Cooler Master SK650 Low Profile Keyboard Review

Conclusion

The Cooler Master SK650 is a great addition to their peripheral range and a product which is extremely simple to summarise.

The first thing that strikes you is definitely the compact nature of the chassis. We're so used to keyboards that have massive overhands or hefty weight that having one that is not only small, but light, makes a great change. Of course you could get similar levels of lightness and compact dimensions by going for a scissor switch keyboard, but where the SK650 stands out is in its use of Cherry MX Low Profile switches across the whole of the keyboard.

We've tested loads of switch types including many that promise to be as nice to type on as the Cherry MX offerings, but the fact is that nothing feels quite like a Cherry. There is a reason that they are the choice of almost every high end keyboard on the market. What makes the Low Profile ones so good is the combination of the typing feel we're used to from their red models, married up to the extremely short throw that we've seen before on their speed switches but is represented here on their low profile ones. It is nearly as quiet and smooth as a scissor design, but significantly more pleasurable to type upon. Not only that but the low profile key caps leave plenty of room for the crisp RGB lighting to bleed onto the medium grey brushed aluminium finish of the backplate so that your lighting choices are very well represented.

Cooler Master definitely deserve plenty of plaudits for adding the lock indicator lights to the RGB setup. We're so tired of keyboards which allow you to set up extremely customised colour palettes and yet resolutely refuse to give you anything but bright white LEDs for the Num/Caps/Scroll lock LEDs. By blending them into the available choices the SK650 has a much more harmonious look to it. It might be a tiny thing but given the consistency of mechanical keyboards it's these tiny things that can make all the difference.

Naturally if a keyboard has a chassis as compact as the SK650, and the key caps are low profile offerings on a low profile stalk, there are a couple of areas that might give you cause to pause. Robustness, and the ability of the key caps to remain in place during more, ahem, furious moments of gaming. Thankfully both these areas are total non-issues on the Cooler Master SK650. Venting our mock frustration at our gaming prowess didn't end up with caps pinging across the room, or even budging at all, whilst there is next to no flex in the chassis no matter how (reasonably) heavy-handed you get.

Sporting a robust software package alongside huge onboard options, fantastic lighting and speedy response times all married into a robust and compact chassis, the Cooler Master SK650 entered under the radar and has left to a banner-waving fanfare and wins our OC3D Enthusiast Award.

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