Corsair Raptor K40 Gaming Keyboard Review

Performance

Setting up the K40 is as easy as plug and play, but to really get the most out of it you will need to download the software from Corsairs website. With the software installed you can then customise everything from the lighting to the macro settings and with six dedicated macro keys, and 16.8 million colour lighting, you’ll certainly want to do just that. The software is pretty straight forward and not packed with features, but all the basics that you’ll need are present to get some decent macro combinations setup over multiple profiles.

Profiles canbe imported, exported and even saved directly to the keyboard, handy if you’re planning on taking the keyboard with you to LAN tournaments, where software isn’t permitted.

The colour mixer is simple to use and offers up as much colour choice as you can imagine, the only downside I saw was that the whites are a little blue-ish, but on the plus side the colours are rich and bright.

With the K40 being targeted at the gaming market it only seemed right to get straight into the good stuff, so I fired up a few games of League of Legends, Torch Light II, Diablo III and Battlefield 4 to see what it could do. The cheaper plastics of the key caps do feel a little strange at first, although not lacking in similarity to some soft touch material plastics. I do like the raised keys as they give a nice travel distance and despite them only being membrane dome triggers, they give a satisfying pop when pressed, a little better than you’re average membrane keyboard, but way short of the quality of a mechanical.

Gaming is a job on this keyboard, the keys are a little slower than say MX Red switches, but you can still make snappy double taps and adjustments without any issue. The macro keys are within good reach for deploying quick casts, but not so close that you trigger them when searching for the Caps Lock key. Having multiple profiles that can be switched straight from the keyboard is great for expanding the macro settings, especially if you want different macros for different character classes without having to leave the game to change your keyboard settings.

The keyboard is also nice and quiet, great for those who don’t want the noisy distraction that you often get with mechanical keyboards, although it’s not exactly a new thing for membrane keyboards to be relatively quiet.

Day to day work on the K40 is pleasant enough, due to me wearing out my previous keyboard I’ve actually switched to the K40 as my full-time keyboard for reviews and gaming and I’ve certainly no complaints so far. The keyboard could however benefit from a wrist rest, especially given the elevated nature of its keys, perhaps something similar to that of the Corsair K70.