Corsair K65 PLUS WIRELESS Keyboard Review

The Corsair K65 PLUS has a Compact (75%) form factor. It takes up less space than a conventional full-size keyboard and still has a set of arrow keys and some keys from the Navigation cluster, but it doesn't have a Numpad.

The Corsair K65 PLUS has excellent build quality. The frame is made of polycarbonate with a steel top plate. It has a slightly springy top mount design, and the frame feels very sturdy and doesn't flex or creak.

The keycaps have dye-sublimated legends and are made of PBT plastic with a dry, pleasantly textured surface. All keys are fairly stable, with only minimal wobble that isn't noticeable while using the keyboard normally.

Four rubber strips on the back of the keyboard do a good job of keeping the keyboard in place, and there are additional rubber pieces on the flip-out feet.

There are also layers of acoustic foam and a silicon pad inside the case that help minimize unwanted sound profile elements and case ping.

This keyboard has a standard, high-profile design. It doesn't come with a wrist rest, but there are two flip-out feet on the back of the board that provides two additional incline angles.

This keyboard offers superb hardware customizability. Its hot-swappable PCB allows you to change the stock switches for 3-pin or 5-pin switches. It also has relatively easy-to-access screw-in stabilizers, and the switches have a Cherry MX-style cross stem, which offers wide compatibility with aftermarket keycaps. The LEDs on the PCB are North-facing, which can cause compatibility issues with some Cherry profile keycaps.

You can change between preset lighting effects using keyboard shortcuts or access more in-depth customization using the configuration software. Some lighting effects are only usable with a wired connection. For more details, see the Configuration Software section.

While the backlighting is very bright (in part thanks to some reflection off the metal top plate), the overall backlight clarity is poor because the keycaps don't have shine-through legends. It's particularly unusual because the LEDs are North-facing, which provides better clarity for shine-through keycap sets. For reference, we've taken a photo with several of the stock keycaps replaced with shine-through keycaps for reference.

The white-only backlighting has a blueish-purple hue, which is worth keeping in mind if you're interested in color-matching the lighting with other peripherals or pieces of hardware in your setup.

This keyboard comes with a braided USB-A to USB-C charging cable. The cable isn't particularly flexible, but it retains only minimal kinks from its packaging.

Corsair advertises this keyboard has a maximum battery life of up to 266 hours using the 2.4 GHz wireless connection with all backlighting off.

While this keyboard doesn't have dedicated macro keys, you can program macros to any key using the configuration software or with hotkey combinations directly on the keyboard. You can reference these combinations in the online manual on Corsair's website here.

This keyboard has a wide range of extra features. There are two physical switches on the top edge of the keyboard, the first of which on the top left changes between connection types. The second switch on the top right side toggles between Windows and macOS compatability modes. There's also a storage compartment for the USB receiver next to the connection mode switch, which can be very helpful if you travel with your keyboard.

On the left edge of the keyboard, there's an LED indicator for battery life and a physical button to turn the backlighting on and off.

Additional features include non-dedicated media controls on the function row and a set of three LEDs next to the arrow key cluster that indicates when Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, and Windows Lock are enabled.

Lastly, there's a control knob that you can use to adjust media volume, adjust backlighting brightness, zoom in/out, and scroll up/down through content.

For a breakdown of all features and a complete list of keyboard shortcuts, you can reference a digital version of this keyboard's user manual on Corsair's website here.

• USB-A to USB-C braided recharging cable
• 2.4 GHz USB-A receiver
• Keycap/switch puller
• User documentation

The Corsair K65 PLUS has impressive typing quality. It has a top mount design, which provides a slightly softer and more consistent typing feel compared to a tray mount design found on most gaming keyboards. The PBT keycaps feel very durable and have a pleasant, slightly textured finish. All alphanumeric keys are quite stable, with only minor wobbling that isn't noticeable when using the keyboard normally. There are also no audible rattles from the stabilizers on larger keys, and both the switches and stabilizers are pre-lubed from the factory and feel fairly smooth overall. However, we did note some very minor scratchiness on some individual keys. For more details, see the Keystrokes section.

This keyboard is reasonably quiet and unlikely to bother those around you unless you're in a particularly noise-sensitive environment.

This keyboard comes with CORSAIR MLX Red mechanical switches. It also has a hot-swappable PCB, so you can easily change these switches out for other 3-pin or 5-pin switches if you like.

The linear Corsair MLX Red switches are lightweight and have a moderately short pre-travel distance, making them feel quick and responsive in-game. These switches are pre-lubed from the factory and feel fairly smooth and consistent. During testing, we noted that several individual switches are slightly scratchier-feeling. However, this inconsistency is very minor and unlikely to be noticeable for most people while typing or gaming normally.

The Corsair K65 PLUS WIRELESS has superb single-key latency performance, making this keyboard very well-suited for playing titles in any genre at a casual or competitive level.

The Corsair K65 PLUS WIRELESS provides very good additional key press latency performance when you're already pressing and maintaining multiple keys. However, it also has very high key release latency, which is an issue if you play games that trigger on key release, like rhythm games.

This keyboard's maximum polling rate is 1000Hz, and data transmission isn't bottlenecked by other latency components when connected wired or wirelessly via its 2.4 GHz receiver.

This keyboard has adequate chord split performance over a 2.4 GHz wireless connection, which is the connection type we expect most people will use with this keyboard. However, we also tested the chord split performance using a wired connection. You can see the wired connection results here.

Using a wired connection provides significantly better 4—and 8-chord split delay performance that's much better suited for playing games that require multiple simultaneous inputs, like rhythm games.

This keyboard uses Corsair's iCUE configuration software. This software is easy to use but somewhat clunky and not particularly intuitive. It lets you customize various expected settings, including key assignments, custom macros, lock key behavior, and RGB backlighting. Note that you have full access to certain RGB lighting effects when using this wired keyboard but more limited access to certain RGB effects when using the keyboard wirelessly.

You can save custom settings, including key assignment and RGB settings, to onboard memory. Saving to the onboard memory means you don't need to have the software running at all times in the background, and you can carry over your settings to other computers without the software installed.

It's worth keeping in mind that iCUE, much like the software options from other major manufacturers, receives widespread criticism from some users online as it requires frequent updates and can take up disproportionate system resources. This software may be frustrating to use if you prefer more lightweight software options or no software at all.

Note: Corsair indicates that certain SKUs of the CORSAIR K65 PLUS distributed within the Asian market aren't compatible with Corsair's iCUE software. For more details about this issue and a list of all affected SKUs, see Corsair's website here.

The Corsair K65 PLUS WIRELESS keyboard is fully compatible with all major operating systems.

In Windows, the software is available, and all features work as expected. For macOS, there is compatible Mac software available, and nearly all features work as expected, except the control knob, which doesn't work while iCUE software is running. For Linux, all features work as expected.

This keyboard is fully compatible with all major mobile operating systems, and all functions work as expected.