Gaming keyboards best buy

Read the full review: Razer Huntsman v2 Analog. This compact gaming keyboard is among the best in performance, comfort, and looks, touting a classy brushed gunmetal finish and floating keys that brilliantly showcase its customizable RGB lighting.

The Everest Max is the result of a successfully backed Kickstarter campaign, a fully customizable modular keyboard where it feels like every aspect of the design has been planned by the PC enthusiast community. Its modular design includes a media deck with an innovative display dial with boundless potential to monitor or change your PC performance, a left or right-handed Numpad with four programmable macro keys similar to those seen on the Elgato Streamdeck, and a plush wrist rest.

Mountain even includes a set of hot-swappable key switches with the keyboard to help you get a feel for future modifications should you so choose. Read the full review: Mountain Everest Max.

By bang, we actually mean its 6 dedicated macro keys, 8MB on-board storage and aircraft-grade anodized brushed aluminum frame. But the beauty of Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition is that it manages to deliver fast performance without being the most expensive keyboard in town. Read our full review: Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition. The G TKL lives up to its name, delivering the speed you need for epic gaming while keeping things cable-free.

With a 1,Hz polling rate and 1. It also has a long wireless range and decent battery life considering its stunning RGB lighting. Small desk and travel friendly, this is without a doubt among the best gaming keyboards out there. Gamers with smaller desks or just want a more compact setup in general will find these ultra-compact gaming keyboards a boon, and the Corsair K65 Mini is among the best of those.

Read the full review: Corsair K65 Mini. Not all great gaming keyboards have mechanical switches, as this affordable Apex keyboard is proving. The budget-minded SteelSeries Apex 3 may come with a few concessions, but it also boasts some impressive features that more than make up for those compromises.

Another is its reactive and customizable zone RGB illumination to make your gaming experience all the more impressive. Read the full review: SteelSeries Apex 3. Gone are the days when mini keyboards were a novelty. Some corners are cut, yes. It also has dedicated media keys and a handy Game Mode button to ensure you don't accidentally minimize games.

It has decent latency that will provide a responsive-feeling experience for most gamers, but competitive gamers will likely prefer something with lower latency. Unfortunately, it doesn't feel very sturdy and is made of plastic that flexes a lot. The ABS keycaps also feel cheap as they're slippery and prone to oil shine from fingers. Additionally, it doesn't come with a wrist rest, though EVGA does sell one separately.

Altogether this keyboard is a fantastic choice if you prefer the feel of non-mechanical switches, and it's much more affordable than many other gaming-focused models. Nov 26, We've restructured this article by transforming our alternative picks to standalone categories. Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best keyboards for gaming for most people. We factor in the price a cheaper product wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it , feedback from our visitors, and availability no keyboard that is difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere.

If you would like to do the work of choosing yourself, here is the list of all our gaming keyboard reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no product is perfect for every use, most keyboards are great enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them. Be sure to know your key switch preferences before choosing. Get insider access.

Best Keyboards. Keyboard Recommendations. View all keyboard recommendations. All Keyboard Reviews Logitech. MX Keys. G Special Edition. G Prodigy.

G PRO Keyboard. POP Keys. BlackWidow V3. Huntsman Mini. Cynosa V2. Huntsman V2. Huntsman Elite. Cynosa Chroma. Ornata Chroma. Huntsman Tournament Edition. Ornata V2. K RGB. Apex Pro.

Apex 7 TKL. Apex 3. Apex 5 Hybrid Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. Apex 3 TKL. Magic Keyboard Magic Keyboard for iPad Alloy Origins. Alloy Core RGB. Alloy Origins Alloy Elite 2.

Alloy FPS Pro. One 2 Mini V1. One 2. One 2 SF. Mecha Mini V2. Shine 7. That's not even considering its wireless capability, which really feels like the icing on the cake of the already impressive Keychron K2.

Read our full Keychron K2 review. The Wooting Two HE has a trick up its sleeve: analog action. This is especially useful in games that blend gameplay that best suits both analog and digital inputs on a regular basis, such as Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA V, or Mass Effect. Wooting helped usher in the analog age of gaming keyboards, and it's still ruling the roost with every new keyboard it designs.

The latest, the Wooting Two HE, uses magnets and the Hall effect to achieve what is incredibly accurate analog movement across every key on the keyboard. And because every key is analog, you can use the analog functionality to your advantage in heaps of interesting ways. The Wooting Two HE is analog at its very best, and if you want heaps of customisability, this is the gaming keyboard for you. Read our full Wooting Two HE review. For a board that can be illuminated in up to What it lacks in a dedicated macro column, it makes up for with its reasonable price and quality, durable design.

It also includes an extra set of silver keycaps for WASD and the first four number keys to up its aesthetics. The board supports full N-key rollover, meaning you never have to worry about key presses not registering.

It is damned pretty, but you don't get the wrist rest Read our full HyperX Alloy Elite 2 review. I know there are people out there who prefer the soft embrace of a pure membrane switch, and that's fine—each to their own. While it may lack some of the features several gaming boards pack in, stuff like a dedicated wrist rest or media controls, it does boast Razer's extensive RGB lighting, which can be programmed on a per-key basis or applied by zones.

It's a solid, no-frills, nice-looking keyboard that's the best membrane option of a huge range that I've tested. There is a step-up version of the Cynosa available. We can talk for hours about the feel of mechanical switches versus membrane switches, but ultimately that's a personal choice.

What makes mechanical switches objectively superior, however, is their far extended life span. They can take far more punishment and keep responding long after a membrane switch has collapsed in on itself. The switch type is arguably the most important choice to make when picking your new gaming keyboard. Cherry mechanical switches are the most common and most recognizable, but there are a host of alternatives on offer, as well a bunch of upmarket, specialist switches to choose from.

Only you can make that call, but we would suggest that at least having the option to toggle the top row between function and media controls would be our choice. Having a discrete volume wheel can be super useful, however.

Keyboard size is absolutely a defining factor. Full-sized keyboards tend to offer the most features and a Numpad, but if you don't have space, then all of those extras you paid for will be useless. Tenkeyless boards the ones with no number pad and compact keyboards can be a great option, too, if you don't care about all the extra bells and whistles or you don't have any use for alt codes how barbaric!

The height to which a key needs to be pressed before it actuates and sends an input signal to a device. A switch that delivers an audible click every time it's pressed, generally right around the point of actuation.

The result of the actuation point and reset point in a switch being misaligned. This generally means a key needs to be lifted off further than normal before it can be actuated again. A switch that moves directly up and down, generally delivering smooth keystrokes without noise or tactile feedback. A keyboard built around individual switches for each key rather than a membrane sheath mounted on a PCB.

A keyboard on which all the keycaps are mounted on a membrane sheath; when a key is pressed, a rubber dome depresses and pushes against the sheath and PCB beneath, actuating the key. The physical component of a mechanical keyboard beneath the keycaps on a mechanical keyboard. The switch determines how a key is actuated, whether or not it provides audible or tactile feedback with each press, and more. This is a type of mechanical switch which instead of a physical metal contact switch uses light to measure when actuation takes place.

These can be more configurable too, allowing for not just off and on states, but more analog designs, and even dual actions for a single key depending on how far the switch is pressed down. Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog from his hometown in Wales in From there, he graduated to professionally breaking things at PCGamesN, where he would later win command of the kit cupboard as hardware editor.

Nowadays, as senior hardware editor at PC Gamer, he spends his days reporting on the latest developments in the technology and gaming industry. When he's not writing about GPUs and CPUs, you'll find him trying to get as far away from the modern world as possible by wild camping. Included in this guide: 1. View Deal. Image 1 of 4. Image 2 of 4. Image 3 of 4. Image 4 of 4. Size: Full size. Backlights: RGB.