Corsair K65 Pro Mini

The Corsair K65 Pro Mini is a fantastic small-form-factor gaming keyboard. It offers an especially sturdy chassis, complete with thoughtful design as well as some excellent optical switches – smooth and snappy for games and word processing alike. Its software suite is clean and the RGB lighting it provides is vibrant. But, all that keyboard goodness does come at a high price.

There are various issues, such as the plain design, the lack of a rapid trigger mode, and pinginess in the plate-mounted switches which we were not fans of, but that’s not enough to discredit Corsair’s stride in making quality gaming peripherals. It’s expensive, and some things could have been made better. But, for most PC gamers, the K65 Pro Mini is incredibly performant.

The Corsair K65 RGB Mini is a well-performing highly customizable keyboard that should help raise awareness for the 60% form factor despite a few (mostly cosmetic) flaws.

The 65% layout of the K65 Pro Mini is a nice middle ground between full sized and the smallest keyboards commonly available. Delete and arrow keys are retained and make for a convenient experience. Acoustics are ok and Corsair are making some good improvements in this area, however the space bar stabilisers still leave a bit to be desired and do rattle a bit.

For gamers who want a compact, wired board that’s all about speed, the K65 Mini Pro is the best around. It’s a bit pricey and the internal foam isn’t doing much, but solid hardware and an excellent layout (with or without iCue) push it above the competition.

Today, as is often the case with Corsair, the brand offers us a very good mechanical keyboard in 65% format. This keyboard also corrects most of the “shortcomings” of the K65 RGB Mini. Here, we find quality aluminum construction, directional keys with no shortcuts, a clean, simple look, PBT keys, light weight and a space-saving format. In short, the K65 Pro Mini has everything going for it.

I enjoyed my time with the Corsair K65 Pro Mini. Unlike most gaming keyboards, Corsair has paid attention to the acoustics of the keyboard which, thanks to the two sound dampening layers and the excellent Corsair OPX optical linear switches, present a very satisfying and pleasant typing experience. Elsewhere, the sturdy build quality, compact size, and the slew of customization options brings a lot of value to the asking price of $129.99, making the Corsair K65 Pro Mini a great option for those looking for a small gaming keyboard for their setup.

With the K65 RGB Mini, Corsair successfully shrinks its basic mechanical keyboard design down to 60 percent comfortably, but otherwise, it's a bit bland.