When building their first custom PC a lot of inexperienced users focus all their time and attention on picking the perfect internal components for the build and forget to spend even half as much time on the other critical factor that makes a system enjoyable to use. This overlooked portion of the build is of course the peripherals that are attached to that powerful custom rig you just finished building. Of all the various odds ‘n’ sods that separate the great from mediocre systems the choice one makes on selecting the keyboard can actually have the greatest impact. After all, if you cannot enjoyable use all that horsepower you spent countless hours on selecting… is it really a powerful system or just a fancy showpiece meant to be admired?! Today we are going to put the HyperX Alloy FPS Pro ‘gaming’ keyboard under the microscope and show why spending some time on picking the right keyboard is so bloody important.
The HyperX Alloy FPS Pro may indeed be a mechanical keyboard with PC Gaming enthusiasts as its targeted demographic but that is not to say that it is only meant for this (admittedly large) niche of buyers. Rather most of what makes it great at fulfilling its main priorities also makes it good for a wide range of consumers.
First and foremost of these important features is this is a true 100% mechanical keyboard – unlike some other competitors options who have used mech’ and membrane combinations in the past. Specifically, King… err… HyperX opted for Cherry MX switches. In our samples case this is the perfect for gaming and decent for typing Cherry MX Red variation, which like all MX key switches these are rated for 50 million actuations (or keypresses).
As a nod to the ‘LEDS on everything craze’ that is sweeping the industry Kingston has also gone for the LED equipped version that Cherry offers. However they are not the newer Cherry MX RGB iteration and instead rely upon the older MX LED version. This older version uses single color LED to allow for illumination. On the positive side this switch still allows the average buyer the luxury of having an illuminated keyboard without having to pay extra for 16 million colors that few will actually care about – outside of ‘PC gamers’ that is.
Further making it a rather flexible model that will interest many people is the unique construction and design. Firstly this is metal (sans keycaps which are plastic of course) design that will simply not break like plastic keyboards. However, even though it is ruggedized it is a ‘ten keyless’ style keyboard that has a rather minimal footprint – making it perfect for those who travel and those with smaller desks.
The last thing which makes this keyboard rather interesting is the price. While yes this is a keyboard built to last a lifetime it doesn’t cost a fortune. In fact with an asking price of $75 (USD) we have seen membrane based keyboards – we are looking at you Razer – that cost more than the HyperX Alloy FPS Pro. Compared to other manufactures ten keyless models the Alloy FPS Pro is right in the ballpark of reasonable. So much so that few will have a hard time justifying the few dollars more than they were planning to spend on some mushroom dome / chiclet / ‘disposable’ keyboard that would have quickly broken and been rather underwhelming during its short lifespan. So how does the Alloy Pro FPS stack up and is it worth the investment? Let’s find out!
