ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Capsule Review
by E. Fylladitakis on December 31, 2014 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Keyboard
- Gaming
- ROCCAT
- Mechanical Keyboards
Introduction
ROCCAT is a well-known manufacturer of gaming peripherals and equipment with a notable global market presence. The company was founded in 2007 in Germany and today they also have offices in Taiwan and the US. With a strong focus of the company on gaming keyboards, mice, and headsets (with very few exceptions), ROCCAT has built a solid and widespread reputation for a company that is only seven years old.
The company has been very conservative about the products they release, trying to ensure that they are going to excel and survive in the ever-changing market for a long time, rather than just having a flashy release of a product that will be replaced/upgraded every few months. For example, over a year and a half ago we had a look at the Kone XTD and Kone Pure gaming mice, which still are among the best gaming mice ROCCAT offers today and remain excellent nearly two years after their release.
Today we will be looking at the Ryos MK Pro, the best mechanical gaming keyboard ROCCAT currently offers. The major selling points of this keyboard are the per-key lighting, fully programmable layout, thumb keys, and the advanced software. Some of these features are not difficult to find nowadays, but per-key lighting and fully programmable layouts were rather rare when the Ryos MK Pro was released – nearly a year ago, that is. With a retail price of $156 (depending on switch type), it remains one of the most expensive gaming keyboards currently available, forcing it to face tremendous competition from other manufacturers. Can the Ryos MK Pro compete in today's market? We will find out in this capsule review.
Manufacturer's Features and Specifications
- PER-KEY ILLUMINATION – insane customization possibilities
- EASY-SHIFT[+] BECOMES EASY KEYBOARD – assign a secondary function to virtually any key
- N-KEY ROLLOVER – advanced anti-ghosting
- HIGH-POWERED HARDWARE – two 32-bit ARM Cortex processors + 2MB of flash memory
- ROCCAT ACHIEVEMENTS DISPLAY – keep track of your vital statistics
- KEY SWITCHES TO SUIT EVERY GAMER – CHERRY MX key switchs in blue, black, brown, and red
- SMUDGE-PROOF GLOSSY LOOK – killer look – with no fingerprints
- INTEGRATED MEDIA HUB – audio in/out and two USB 2.0 ports
- COMPLETE COMFORT, ROCK SOLID – jumbo-size integrated wrist rest
- CLUTTER-FREE, SUPER-STABLE SUPPORT – built-in cable channel and five rubber feet
- ROCCAT TALK – SET BONUS – get more out of your ROCCAT devices by combining their functions
Packaging and Bundle
The ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro comes in a very large, well-designed cardboard box. The artwork of the box is based on an explanatory picture of the keyboard itself, highlighting its design and most important features, while its size hints the extended proportions of the keyboard. This is most definitely not a compact keyboard!
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Impulses - Wednesday, December 31, 2014 - link
Too bulky for my taste, specially considering it lacks media keys... Could always repurpose the macro keys for that but ehh... In a related now, I wish Corsair would step up their software too and/or release some more TKL boards.meacupla - Wednesday, December 31, 2014 - link
RAD has to be the most annoying feature I have ever heard."Congratulations, you've unlocked a trophy!" while playing a game, watching a movie or just browsing sites is not annoying at all.
I don't know what they were thinking adding such a "feature".
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 31, 2014 - link
Of course there are only 16 trophies to unlock, so unless you reset the counter it's not like it happens very often. A few weeks takes care of the easy milestones, and then maybe once or twice a month you'll get another. By the time you're six months down the road it won't happen at all.Cliff34 - Friday, January 2, 2015 - link
Definitely agree with you on this point. The point of getting a gaming keyboard is so I can play better games. The achivement system is useless since most games come with their own achivement system.crea - Monday, January 5, 2015 - link
To anyone wanting to buy this keyboard, please steer away from the backlit version.I bought one ryos mk pro last year, and four back lights failed within a month. Went through RMA, received a brand new replacement, and the backlights started to fail within three weeks of use one by one.
I've been using the replacement keyboard for eight months now, and 45 backlights failed already. The build quality of the keyboard backlight is absolutely terrible.
The keyboard functions fine and is nice to type on, It's just the terrible QC and backlight design which makes the backlit version fell short. Just think twice before you purchase the backlit version.
Darksurf - Saturday, January 17, 2015 - link
I own one. It was WORTH EVERY PENNY! Linux support with software and drivers. I've never been happier with a keyboard. Now I need one for home as the one I bought went to work and my Sidewinder X4 feels like a cheap toy.Ickda - Tuesday, March 10, 2015 - link
this is why I like roccat,Linux need to steal the spot as master race some time soon.
It stupid that gaming componys would shit on there stock and leave a bunch of wight hat hackers to feed me my games. (technically that is a whight hat hack to get those games to run in linux)
ps, sorry for the red lines, god cursed my spelling ...... I hate Webster
Narg - Monday, January 19, 2015 - link
I've personally moved away from mechanical gaming keyboards. I soon found out that mechanical keyboards slowed me down. They just are not the best keyboard any more.nilfisktun - Wednesday, January 21, 2015 - link
I bought the Logitech G710. Then the LED died after 2 weeks. Weeks earlier i returend a Corsair H100i becouse of dead LED and fan control, so my only option was this awsome beast of a keyboard.I bought it for the quality, and it really feels well build, and i havent had a single dead LED or problems with it.
Installed O-rings on mine, and rotated the space key, to give it less of a rough angle for the thumb to rest on, very great mod idear :)
Ickda - Tuesday, March 10, 2015 - link
If you have a Roccat mouse I am assuming the volume is a function of the scroll wheel. this assumption comes from the roccat pure easy shift function