Cooler Master Masterkeys Pro L Review

CM Storm Masterkeys Pro L Review

Conclusion

With the mechanical gaming keyboards now being the de-facto choice the market has become saturated with models which add ever increasing complexity to them in an attempt to stand out from the crowd.

The Cooler Master Masterkeys Pro is the antithesis of these ever more bloated options. If we had to describe it as anything it is the mechanical gaming keyboard distilled to its essence. A scalpel in a sledgehammer world. There is much to like from this simple approach. It’s not a hair bigger than it has to be. It has no features that aren’t in service to the monstrously bright lighting or letting you get up and gaming as quickly as possible. Even the software, these days an endless multi-page parade of tiny text and sub menus, is “here is the lighting, okay we’re done”.

Yes, you could argue that if you’re desperate for ultrafine control over the millisecond gap between each key press to ensure perfect execution of your macro that the Masterkeys Pro is somewhat lacking. But there are dozens of keyboards that do that, not least Cooler Master’s own Trigger range. If you just want a keyboard to record some basic macros and get on with the business of being brutally efficient then the Masterkeys Pro has you covered.

The big selling point is undoubtedly the brightness of the lighting and the lengths to which Cooler Master have gone to ensure you’re not enduring a keyboard as bright as an usherettes torch. We have to confess we’ve never found the majority of RGB Cherry MX keyboards lacking in this respect, but there is no doubting that the Masterkeys Pro L is the spangliest keyboard around if you want your carefully crafted lighting profiles to shine at their most luminescent. We’re certainly impressed with how this improved brightness has enabled the subtler colour offerings to be replicated well. Too often gentle hues blur into whiteness or their nearest primary colour. The Masterkeys Pro has all your options covered.

Away from the headline features there is one which perhaps deserves shouting about more than it is. Namely N-Key rollover, the way in which you can mash your head against the keyboard in apoplectic rage and have every press replicated beautifully, is merged with the Apple compatible 6-key rollover to create a keyboard usable by hardcore PC nerds and turtle-neck wearing architects alike without compromising either audience. 

If you want a mechanical gaming keyboard that is built like a tank, shines brighter than Blackpool on a Saturday night and takes up no more desk space than is absolutely necessary the Cooler Master Masterkeys Pro L is a worthy purchase and easy winner of our OC3D Gold Award.

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