Closer Examination

As per usual, Cooler Master used a standard font that is easily legible and doesn't try to be too flashy to appeal to the gaming market. Cooler Master seems to understand that the majority of users just want a clean-looking keyboard rather than a lot of flashy useless plastic or a horrible font aimed at youngsters.


As with most recent keyboards, there is an FN key to allow for more functionality with fewer keys. With the Master Keys Pro S RGB, F1-F4 just concentrate on lighting; F1 deals with red, F2 deals with blue and F3 deals with green. Each of these can be pressed nine times to get a different intensity of the color, which allows for on-the-fly color selection. The F4 key scrolls through the many different modes, such as an RGB wave effect; I will show some of these later.


F5 to F8 all repeat keystrokes, which allows you to repeat each keystroke up to 8 times. F9 through to F12 give us a button to record LED backlighting, the Windows lock key, and record macro and delete macro buttons.


Combine the FN key with this little cluster of keys and you'll have a full set of media keys. I do prefer to have dedicated media keys as I do seem to use them often, but having them as a secondary function is far better than not having them at all.


Although it is hard to see in this image, there are also P1-P4 keys, which are secondary functions to the 1-4 number keys; these allow you to select the profile you wish to edit or use.


The cable for the CM MasterKeys Pro S RGB is 1.5m long and detachable. It uses a standard USB to micro USB cable, so if it is too long or not long enough, you could easily switch it out for another. The standard cable is braided with a high-quality braid, and the end with the micro USB connector sits at a right angle.


You obviously have a micro USB port. It is on the back right-hand side of the keyboard. One thing I did notice is that if you have your computer or your USB ports on the opposite side of the 90 degree cable, the cable needs to double back on itself, making things a little messier and slightly more tricky. Obviously with it being a micro USB cable, you could swap it out, but that they force you to run the cable in a certain direction does seem a little strange.


The feet on the CM MasterKey Pro S RGB are pretty much the standard. They are, however, rubber tipped to stop them from slipping around. In addition to the flip-out feet, there are four rubber pads to ensure a comfortable nonslip user experience at all times.


As with most high-end keyboards nowadays, we see Cherry MX switches when we pop off a few keycaps. These have a clear surround to allow the RGB lighting to glow through. I am a big fan of Cherry MX switches, and I chose Browns this time around. As you would expect, they perform excellently, and I had no issues at all with them. The keycaps are of good quality, and if they are not to your taste, these can easily be swapped out for others since they use the Cherry MX stem.


Quickly looking at the LEDs, we can see they are very bright, even in well-lit areas. There are many different options and profiles you can use with these LEDs, and I will go through them a little later on. Here, we have a simple single color and one of the keyboard's game profiles. These can be changed on the fly with the FN and F1-F3 keys, which allow you to change colors, etc.


Looking at the keyboard from the side, we can see that it has a pretty standard profile to ensure users can comfortably make use of it.