Cougar caters to enthusiast gamers looking for mechanical keyboards with its 700K and 600K, and is now venturing into the affordable keyboard segment with the 500K, which comes with membrane switches.

The 500K retains a similar design to the 700K, and comes with a feature-set that also includes 6 fully customizable G keys, detachable palm rest, 1000 Hz polling rate, n-key rollover and dedicated macro keys. There’s a USB port for connecting a mouse or other USB-enabled device, and the ability to control the backlight settings through the bundled software.

The 500K also offers on-the-go profile switching thanks to the presence of a 32-bit ARM processor (which stores three profiles), dedicated media controls, and the ability to quickly record macros and make adjustments on-the-fly.

Even though the 500K comes with membrane switches, Cougar mentions that the feedback will be just as good as what you would normally get with Cherry MX switches. The keyboard loses out on the brushed aluminium frame of the 700K, but otherwise manages to offer most of the features seen on the high-end mechanical keyboard.

Cougar did not announce pricing or availability, but based on the feature-set, the 500K is looking like a great keyboard for the entry-level segment.

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Tesoro is making a name for itself by manufacturing feature-laden products that are aggressive pricing. We’ve covered the vendor’s Kuven 7.1 virtual surround gaming headset and Gandiva H1L mouse before, and today Tesoro is launching a new Excalibur RGB LED backlit mechanical keyboard with a 16.8 million color palette.

RGB keyboards are nothing new, as Corsair and Roccat have already launched their offerings earlier this year. With other features largely remaining the same for the last few years, vendors are looking at features like per-key illumination as points of differentiation. The feature itself is now possible thanks to the introduction of backlit key switches from Cherry, which was officially introduced last year.

Tesoro is sticking to the established path by offering much the same features that you would see in other gaming-focused keyboards that offer individual key illuminations. There’s a 1000Hz polling rate with instant game mode switching, n-key rollover for full anti-ghosting functionality and 512 KB on-board memory that stores your macro settings.

The keyboard has full RGB backlighting, which means that you can choose from 16.8 million color combinations. The keyboard colors can be set to either breathing mode or color loop mode, and there’s also a gaming mode during which only the gaming keys are illuminated. The lighting itself can be set to four levels to suit your needs.

With an anti-slip rubberized foot design, the keyboard stays secured during gaming, and there is the ability to customize individual key functions via the software configurator. In total, there are five sets of profiles, 300 macro keys and 2000 macro key presses for each profile.

The Excalibur comes with gaming grade mechanical switches which are available in Blue, Brown, Red and Black variants. Tesoro mentions that the keyboard is set to launch in December for $119 and that the availability may vary based on the region.

The post Tesoro Excalibur LED Backlit Keyboard Unveiled appeared first on VR World.

Roccat is launching a new keyboard to its Ryos line, dubbed the TKL Pro. Targeted at gamers looking to compete in eSports tournaments, the keyboard comes with a ten keyless design — which means that it lacks a number pad — making it lighter and narrower than most gaming keyboards.

Roccat claims that the Ryos TKL Pro is optimized to enhance your gaming prowess, and that the design of the keyboard was influenced by feedback from HyuN, the number one StarCraft II player in the world. While just using the keyboard may not let you beat HyuN at his game, the Ryos TKL Pro does come with a stellar set for features that makes it a great contender in this segment. The keyboard has Cherry MX switches with individual back-lit keys, 470 programmable macro keys, 2 MB flash memory and two 32-bit ARM Cortex processors. As is often becoming the case with gaming-oriented keyboards, Roccat is offering users to choose from four variants of Cherry MX switches. Anti-ghosting keys and n-key rollover are features we’ve been seeing in keyboards in this segment for a while now, with the Ryos TKL Pro offering both features.

Also included is Roccat Talk functionality, which allows different Roccat hardware to interface with one another in-game. For instance, you can assign a keyboard macro to a mouse button and use that to trigger the macro action.

Another novel feature is the ability to change back-lit illumination on each individual key, which in conjunction with Roccat’s Lighting Engine 2.0 allows you to create a variety of light effects. The two 32-bit Cortex processors handle the lighting and the individual key illumination, while the 2 MB flash memory stores your configuration and macro settings. Now available for $139, the Ryos TKL Pro looks like a great keyboard for gamers looking to get the most out of their gear at LAN tournaments.

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