How Much Does it Cost?
Finding the right price for this keyboard is like going on a D&D quest, roll your dice, go somewhere new, find a new price. It’s on Amazon for £82, which frankly is ridiculous, don’t bother. However, MoreFrom, HitPCs, and a few others have it for £45-55 including delivery. It’s also likely you’ll find them at your local high-street PC store, as Marvo tend to be well-stocked at smaller retailers rather than chain stores, and prices can often beat what’s available online.
Overview
Marvo has already proven they can make a decent keyboard at incredibly low prices. However, the Marvo Pro KG965G is by far their most expensive one I’ve ever seen. Of course, at this price range, it’s also still pretty affordable, and still a fraction of the cost of some of the big-name brands. Now, don’t get me wrong, if you drop £200 on a flagship Corsair keyboard, you’ll find better build quality and more advanced features, there’s no getting away from that. However, the KG965G doesn’t cost that much, and if you shop around, you’ll nab one for just £50, so it’s fair to expect some concessions have been made during its construction.
Build Quality
It’s not a poorly made product, far from it, it just feels a bit last week. Marvo tends to re-use older designs from other brands and repurpose them to make a new product, but they do pass the savings onto their customers, so it’s not like anyone is being fooled here. Rather than pay the very high fees for Cherry switches, they’ve opted for one of the more popular clones. Honestly, they’re great and look and feel like any old-school blue switch should, so top marks there.
The keyboard has an aluminium top panel, making it feel strong and preventing any flex. The keyboard is lighter than most though, so I suspect a slimmer steel plate on the interior for the switch mounting and PCB. Thankfully, the keys don’t bottom out on the casing though, so it doesn’t clunk or have any chassis echo/vibration like some lighter keyboards do.
Performance
Cheaper it may be, but this is still a full-features mechanical gaming keyboard, and it delivers exactly what it should. The keys feel great, with that lovely click response that’ll put a smile on your face, and a frown on the face of whoever is trying to watch TV in the same room.
Having it loaded with anti-ghosting, N-Key, macro recording, Windows Lock, gaming profiles for various key layouts, per-key lighting, the dedicated G-keys, and profile keys are just some of the great features that make it extensively customisable for work and gaming. Sure, it’ll take a while to configure it all, but once it’s done, it’s all just a tap away thanks to the onboard memory.
Should I Buy One?
Marvo is certainly moving in the right direction, and the new Marvo KG965G RGB Mechanical Keyboard makes a solid effort to cram in as many features as possible without breaking your bank balance in the process. It’s not flawless, but at this price, with everything one would expect from a modern keyboard, I really can’t find anything to complain about.
