The Corsair K65 PRO MINI is our first gaming keyboard to use the 65% form factor. Additionally, it’s a perfect showcase for the CORSAIR OPX optical-mechanical key switches. These design aspects position it perfectly as a great keyboard for competitive FPS games.
Typically, competitive FPS games are played at low DPI, meaning that the mouse must be physically moved further for any in game aim change. This creates an issue in terms of area, as most people do not have the grandiose butcher block desk that we so covet from extended sessions perusing r/battlestations.
Even if you do have a super wide desk, some people find it less than ideal for their hands to be far apart, so the same problem can occur. This is one of the reasons you will see FPS pros rotating their keyboard around, which allows the gap between their hands to be closed. The other being ergonomic preference.
Of course, you could elect to use a 60% keyboard, which is largely considered the smallest usable keyboard form factor outside of custom-made fare. However, the omission of the navigation cluster (arrow keys) can prove annoying for things other than gaming.
With huge amounts of people continuing to work from home, the after-work oasis known as the gaming PC has become the very thing it was made to escape from. So, unless you like to flip between keyboards for play and work, the 65% keyboard is smallest board that can reasonably pull double-duty.
OPX switches have an actuation distance of 1.0mm, a total travel of 3.2mm and an actuation weight of 45g. All these characteristics combine to make it an extremely responsive gaming experience, allowing your reactions to be transferred more quickly into in-game actions.
Additionally, due to the optical actuation, there is no risk of debounce, and therefore no need for debounce delay. This means that the frequency of actuation isn’t limited, so the keyboard will register keystrokes no matter how quick you are.
If you’re curious for more information, we’ve written an entire article on CORSAIR OPX key switches that’s worth checking out. For now, though, let’s talk about shortcuts.
In your quest for compact computing capabilities, you must inevitably sacrifice some physical keys. For the 65% CORSAIR K65 PRO MINI, the keys lost are the function row, the numpad, and navigation keys: Insert, Pg Down, Delete, End, etc. Essentially the keys that are normally positioned above the arrow keys of a traditional full-size keyboard.
However, that’s not so say that the K65 PRO MINI has lost these functions entirely. Rather, you can get to them by holding the FN key and pressing other keys.
Keyboard shortcuts allow you to retain a lot of the functionality that you might otherwise lose when using a small form factor keyboard. Unfortunately, it can be tricky to remember what key does what, so we’ve side-printed the keycaps, so, if the key has a secondary function when the FN key is pressed, you can check the front-side of the keycap to see what it does.
Additionally, we’ve made it so when you hold the FN key, all the keys that have secondary functions light up bright white, and all the other keys go dark. This helps you find what you need and will make memorizing the shortcuts far easier.
Of course, using the iCUE software you can set the keys to do whatever you want, so if you hit an insane long-range shot in your FPS of choice, you can set any key to save the clip using Nvidia ShadowPlay, for example. Essentially, with a bit of practice, you can enjoy the space-saving FPS monster qualities of the K65 PRO MINI, while keeping a very high level of practical functionality.
Check out the CORSAIR K65 PRO MINI over on our retail site today!
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