PC Hardware and Peripherals Chapter 174: Newly upgraded, fully functional flagship multi-mode keypad CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS

If we talk about the current popular designs or selling points of mechanical keyboards, I personally think there are two main points, namely, hot-swappable switches and multi-mode wireless design. The large-scale application of these two on mechanical keyboards has further promoted the mechanical The development of the keyboard not only meets the needs of players to connect multiple devices at the same time, but also allows players to experience the fun of DIY. At the same time, it basically eliminates the trouble of using the keyboard caused by broken switches.

At present, the common hot-swappable switches of mainstream mechanical keyboards mainly come from TTC, GATERON and Cherry. Different users can choose according to their own preferences. The CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS multi-mode wireless switch shared this time The mechanical keyboard (hereinafter referred to as CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS) uses Cherry hot-swappable switches. CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS currently has silver switches and red switches for option, and other switches will be added later. I The silver shaft is chosen here.

As the K70 series mechanical keyboard, CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS retains the aluminum alloy frame design, AXON super-speed processing technology, and supports iCUE linkage control. A new upgrade has been carried out in every detail,

One is the wedge-shaped design with high front and low rear, which is one of the most distinctive designs of CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS. The left side of the front is the 2.4G module slot, the central position is the pirate ship logo, and the right side is the power button switch and type-C interface. With the detachable light strip at the bottom, the overall recognition is very high. Of course, if the thief ship logo in the center of the front also has its own light, the look and feel and playability will be further improved.

The second is the 360-degree surround light edge design of CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS, which improves the lighting effect and lighting area through built-in 28 LED lamp beads, and further enhances the immersive atmosphere.

The third is that CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS adopts a hot-swappable shaft design. The hot-swappable switch body has become a major selling point of the current mainstream mechanical keyboards, which further enhances the fun of DIY and allows the keyboard to have a higher degree of freedom. Basically, there is no need to worry about the problem of broken switches, and it also reduces maintenance costs. Players also Different shafts can be installed according to personal preference for experience. CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS uses a standard 2-pin design for hot-swappable shafts, and only needs to be aligned with the corresponding holes on the PCB when installing.

In addition, CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS can be installed with 3-pin mechanical switches, such as cherry switches, Kaihua Box switches, Jiadalong switches, third-party custom switches, etc., so that CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS has a higher Compatibility and playability.

The picture below is the installation effect diagram of the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS with the third-party hot-swappable switch custom-made Jiadalong silent red switch. The switch body can be installed and used normally, and the button functions are normal.

Fourth, Corsair K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS adopts the exclusive Slipstream wireless connection technology of Corsair. The advantage is that the connection delay is controlled below 1000Hz/1ms, and the response speed is on par with wired keyboards, which can satisfy some players to play video games in wireless mode. Competitive game needs.

Fifth, the built-in Bluetooth 4.2 module of the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS supports the connection of up to 3 Bluetooth devices, plus 2.4G wireless connection and USB wired connection, and can connect up to 5 devices, which is more than the number of devices that can be connected to mainstream three-mode keyboards need more.

Sixth, the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS has a built-in 8MB onboard storage. Through the powerful AXON chip, it supports up to 50 sets of onboard storage files, including custom macros and up to 20 layers of personalized RGB lighting effect settings. The keyboard is much higher, and it can better meet the needs of different users for quickly calling macro definitions and different lighting settings without the need for software.

After understanding the upgrade and changes, let me briefly unbox the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS. The CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS continues the design style of the K70 series in terms of outer packaging design, but it is much smaller in size.

The accessories part includes 1 type-C interface wire, 2 spare keycaps, 1 shaft puller, and 1 key puller. The hardness of shaft puller and key puller is very high, which is more convenient to use force. The 2 spare keycaps include the ESC keycap and the space bar keycap. The keycap pattern design is much better than the default installed keycap.

The CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS keyboard is small in size and weighs only 614.3 grams, but it has a lot of key functions, from multimedia combination keys, macro definition to lighting mode, etc. In addition, the 70 PRO MINI can also realize mouse Function, the function is relatively novel, and it can temporarily cope with the scene where there is no mouse to use when matching with desktop computers or smart TVs.

For any mechanical keyboard, the keycap material is very important, and I personally think that PBT keycaps are the first choice. CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS uses PBT light-transmitting keycaps designed with closed characters and two-color injection molding process. The inner wall of the keycap is relatively thick, with a thickness of 1.5mm, and the overall workmanship is very solid.

The interior of the keycap adopts the mainstream cross-shaped opening design, and players can replace the same type of keycap by themselves. The surface of the keycap is treated with a large particle spraying process, which improves the anti-slip effect and feel to a certain extent.

The picture below is the effect picture of the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS in the dark room under the default light brightness. The keycap has good light transmission. At the same time, the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS is also excellent in light leakage and light brightness control .

As can be seen from the above, the light transmission of the space bar keycap installed by default is very average, and it does not match the light transmission effect of other keycaps at all, so here I directly replace two spare keycaps, and the comparison shows that the spare keycaps The light transmission area is larger and the lighting effect is better.

The spare keycap with its own pirate ship pattern further improves the belief value and recognition.

For the Cherry Switch MX Silver Switch, the 1.2mm ultra-fast trigger key travel makes it very sensitive, and there are indeed problems with joint input, but it is not easy to bring fatigue to the user, which is why I think the Silver Switch is suitable for games. It is suitable for office, and the gold contact design and long life can bring players a stable and durable experience.

In the design of big keys such as backspace, shift, Enter, Space, etc., the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS adopts the mainstream and common satellite axis design. The role of the satellite axis is to greatly improve the stability of the keys, making it more suitable for typing and gaming use.

Next, let's take a look at other design parts of CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS. As a wireless mechanical keyboard, the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS has a built-in rechargeable lithium battery, but the battery capacity has not been found, but the charging current is higher than that of the same type of mechanical keyboard, reaching 5V/1.5A, which belongs to the fast charging level. In terms of battery life, the official mentioned that "32 hours of wireless battery life can be achieved when the RGB independent backlight and 360° surround light edge are turned on, and the battery life can reach 200 hours when the backlight is turned off", which can meet the needs of outdoor mobile office.

In terms of bottom design, the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS with wedge-shaped body design adopts a kick design, and the opening direction adopts an upward design. A non-slip pad design is added to the bottom of the foot support.

Finally, let’s talk about the actual experience of CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS.

For any wireless mechanical keyboard, the low latency and stability of the wireless connection is particularly important, after all, it will affect the actual use experience. The 2.4G mode is the same as the wired mode, basically there is no delay problem, and there is no compatibility problem. What we need to pay attention to under the Bluetooth connection is that the delay and stability also have a certain relationship with the connected device. From the Android phone used with the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS (OnePlus 9 Pro, ROG Phone3, OnePlus Plus 8T) and iPhone XR, iPad, the Bluetooth connection is stable, and there is no obvious delay.

The picture below is a screenshot of the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS connected to three Bluetooth devices. We can quickly switch between different devices through the combination of keys. Among the five connection modes of Bluetooth, 2.4G, and wired, the wired connection has the highest priority. Here is a small detail, that is, the power switch of the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS controls all connection modes, whether it is a wired connection or a wireless connection.

In terms of button experience, judging from the heavy use experience for several consecutive days, the experience of all the buttons on the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS is quite smooth, and the buttons are responsive. It's very good, there is no dryness, click or abnormal sound.

As a brand with its own ecosystem, CORSAIR uses iCUE software to manage its own products and third-party products. At the same time, we can also manage a single product through iCUE, such as detailed parameter settings, recording macros, firmware upgrades, etc. wait. Here I want to remind everyone that the iCUE software must be updated in real time, so that new hardware products can be recognized normally and necessary firmware updates can be performed.

For the keyboard, the main functions of the iCUE software include the adjustment of various specific parameters, such as lighting mode, macro recording function, custom shortcut keys and button functions, etc. The interface is clear and the functions are simple and easy to use, even beginners can quickly get started .

What needs to be explained here is that the CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS, like the K70 RGB PRO, both support the special function of 8K rate of return, but the 8K rate of return will have higher hardware requirements, and players need to manually select it.

In general, as the "successor" of CORSAIR K70 RGB PRO, K70 PRO MINI continues its excellent workmanship, 8KHz high rate of return under AXON super-processing technology, equipped with Cherry switches and PBT two-color injection keycaps. The appearance design, shaft body and other aspects have been completely upgraded. CORSAIR K70 PRO MINI WIRELESS has no corresponding reduction in functions under the premise of smaller size and fewer buttons. Instead, it realizes the same shortcut control function as a full-size keyboard through the onboard shortcut keys in a limited volume. , this is where K70 PRO MINI is worth learning from many keyboards of the same type. Hot-swappable switch body design, multi-mode wireless design and compact and portable body design are more suitable for those who want to match notebooks for mobile office, pursue the switch body experience, prefer lighting, just need to connect multiple devices at the same time, and have high requirements for keyboard functions crowd.

What I hope can be improved is to provide a basic spare hot-swappable shaft with the package, not necessarily Cherry, but also TTC or Jiadalong, and provide a dust cover to avoid dust.