Keyboards with a row of macro keys on the left hand side are often accidentally pressed as they are either placed with very little space between the left control line, and/or the key-caps are the same texture feeling as every other key-cap, making it difficult to differentiate between the macro key, and the commonly pressed ESC, or CTRL keys. So, Corsair have chosen to head their macros with a rubberised, textured, and contoured key-cap, that not only look remarkably different, but feel different, reducing the likelyhood of accidental actuation.
The top left side of the K95 RGB PLATINUM features a line of 3 keys, one for profile toggling, one for LED brightness, and one as a dedicated Windows key lock.
On the top right side, there are dedicated media keys, including volume mute, a volume up/down roller, as well as stop, play/pause, previous, and next buttons. These keys are set to be lower profile than that of the primary numpad area to prevent any accidental blind presses.
As expected, the frame features a slight wedge shape, gradually getting higher towards the rear. The Macro key-caps are slightly taller on the left side and reach peak of around 42mm in height, while the rest sits a few mm lower. Though relatively low profile for a mechanical keyboard, most will prefer to use this with a wrist rest.
Being a RGB keyboard, the switches have a transparent housing, allowing better transmittance of the lighting. Our model of the K95 RGB PLATINUM features the Speed Silver switches from Cherry.
Here is an overlooked feature, a handy USB 2.0 pass-through. If you use this USB slot with the Corsair VOID USB headset, you can unlock additional, audio based lighting effects, including various EQ response effects.
The underside of the K95 RGB PLATINUM features some large padded feet, to prevent it from slipping across your desk, the ever present angle adjustment feet. By now you would also have noticed the large cross of cable channels, which is to allow your headset cable to pass under the keyboard neatly without having to encircle it.
Complete with wrist-rest, the K95 RGB PLATINUM may look rather large, but overall it is a reasonable proportion for a standard desktop. Those that use small, space saving computer desks (the kind that give me nightmares) will certainly struggle with this one however so it is worth minding the dimensions as it measures around 465 x 250 mm, including the wrist rest.
