Compared to most of its rivals, Roccat has been relatively slow to take advantage of the rising interest in mechanical keyboards, but that's about to change this quarter when the company ships its first Cherry MX-based offering. Roccat is preparing three variants of its Ryos MK, including a base model without backlighting, a "Glow" version with standard backlighting and a "Pro" unit with individually configurable backlit keys.
The company says its Ryos MK Pro is the most customizable mechanical keyboard around, as it comes with software to control which keys are backlit and when, allowing for special effects that can enhance or aid your gaming experience. For instance, Roccat says the lighting could be configured to serve as a hit indicator or a health/mana bar, though the backlighting isn't multicolored, so your options are limited there.
To power that light show, the Ryos MK Pro is outfitted with two 32-bit ARM Cortex processors and 2MB of flash memory. Naturally, since it's geared toward gamers, the board also offers N-Key rollover to prevent ghosting and it has an array of macro-related features, such as Roccat's Easy-Shift technology, which lets you assign a secondary function to any key, five macro keys on the left and three thumb macro buttons.
The Ryos MK Pro also has an integrated hub with two USB 2.0 ports and audio in/out jacks, an underside channel for cable routing, and a finish that appears glossy to the eye but has a smudge-proof coating to resist fingerprints. Roccat plans to offer the board with four different key switch options (blue, brown, black and red). We haven't seen pricing yet for the three different Ryos MK models, nor their various switch variants.
