A Closer Look
The keyboard is pretty much what you would expect from a Cooler Master mechanical keyboard, with a durable frame, relatively slim bezel on the edges, and a sleek and professional-looking matte black finish. It feels strong and nicely weighted, without being too thick or heavy.
While marketed at the professional market, this is still a rock solid gaming keyboard, you just wouldn’t know it at first glance, as all the features are neatly tucked away on various fn-shift keys around the keyboard.
F1-F4 has the master lighting on/off, brightness and mode functions; there are a lot of modes, as you’ll see later.
F5-F8 houses the adjustable repeat rate, which is great for both work and gaming, dependant on how you typically use your keyboard.
On the F9-12 keys, there’s a Windows key lock, always great for gaming as you won’t end up staring at your desktop wallpaper mid game if you hit the wrong key. F10 has the on-the-fly lighting recording, great for highlighting your gaming keys as you need then, and the same goes for the F11 and F12, which allows on-the-fly macro features, great for both gaming and work to ease those repetitive tasks.
All the usual feature keys here, with a set of Fn-shift accessible multimedia controls, meaning you can skip through your favourite songs without tabbing out of your work or games.
Being the L model, you’ll find a full-size number pad, although those wanting something shorter, Cooler Master also make a 90% size MasterKeys Pro M model.
Behind the keys, you can see there is a glossy white back plate, which will look great with the LED lighting powered on, giving you a nice under-glow effect.
On the base of the L, you’ll find a simple Micro-USB port tucked into the middle with a routing channel to take the cable out to the left, right or rear of the keyboard to suit your setup.
There are four firm rubber grips on the base to keep it firmly in place, as well as two durable kickstands which also have rubber feet so you’re not losing traction even when they’re deployed.
Finally, with the key caps removed, we can see those lovely Cherry MX Blue switches installed with their white LED lights. Now, let’s plug it in and see what it can do!
