HyperX Alloy Core RGB – Membrane Gaming Keyboard, Comfortable Quiet Silent Keys with RGB LED Lighting Effects, Spill Resistant, Dedicated Media Keys, Compatible with Windows 10/8.1/8/7 – Black

This is my first keyboard above $30. I went to my local Micro Center and tested every keyboard they had looking for one that felt nice, and the nice clicky ones tended to be very expensive and relatively noisy. This keyboard captures most of the feel of typing on those keyboards, but is quiet and much cheaper.The backlighting is blindingly bright, the color transitions on the flow mode are smooth and pretty, the lighting is even, and the colors are vibrant. I like that I can set it to plain white if I want. I always use it on the lower of the two keyboard brightness settings, and that's still too bright in a dim to medium lit room.The keys all work, they feel consistent and smooth, and it's comfortable to type on. I do think a wrist rest might be needed though. I don't think the keycaps will wear over time, which is good because while they're removable, they don't take standard keycaps and replacing them would likely be difficult.The keyboard frame is surprisingly dense and heavy. It is made out of a very sturdy plastic that feels solid, has no flex/creaking and sits evenly on my desk.Other pros: Number pad and dedicated media keys are great. The media keys don't feel as nice to press as the normal keys, and they aren't backlit, but they do work well and aren't too difficult to locate without looking.The cons:-Media keys are not backlit. This really bugs me for some reason, I want all the keys to be backlit and it bothers me that some are and some aren't.-The keyboard height is a little too tall and I think a wrist rest is probably needed for comfort for most people.-Numlock light is bright white and there's no way to leave numlock on and turn off the light. This is particular to my use, since I always leave Numlock on. I'll cover it with a sticker or something.-it's got liquid drainage holes and would probably survive a spill, but my keys are particularly hard to get off and removing them and cleaning underneath would be probably take an hour or more.Overall, I do strongly recommend this keyboard. Other keyboards have per-key backlighting or Cherry MX keys or whatever but this one is good at the stuff a keyboard is supposed to do for the price. Most importantly, compared to the other similarly priced keyboards at Micro Center, these keys felt the nicest to type on- not wobbly or mushy.

I had to take a break from my job to write this because I am just so impressed. I am NOT being compensated by anyone for writing this.Short Version: It's well built, heavy, and the keystrokes are very smooth. The keys are quiet, not silent, and are lit up very nicely. It has greatly exceeded my expectations, and I will be actively recommending this to my family and friends.Long Version: So I've only used this keyboard for about an hour and, unless it suffers some type of catastrophic failure, this will be the only brand of keyboard I buy ever again. Immediately after picking this package up off of my doorstep I could tell this was a heavy, well-built unit, unlike my previous keyboard.Tangent! My last keyboard was purchased from another online retailer that maybe more specializes in computers and Black November sales. I was used to the standard stock keyboards I could get for $5-10, and that was fine. I decided to make the plunge into gaming keyboards, but quickly realized lots of them do not get good reviews or look any different than a cheap keyboard with lights behind it. I didn't want some cheaply made unit, so I tried to spend a tiny bit more for a nice one. However the one I paid for was very lightweight, cheaply made, and wobbly. I am in the process of returning it. I'm also currently arguing that this was defective as well. Hopefully I can avoid the restocking fee, but even if I can't I am so happy I made the choice to come to the more trustworthy Amazon to find a better unit.Ok, got that off my chest. This unit is so sturdy, so smooth, so bright, so...I am so relieved I have found a good keyboard. There are different lighting modes that make the keyboard fun to use, but most of all, it seems very functionally sound. I paid $40 for this, and if I knew how much better it would be than my previous keyboards, I would've paid more.Now there could certainly be better keyboards on the market. They better be at the prices some companies charge. For the price though, this was an excellent deal. You will not be disappointed in this purchase, especially if you have previously dealt with the cheaply made light up keyboards.Is this a perfect unit? Maybe actually, but a couple things are intially making me rate this a mere 99/100. At first glance I wasn't sure why the keys had their "shift alternatives" right next to the regular output. The semicolon/colon key and the apostrophe/quote key look a little confusing at first glance. Not a big issue, but it does seem weird. The other thing I noticed was that the keys are higher up than my previous, flatter keyboard, perhaps due to the heft of the unit. I don't think this is a major problem, but the wrist pad I'm expecting to arrive tomorrow may end up being a great complement to this keyboard.If any of my thoughts change, I will update this review. For now though, HyperX is going to be the first place I go to when I need new PC components.

It's a cool-looking, quiet, rainbowy keyboard that is easy to use. Plug and play with Windows 11. I bought a second keyboard to use on another computer, so I'm definitely satisfied with it. I mostly use it for writing/word processing. I have used it for gaming, mostly walking sims and puzzle games. I don't know whether it's fast enough for games that need super-fast response times. The backlit keys are great for using in dim lighting. I'm using one with a Startech ten-foot USB extension cord, and it works fine with it.This keyboard also disassembles for easy cleaning. The keys can be unsnapped and lifted off to access the flat plastic panel underneath. One of my keys was sticking, so I (carefully) used two loops of string to pull the key straight up and off, so I could clean up the sticky spot with a damp cloth. After that I simply snapped they key back into place and it's worked fine ever since. There are metal key-lifting clamp tools available on Amazon that I would recommend if you want to clean your keyboard regularly. For occasional dust, crumbs, bits of paper, etc. I sometimes just run my vacuum's tube over the keyboard and that gets rid of most of it. A paintbrush or makeup brush also works wonderfully. I would buy this keyboard again - and I have ;)