ASUS Cerberus Gaming Keyboard Review

Up Close

We often speak of the importance of initial impressions, and the Cerberus makes a curious one at best. Apparently the ‘rubberized feet kepp keyboard in place’, which sounds like some bad, un-checked, Chinglish. Once you open the box the keyboard is upside down. Packaging though is insignificant as long as the keyboard is good, but it doesn’t fill you full of confidence that this is a carefully crafted item. ASUS have already printed out some stickers to cover this up, so that if you’re purchasing one this wont be an issue. Of course we have to review what we receive, hence us pointing it out.

      

Out of the box and it feels like every £10 keyboard you’ve ever brought. Some very scratchy plastics. It might be “Full SECC Metal Plate” but it creaks where the red back joins the top in a manner that makes the price-tag seem hopeful. How bothersome this is depends on how much you use the keys on the extreme edges of the board and how hefty your touch is.

We’re not sure why the underneath is red, it’s hardly something you’ll see often, but it at least provides a small amount of design flair. However, the best bit about the underneath are the holes. In fact they’re draining holes so if you’re the type of person who spills your coffee/energy drink on a regular basis then this could very well save your bacon. Certainly here at OC3D where we exist almost solely on pints of coffee we’ve lost more than one keyboard which could have been saved if we had a Cerberus.

      

Things improve dramatically when you plug it in though. The backlighting is uniform and has four brightness options. There are two colour choices too, although they are bound to a profile and thus you’re very much having to decide between having the lighting you want and the features you don’t, or vice versa.