Corsair K70 PRO TKL Review – The Hall Effect Power-Up

Unboxing

Corsair recently introduced the new K70 PRO TKL keyboard (not to be confused with K70 RGB PRO) packed with its new and futuristic-sounding “MGX Hyperdrive” switches, joining the pack of recent keyboard releases to include features like rapid trigger and SOCD to remain competitive. Opening the box reveals a paper-wrapped keyboard, along with the cables and other stuffs tucked under.

The box includes the keyboard itself, along with a plush wrist rest and the USB-A to USB-C cable. Note that this model has no wireless capability, so connecting using the cable is mandatory to get this keyboard up and going. Besides that, you get the warranty and safety documents – for the quick start guide, Corsair suggests you to scan the QR code inside the box instead.

Walkaround

Unlike the K70 Max that also comes with the magnetic (Hall Effect) switches, the K70 Pro is compacted to the bare minimum footprint a tenkeyless keyboard would allow. The status indicators are tucked into the small gap between Esc and F1 key, while the top right corner you get a trio of switches, responsible for Game Mode, programmable iCUE button (play/pause by default), and a rotary dial – similar to the K70 CORE keyboard we previously reviewed.

A single USB-C port is present as the keyboard is wired-only, though it is detachable for extra tidiness if you’re carrying it around (no passthrough ports are available, however). Another inclusion of the K70 PRO TKL is a magnetic wrist rest which, as shown in the side profile image above, has great amounts of cushion.

One interesting fact of the K70 PRO TKL is that it features two types of switches at the same time. The switch type used depends on which key it is: all 61 alphanumeric and modifier keys (Ctrl, Alt, Shift etc.) use the pre-lubed magnetic linear switches called Corsair MGX Hyperdrive, with variable actuation force depending on the actuation distance set (default is 2.0mm). The remaining 23 function keys, arrow keys, and navigation keys all use the conventional pre-lubed Corsair MLX Plasma linear switches instead.

Specifications

Corsair K70 PRO TKL

Full specifications available in product page and online documentation.

Body Material	Brushed aluminum plate + plastic body
Form Factor	Tenkeyless (TKL)
Wrist Rest	Leatherette, magnetically attached
Keycap Material	Double-shot ABS (double-shot PBT optional)
Switch Type (As tested)	Group A (61/62/65 keys): Corsair MGX Hyperdrive Switch Type: Magnetic linear (Hall Effect) Actuation force: 30-55g (supports dual-step actuation) Pre-travel: Variable (0.1-4.0mm) Total travel: 4.1mm Lifespan: 150M keystrokes Group B (23 keys): Corsair MLX Plasma Switch Type: Linear Actuation force: 45g Pre-travel: 2.0mm Total travel: 4.0mm Lifespan: 80M keystrokes
Polling Rate	Max. 8000Hz
Key Rollover	Full-key NKRO & full anti-ghosting
SOCD Support	FlashTap on A+D key (last key priority), OFF by default *iCUE remap & priority mode support coming Q1 2025
Onboard Memory	8MB, 5 profiles
OS Support	Windows 10, Windows 11 macOS 10.15 or newer Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Connectivity	Detachable wired rubber cable, USB Type-C to USB Type-A No USB passthrough ports
Battery	None
Colors	Black White (as tested)
Dimensions	366 x 135 x 39.8 mm Dimensions with wrist rest not specified
Weight	967.14g Weight with wrist rest not specified

User Experience

Customizing the Corsair K70 PRO TKL can be done in both hardware and software, with the latter interfacing through the iCUE software. RGB and macro customization is about what you’d expect – all configurable and very granular; though they’re not necessarily the most user-friendly of the bunch.

The heart of this keyboard is the Hall Effect switches that allow for configurable actuation profiles, and iCUE gives you full range to customize the sensitivity of the keypresses (down to as low as 0.1mm, but they don’t recommend it for obvious reasons). This also enables a second layer of actuation that can be triggered with deeper keypresses, useful to combine walk and sprint into a single key in open-world games; there’s also the Rapid Trigger feature with associated sensitivity tuning to maximize the speed of registering repetitive actions.

However, at the time of this review, Corsair has yet to fully integrate their equivalent of SOCD called FlashTap into the software. At current state, you can only enable FlashTap via Fn + Right Shift, and it’s restricted to just A and D keys in last priority mode (which automatically registers the latest input and overrides the other). The company says by Q1 2025, players can access to modes like First Priority and Neutral mode, plus enabling full range of keys to use SOCD instead of just two.

Of course, it’s well-known by now that some games has explicitly banned this feature, namely Counter-Strike 2. To avoid accidental activation of the feature (which has actually happened in professional environment), the keyboard will override existing lighting settings and illuminate SOCD-activated keys in amber colors so you will know it’s activated.

The Good

As far as the typing side of things go, the Corsair K70 PRO’s new magnetic switch is overall very smooth, with the Hall Effect enabling it to do a lot more than just typing. From the gaming perspective, it is a very capable keyboard if you can fully exploit its features. As for the dials, they’re serviceable – functionality-wise it’s very similar to the K70 CORE we reviewed, though visually it looks better with the transparent button design.

While the keyboard uses two sets of key switches, from my experience they’re similar enough that it’s difficult to tell from a set of untrained fingers; besides, you won’t be spamming function keys as much to figure that it uses a conventional linear switch instead. Typing noise is decent, though the spacebar is quite a bit louder than others, and overall the keyboard can definitely do with some extra sound deadening if possible. Below is a small audio clip of how it sounds like:

The included magnetic wrist rest is very plushy, and during my use I don’t feel the wrists digging into the base material; the extra height it offers also helps keeping your wrist more level with the keys due to the keyboard’s extra thickness down below. All in all, the Corsair K70 PRO TKL is a comfortable keyboard to use on the daily.

The Bad

While it is great that the Corsair K70 PRO comes packed with magnetic switches, one feature I’d like to see to serve the racing niche is the ability to register analog inputs, like Razer’s Huntsman Analog series keyboard do (review here). I do wonder if the keyboard is released in a hurry given that some features had to wait until Q1 2025 – perhaps Corsair wants to respond to competitors with SOCD features as soon as possible and left some features behind?

Also, iCUE can be a handful if you’re not familiar with the software. While there are a lot of features packed within the software, there’s limited documentation to explain the setup process or how it works in detail, especially when configurating the actuation settings on-device is already an adventure on its own (which definitely requires you to read the user manual carefully to get things work).

Verdict

At RM899, the Corsair K70 PRO TKL is a decent high-end keyboard that gives you access to some of the latest competitive innovations available to give you an edge, but I’d like to see more polish in terms of software. For what it’s worth, it’s actually one of the cheaper keyboards to use magnetic switches, which is still mostly for the riches; and I consider it to be a better alternative than the company’s K70 MAX (with the earlier iteration of MGX switches) in terms of overall value.

Special thanks to Corsair for providing the K70 PRO TKL keyboard for this review.