ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

4:14 PM gaming , keyboard , review , roccat 1 Comments

   Mechanical keyboards are usually the peripheral of choice for enthusiasts like gamers and even to an extent, people who need to type a lot (like me). If you want to learn more about mechanical keyboards, you can tune into this video by Techquickie. With that aside, today I have the ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro with Cherry MX Red switches here with me, and without further ado, let's get things started.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX


TECH SPECS

REVIEW
     Unboxing the Ryos MK Pro, we find a box within a box. This box has a glossy black finish with the wordings 'ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro' etched on the top of the box. While the box with all the fancy pictures and words is a bit on the thinner side, the box containing the keyboard certainly has heft and feels very sturdy. Opening up the box, we find the keyboard covered with a plastic shroud to prevent any accidental scratches during transit. Inside the box, we also find a quick installation guide.


     Enough about the box, let's talk about the Ryos MK Pro itself. Checking out the keyboard in its entirety, the keyboard sports clean distinct lines around the sides which outlines the entire footprint of the keyboard. On the left, we find 5 programmable macro keys labelled M1 to M5, which like the name suggests, is configurable via ROCCAT's driver software available on their website. That's not the only change, looking at where the caps lock key is supposed to be, instead of caps lock, we find the EasyShift+ button. More on this and the software later in the post. There's also 3 thumb keys on the wrist rest. Other than that, there really isn't anything that changed from the standard keyboard layout which is a big plus in my book as I don't like having to train myself to adapt to some of the more bizarre layouts.


     If you haven't notice yet, the Ryos MK Pro sports one of the thickest USB cables I have ever seen on a keyboard. The cable is braided and at the other end splits into three different cables: A USB cable for power, a USB cable for data and 3.5mm audio + mic cables. There's also a velcro strap attached to the thick cable in case you want to do some cable management.



     Looking at the upper corners of the keyboard, on the right, we find 2 USB ports that are partially powered by the additional USB header. I recommend that the ports be used strictly for interface devices that do not need to draw too much power like USB thumb drives or wireless receivers as it is definitely scarce in terms of supply power to USB devices. On the left, we find the audio + mic ports that function via the aforementioned audio cable. Quite handy if you have headsets that support short cabling.





     Flipping the keyboard around, we find cable management lanes as well as the kick-up stands that tilts the keyboard to a much more ergonomic angle. We also find ample amount of rubber on the contact points. I say ample as the keyboard does not bulge under normal usage conditions where I suppose the weight of the keyboard also contributes to this.

     Talking about weight, the keyboard weighs in at 1.6kg, which is a tad heavier compared to normal mechanical keyboards. While I want to say that it is probably contributed by the solid build quality of the keyboard, I have been told that it's due to the on-board 32-bit ARM processor and 2 MB of flash memory. From what I understand, the processor enables much more efficient profile switching and makes the keyboard more customizable in terms of lighting options. The on-board memory on the flip side, enables profiles to be stored inside the keyboard so users can bring their custom profiles on-the-go. In both software and on the keyboard, users can store up to 5 different profiles that can be bind to game or program executables. The 5 profiles on keyboard is nifty but I would like to see ROCCAT add the option to have an unlimited amount of profiles when users have the software installed on their PCs.


     Now let's talk about the software driver. I have heard that some people are having compatibility issues with ROCCAT's software driver in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. While I don't know what the underlying issue is, I'm using Windows 8.1 on my PC and the software driver is working as intended, so do take the rumoured compatibility issues with a grain of salt.


     Firing up the software driver, on the main control page, we find the basic things to configure how the keyboard behaves, specifically with the caps lock key and right windows key which are both replaced to EasyShift key and Fn key respectively. If you don't like the changes that have been made, you can tune it back to how it was supposed to be in software.




     On the next page, we find the key assignment utility. With EasyShift+, users can configure two functions to each M-key or as a matter of fact, any other key on the keyboard; for an example, I can configure my F1 key to also have a macro bound to it, and to activate it, just hold down EasyShift button alongside with F1 and my macro will be executed. Other than that, users can also configure all the keys on the keyboard on this page. If you are wondering how to enable caps lock on the keyboard, it's just as simple as holding down the EasyShift key and hitting the T1 thumb button. On-the-fly macro recording is also available on the keyboard by just pressing the Fn+F12 combination.


     Moving on to the key illumination page, as the name suggests, users can set-up their preferred lighting configurations. If I have not mentioned yet, the Ryos MK Pro has per-key illumination allowing a wide array of customization. To better demonstrate this, I have made a video demonstrating the different lighting modes. If you have the Power-Grid app on your smartphone, there are even more extra lighting effects to show off your keyboard. Everything will be in the video down below.


     Onto the last tab, we find ROCCAT's classic achievement system, the R.A.D. I won't elaborate much on this but if you are interested in learning more, you can read the software overview I did a couple months back.


CONCLUSION

     To sum it up, the ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro is one of the more full-featured mechanical keyboards out in the market. With solid construction and pretty extensive lighting customization, the Ryos MK Pro presents itself as a pretty good choice. I particularly like the cool lighting effects presented via the Power Grid app. However, does it qualify as an "essential" peripheral? Like the SteelSeries Siberia Elite, the Ryos MK Pro is classified as a, for the lack of better words, "show-off" peripheral in my book. Of course, it still doesn't change the fact that the keyboard does not cheap out on other core aspects in a mechanical keyboard in order to outshine (pun intended) other mechanical keyboards in the market. The Ryos MK Pro retails at MYR 555.00 and to be honest, I wouldn't mind paying some premium for excellent software features and pretty lights. If you aren't a sucker for flashy lights, you can check out other keyboards in the same series, the Ryos MK, priced at MYR 325.00 or the Ryos MK Glow that features basic lighting, priced at MYR 435.00.

• For more information, do contact PLAY Interactive, ROCCAT's sole distributor in Malaysia: https://www.facebook.com/PLAYInteractiveSdnBhd