A utilitarian take on design

HyperX Alloy Elite.

byKoh Wanzi OCTOBER 2017

HyperX Alloy Elite.

CONCLUSION

A solid, fussfree keyboard for those who want plenty of features but none of the hassle.

Kingston’s HyperX gaming division is doubling down on its decision to churn out gaming keyboards that favor simplicity over a ton of superfluous features. The HyperX Alloy Elite follows a very similar design ethos as the HyperX Alloy FPS, but it fixes the shortcomings of its predecessor.

For one, the USB 2.0 port on the HyperX Alloy Elite now allows you to plug in other peripheral devices, and it’s not just an extra charging port anymore. There are also now dedicated media buttons for navigating your playlist and controlling the volume, but the price of this is a larger footprint than the HyperX Alloy FPS.

Toward the left, you’ll find buttons for adjusting the lighting effects, brightness levels, or toggling on Gaming Mode, which disables the Windows key. There are four different brightness levels and six lighting modes, including things like wave, reactive, ripple, and selective illumination of the keys you’d normally use for FPS games.

There aren’t any drivers for this keyboard, so it runs clean and lean, and everything you need to tweak the settings are on the keyboard itself. This means setting it up requires no other work than simply plugging it in, but those of you who are used to programming your own macros may need to consider something else.

You’re limited to just a single-color red backlight however, so those of you looking for RGB customization may be disappointed.

Our review unit came with Cherry MX Red switches, a popular choice on gaming keyboards today. These are light, linear switches, with an actuation force of just 45g. They’re alright for gaming, but the light actuation force means it’s difficult not to bottom out with them while typing.

That said, everything feels super easy to use and get used to, and the good thing is you no longer have to hit the Fnkey and squint to look for the right key bindings.

You also get a plastic wrist rest that snaps securely onto the bottom, which comes across as a nice bit of added value.