Corsair has updated last year's Vengeance K60 mechanical keyboard with an improved design that ought to make it more appealing. Although the K60 received relatively positive reviews for being solidly built and fairly feature packed, many buyers were deterred by the board's mixed use of mechanical and rubber dome key technology. Having mixed switches can feel pretty awkward, especially if you're gaming.
That complaint has been addressed in the K70, which has a Cherry MX Red switch under every key. Red switches have a linear action with no tactile response or audible click, similar to Black switches except Red ones are lighter to press. Corsair hasn't mentioned if it will offer the board with other switch types such as Brown or Blue, but it seems unlikely in the immediate future as the K60 remained Red-only.
Assuming you're satisfied with Red switches, there will be at least some degree of variety. Corsair will offer two different models of the K70: a black one with red backlighting and a silver one with blue lights. Regardless of which one you pick, you can expect the board to have a rugged brushed aluminum chassis, contoured and textured keycaps for the WSAD and 1-6 keys, as well as a full size soft-touch wrist rest.
Other noteworthy features include the ability to customize the backlighting on a key-by-key basis (only the intensity of the light – the color is static), a USB pass-through for your headset or mouse, dedicated multimedia controls for music and movies, and support for 20-key rollover so your keystrokes combos are always registered. Units are expected to begin selling in April for $130 – $20 more than the K60.