F
ora
acro
the
featuresa trulypotentiallygame-changing
innovation:theCoolerMasterMK850.It
includeseightkeys(QWERASDF)thatdon’t
justofferthedigitalsingle-actionresponse
ofa normalkey,butcanprovideananalogue
signaltoo.Pressthekeydeeper,andit
sendsa highsignal,pressit lightlyandit
sendsa lowersignal.
Theideais thatthisextraAimpadcontrol
can,primarily,beusedtoemulatethe
inputprovidedbytheanaloguesticksofa
gamepad/controller.Racinggames,flight
simsandothergameswherefinecontrol
is requiredcouldbenefit.Thekeyswork
byusinganinfraredlightsetalongside
thenormalCherryMXkeyswitches,
whichtracksthedistanceofthekeycap
toproducetheanaloguesignal.
Despitetherelativelysmallrangeof
motionofthekeys,theswitcheswork
surprisinglywell.Themostobvious
applicationis racinggames,wheretheability
tohaveanaloguesteering,accelerationand
brakingmakestheexperiencefarmore
realisticandnuanced.However,thereare
someseriouscaveatstothetechnology.
Fora start,youhavetoswitchthe
keyboard into a different mode to enable
the analogue feature, which turns off the
normal key function. You also have to
regularly calibrate the keys, which is a faff.
Perhaps most importantly, it’s just not as
pleasant to use as a gamepad’s analogue
stick. There’s a handful of games where
having analogue control and mouse
movement is beneficial, but often games
are optimised for one or the other.COOLERMASTER
/£160incVAT
SUPPLIERovThankfully, there’s plenty to like about
this keyboard elsewhere. It looks fantastic,
thanks in large part to its aluminium top plate,
and it has plenty of other features, including
a comfortable soft wrist rest, an extra row of
gaming keys down the left edge and a couple
of what Cooler Master calls precision wheels.
These wheels can be assigned to control
obvious tasks such as volume, but also
mouse DPI, backlight brightness and more.
There are also separate multimedia
controls along the top row, the cable is
detachable and uses USB Type-C, plus
you get two USB passthrough ports.Conclusion
The Cooler Master MK850 is a tour de
force of modern mechanical gaming
keyboards. It’s stylish, packed with
features and uses standard Cherry MX
switches, so it’s easy to customise. We’re
not entirely convinced its headline Aimpad
technology is the next big thing, but it’s
a welcome addition that doesn’t detract
from the rest of this impressive bit of kit.VERDICT
LoadsofRGBlighting,butthebasicdesign
needssomemorework.
VERDICT
Not a complete replacement for your
gamepad, but still a great keyboard.VERDICT
Excellent performance, but severely lacking
features compared with the competition.
A big plus point of this keyboard is the
use of standard Cherry MX keyswitches,
so you get reliable quality and it’s easy to
swap out keycaps too. The overall typing
experience is also excellent, and Asus’
software offers full customisation of
the lighting and function of each key.
Conclusion
An intriguing swappable clear RGB plate
adds some fun customisation options
to this keyboard, and it’s a solid option
with proper Cherry MX keys. However, its
basic design needs some work if it wants
to compete in this crowded market.
It’s a niche feature that may be useful to
pro Starcraft players, but it’s not particularly
useful for the rest of us. As for design, the
Celeritas is simple but reasonably effective,
plus it’s built like a tank, weighing in at 1.89kg.
Conclusion
The BenQ Zowie Celeritas II is a reliable
workhorse that’s built to last. It also
offers an excellent typing and gaming
experience with keycaps that can be easily
replaced. However, there’s no denying
it’s a bare bones offering for its price.
DESIGN
12 / 20
PERFORMANCE
23 / 30FEATURES
16 / 20
VALUE
21 / 30OVERALLSCORE
72
DESIGN
12 / 20
PERFORMANCE
24 / 30FEATURES
12 / 20
VALUE
22 / 30OVERALLSCORE
70
DESIGN
18 / 20
PERFORMANCE
24 / 30FEATURES
20 / 20
VALUE
20 / 30OVERALLSCORE
82
lltheinnovationswe’veseen
osstheotherkeyboardsontest,
re’sonlyonekeyboardthat
ypotentiallygamechanging/£160incVAT
verclockers.co.ukccuu
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