82 OCTOBER 2019|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE 380
WHENAKEYBOARDmanufacturer comes
up with its own mechanical switches, the
results might be an improvement but
conceptually won’t be toodifferent to what
came before.Bycontrast, the TUF Gaming
K7’s switches mix things up by replacing the
usual mechanism of registering inputs –two
metal pieces coming intocontact –with atiny
beam of light. When you press down hard
enough to meet the actuation point, the beam
of light is broken, recording the input up to 25
times faster than aconventional mechanical
switch, according to Asus.
Even if that’s accurate, most mechanical
keyboards are already so fast and responsive
that the difference is negligible.Indeed, we
never felt the TUF Gaming K7 was noticeably
quickerthantheROGStrixFlare,RoccatVulcan
120 Aimo or Thermaltake X1 RGB. If you’re a
passionategamer looking forhardware to give
you acompetitive edge,don’t expect this
keyboard to gift you winning streaks.
LIGHTSPEED
Nevertheless, it’s not like Asus has wasted its
time coming up with these ‘optical-mech’
switches. Just because they’re not tangibly
faster doesn’t make them any slower either,
and the pin-sharpness of the TUF Gaming K7
remains one of its greatest strengths. That
goes fortyping as well as games.
We tested the ‘tactile’version of the TUF
Gaming K7,which uses optical-mech switches
that include alittle bump and audible click for
added feedback. There’s also a‘linear’version,
which uses the same light beam-breaking
technology,but lacks the bump and click.
This makes the two switch variants
equivalent to Cherry MX Blue and MX Red
switches respectively,although the tactile
switches we’ve been using have abit of MX
Speed Silver DNA as well. Actuation force is
47g, almost right in the middle between MX
ASUS TUFGamingK7
★★★★
£97•From http://www.box.co.uk
VERDICT
Loudkeysandsomemissingfeaturestakethesheenoffanotherwiseresponsiveanddurablekeyboard
Blues and MX Reds, but more interesting is
the mere 1.5mm actuation point and 3mm
total travel distance.Both are,inthe style of
MX Speed Silvers, shallower than MX Blues,
which can result in afaster feel if you’re used
to always bottoming out akeypress.
FEELTHE NOISE
Forboth gaming and rapid touch-typing, the
advantage over MX Blues is clear,and we
enjoyed the TUF Gaming K7’s sense of agility
in much the same wayaswedid the Vulcan
120 Aimo and X1 RGB. But while the tactile
bump is good forgeneral desk work –even if
it’s on the gentle side –the clacking sound
might make you think Asus has overdone it.
These might well be the loudest modern
mechanical switches we’ve ever used; adecibel
meter held 15cm awayrecorded them as high
as 58dB, louder than an MX Blue-equipped
HyperX AlloyFPS (Shopper349). Their clicking
is also higher pitched, so is more likely to cut
through the ambient sound of ashared office.
Used alone,it’s not as anxiety-inducing, so
might work in ahome office.It’s still abit too
loud forundisturbed gaming, however: we
could still hear the clicking through aset of
active noise-cancelling headphones.
The simple solution would seemingly be to
just get the linear switch version instead. We
haven’t tested this so won’t hold forth about it
toomuch, but keep in mind you won’t just
lose the clicking, but the tactile bump as well.
Besides, there are already lots of good
linear-switch gaming keyboards, so the TUF
Gaming K7 would need something else to be
worth considering. Luckily,Asus hasn’t been
stingy with supplementary features. Perhaps
the most attractive is its waterproofing: it’s
protected against dust and water to the IP56
standard, so spilling adrink over it won’t spell
doom. We covered it in tap water,twice over,
and it still worked completely fine afterwards.
Like any keyboard with raised keys, it’s abit
of apain to dry,but going through afew
paper towels is avastly preferable outcome
to destroying your expensive new peripheral
with an errant beverage.
This keyboard also has the best wrist rest
of all the models in this round-up.It’s properly
padded with foam and covered in leatherette,
rather than just being aplank of soft-touch
plastic. As such, it’s almost luxuriously
comfortable.Wejust have one,relatively
minor,issue with the rest: it sticks to the
bottom edge of the TUF Gaming K7 with
magnets, but doesn’t clip or clamp the
underside,somoving the keyboard around
can cause the rest to slip out of position.
Again, however,it’s not aserious problem.
Sadly,while the TUF Gaming K7 goes
above and beyond on some extras, it’s also
lacking in others. It doesn’t have dedicated
media controls, USB charging or pass-through
ports, adetachable or braided cable or any
3.5mm audio jacks. If it weren’t forthe wrist
rest, it would look positively basic next to its
ROG Strix Flare stablemate.
TUFTRADE
At least both Asus keyboards share aquality
in their versatile backlighting and key
configuration. In fact, the TUF Gaming K7 has
the same choice of lighting effects as the ROG
Strix Flare,and you can also customise them
in the same Armoury desktop software.You
can also set up macros on the fly,although
again there are no dedicated macro keys.
Since the ROG Strix Flare has abetter
range of onboard features, similarly high
typing and gaming performance,and –besides
alack of waterproofing –anicer design, it’s
our favouriteofthe two.The TUF Gaming K7’s
unusual benefits make it adecent alternative,
albeit one that –ifyou choose the tactile
version –ismost considerately used alone.
KEYBOARDS
ASUS TUFGamingK7
★★★★
£97•Fromwww.box.co.uk
VERDICT
KEYBOARDS
