... console gamers or something... lol
  • ShieTar - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    Depends on the game I think. Just hitting WASD and a few surrounding triggers is one thing, but text-chatting in an MMO is quiet another thing. Personally I would love to have a switchable light with a dimming option, but sadly MS refuses to give me a version of the Natural 4000 with this feature. And after a decade of getting used to it, I don't want to switch to another Keyboard anymore.
  • shellls - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    I bought this keyboard for $40 AR. At that price it's a very good keyboard.
  • inspire2 - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    You can get a unicomp with Buckling Springs for $80. Monoprice sold a bare bones Cherry MX blue for $54. I don't know what the market is for this board, but its clearly not going to get me to buy it at that price. If it was say $29.99 then maybe.
  • Impulses - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    Paid $80 for my Corsair K80 a few years ago, thru a combination of MIR and Newegg instant discount. Still enjoying it but probably wouldn't have paid more than $100 for it, Ducky was my second choice... I've bought and gifted Rosewills for like $60, granted with no backlight, but $80 for a membrane board does seem steep... Wonder what the BoM on it is.
  • rpmrush - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    I recently switched to a Rosewill RK-9200 with reds. Fully mechanical and dual backlit. I do use the backlighting at night. Does help if you lose your way during a heated battle. Super hyped on adrenaline..looking down is faster than scrambling to find your way. But hey...I'm just a seasoned PC gamer who lacks the ego of most...I guess I'm a vaj for looking down.
  • 7amood - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    The basic design has a lot of similarities to Logitech G710+.
    http://gaming.logitech.com/assets/47814/12/g710-ga...
    The only problem I have with the G710+ is that I keep hitting G1 instead of Esc. I tried to teach myself to ignore the G1, but this only led me to hit the F1 key by mistake. Disabling the G1 from the software doesn't help that much. I wish the extra G1-6 keys were detachable.
  • MrPete123 - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    Some of these new keyboards are cool and all, but has anyone made a mechanical switch keyboard with a layout similar to Microsoft's Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000? I used to be a ergonomic keyboard naysayer until I started needing one :)
  • 2kfire - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    This.
    I've read Jarred's reviews and I think the TECK would work best for me but I don't know how long it would take to get used to the relocated enter, Ctrl, backspace, etc. Plus the wife would probably hate it!
    The natural on the other hand, would be great, were it not for the mushy keys!
  • Splendor - Saturday, April 12, 2014 - link

    This is the holy grail for me. For some reason when people make a split ergonomic keyboard they go crazy with the layout. I wish someone would just make a simple ergonomic split keyboard with a standard layout and mechanical keys.
  • LordConrad - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link

    I have two Unicomp Classic keyboards and I love them. They're big, sturdy, and I can use them as a weapon when I'm not typing. :-)
  • pierrot - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    aw man i thought the mx rgb had arrived when i saw this article
  • ol1bit - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    LOL 36KB of onboard memory! Wow less than my Atari 800 had in 1982! Really, with sd ram costing less than $1 per gb retail, why even show you have 36K of memory? Stupid. better to list what functions you can do than the amount of memory you have.
  • lilkwarrior - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    I think a Das Keyboard 4 Pro or a Dak Keyboard 4 Ultimately needs to be reviewed on AnandTech to give the German company their due with their elite keyboards. They're releasing this month.

    It'd be interesting how the Corsair Raptor K40 compares to that.
  • QChronoD - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    I'd have to say that it looks like this keyboards biggest selling feature is that it will be super easy to clean. Since all the keys are raised up and there aren't walls around the edges crumbs and dust should fall right out with a little compressed air or a swab of some type.
  • Impulses - Friday, April 18, 2014 - link

    Yeah, that side of it is a little underrated, I love it. Looks real sharp too.
  • mr_tawan - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    Personally I prefer keyboard with shallow key travel (not too shallow like surface's type cover), as I can type faster with less afford. I like keyboard that has keys similar to hi-end laptop, but laid out like the standard PC keyboard.

    I don't know if there's such keyboard with shorter travel or not. Can someone suggest ?
  • aliasfox - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    Apple's wired desktop keyboard uses the same keys as their laptops, but with a full layout (num pad, full size arrows, pg up/pg down keys). I prefer their older keyboards (and Thinkpad keyboards), but this one's not bad. The aluminum base also means it types more firmly than many keyboards with a plastic base.

    Hope this helps.
  • Beany2013 - Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - link

    I concur on the Apple keyboards, although you might want to look at getting a second hand one, as the prices new are hilariously high (at least in the UK).

    I've been using a 2008 Macbook as my daily hack for a few years now and I'm completely at ease with the layout and key depth - it's a very nice mix.

    I got myself an MS natural keyboard for my desktop, which is nice, but I've found that I take a bit of time to get used to it again after a day at work (dealing with other keyboards - I'm a techy), whereas with the Macbook I can just drop straight back in at full speed; so there's clearly something about a flat/straight layout that my hands like, even if my wrists will no doubt complain about it in a few more years time!
  • smithrd3512 - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    Wonder how it compares to my old IBM PS/2 101 Keyboard. Its from the 80's and still works.
  • Hrel - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    I reviewed the K60 and it was the best keyboard I've ever used. No missed keystrokes at all, ever.
  • pjargon - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    Sure would be nice if someone would make a quality keyboard like this in an ergonomic form factor
  • liffie420 - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    Am I the only person who finds it odd that on the design of the board itself it appears as though the keys are hovering above the plane?? You know typically most keyboards mechanical or not that I have seen typically have the keys semi recessed so you don't have the full height of the individual keys exposed. Maybe I am just bonkers who knows, it does look like it would make cleaning easier though.
  • ggathagan - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    Other than their low-end Raptor LK1, this is Corsair's design standard for all of their keyboards.
    It's actually counter-productive for the backlighting.
    The lighting that comes from underneath each key overpowers what comes through each key, making it less useful, since the keys don't stand out.
  • Beany2013 - Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - link

    Acer did something similar with their keyboards a few years back, and then stopped doing it, because it was just *awful* to type on.

    This one looks to be a rather different (and rather better) animal.

    But those Acer 'floating island' keyboards - oh, the horror, the wobby, inaccurate horror.
  • Impulses - Friday, April 18, 2014 - link

    Since the stems for mechanical keys are more sturdy this behaves entirely different than those Acer keyboards, it's no different than a regular mechanical tbh, metal plate's in the same place (maybe just raised) and the sides are gone. It's a really nice feature IMO, I'm surprised it hasn't been copied, I don't even mind the splash out look of the backlight.
  • Earballs - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link

    "That said, quite a few gamers tend to prefer non-mechanical switches"

    Most gamers have never tried a mechanical keyboard.
  • JarredWalton - Saturday, April 12, 2014 - link

    I was actually at a CES meeting with a keyboard company and one of the reps (an avid gamer) was emphatic that he would rather have a good non-mechanical for gaming, but that for typing he still prefers mechanical. It's not unheard of. I do think you need to be at a pretty high level in terms of gaming skills before the keyboard makes that much of a difference, but finger fatigue from longer key travel is certainly possible.
  • Tal Greywolf - Saturday, April 12, 2014 - link

    I personally have the Corsair Raptor K30 Keyboard, which is similar to the K40 save that it has only one color (red). I bought it for several reasons: One, I wanted something that would be comfortable for me to use on a daily basis. Two, I wanted something that would hold up to my typing habits and yet be comfortable (I currently have to deal with a broken wrist). And finally, I wanted something reasonably priced (it was $45).

    Frankly, while I might have grown used to a mechanical keyboard, the K30 has done just fine for what I use it for, which is NOT gaming. And while I know the focus around here tends to be for gamers, there are those of us average users who would find this keyboard perfectly fine, and save the $$ for other things.
  • crimson_stallion - Sunday, April 13, 2014 - link

    In all honesty I really don't get the fascination with mechanical keyboards at all.

    Read all the hype, bought one. Used it for about 6 months and I tried my absolute best to find excuses to like it but I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy using it. After about 6 months of using the most expensive keyboard I had ever bought, I threw it away and got a Logitech G510 which has kept me happy ever since.

    I had a Razr keyboard (the one with the blue backlight, can't remember the model) so maybe it was just a bad model. Really frustrated the hell out of me though.
  • kevith - Sunday, April 13, 2014 - link

    I just don´t get what´s so fantastic about thes mech keys.They are way, way too high. It´s impossible to write fast and there´s errors in typing all the time, because you have to lift the fingers so ridicously high up in the air to hit the next letter.

    And then the noise. And the price.

    Luckily we´re all different, but it´l never be a choise of mine.
  • jabber - Sunday, April 13, 2014 - link

    Okay will this keyboard suffer from the issue that my old back lit Saitek gamer keyboard did? Basically if you are one of those people that doesn't bite your fingernails the keycaps wear off pretty quick and it looks a mess.
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  • philipma1957 - Monday, April 14, 2014 - link

    I did a review on this for Newegg. Not bad for typing. Not really a gamer keyboard and leaving out a usb port was cheesy price saver.
  • Mr Alpha - Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - link

    This paragraph is really weird:

    " Although this picture is wrong in a number of ways, it depicts a simple truth: the number that a human can differentiate from one side of the visible wavelength to the other is between five and twenty colors. Females can usually differentiate more colors than males, although not to the level that the above picture depicts. The keyboard does allow you to select from millions of combinations, but most people will never care to choose a color outside the eight basic color settings provided by the software."

    While it is probably true that most people will be satisfied with one of the eight per-programmed colors I fail to see what that has to do with differences in color perception between the sexes or what that in turn has to do with the number of colors seen in pure wavelength light.
  • erple2 - Saturday, April 19, 2014 - link

    I think that the point being made was despite having access to millions of colors, people are going to settle for one of the eight presets. Also once you have picked a color, particularly given that you can't do per key colors, you're probably going to keep that one color. So why the hype for 16+ million? Despite being able to name many more colors, I still tell my wife that her blouse is green or blue or pink, not one of the sub colors.
  • dorekk - Saturday, June 21, 2014 - link

    I'm pretty sure humans can distinguish a hell of a lot more than twenty colors...

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