When CORSAIR released the original K100 keyboard two years ago at $230, it was the first time the company had gone past the $200 price point for keyboards, but did bring with it a plethora of updates and new features which still made me recommend it over the competition. It's also not often that CORSAIR announces a keyboard ahead of launch so there was anticipation built up for the K100 AIR from those who were looking to see what a truly ultra low profile mechanical keyboard would be like. The Cherry M ULP switches have been only used in recently launched, expensive laptops thus far. As such, this is likely going to be the first time many users will experience these switches and they are a mixed bag. I certainly appreciate the engineering required to get these manufactured to Cherry's exacting standards, but they are loud and can be a distraction from simply typing at times. The combination of the switches with the case no doubt contributes to this, but there's only so much you can do in such a short form factor. I feel the stabilizers could have been lubed better, but I can't confirm that, given you can potentially damage the keycaps when removing them off the switches.

That is but one of several compromises that I have experienced using the K100 AIR over the past few weeks. It certainly feels like a cut down version of the K100 in more ways than one, and I kept waiting for something to surprise me in a good way. At $280 though, things are not up to par in my opinion. Where's the Stream Deck support for the G-keys? Why not go with an integrated iCUE NEXUS-style screen in the center? Now would also have been a good time to debut the planned modular iCUE, which is no longer an industry standard for peripheral software drivers, instead I have a crashing bug upon system wake up that will be hopefully fixed in the upcoming release. So at least in that regard, paying customers will not have to deal with this one issue.

The CORSAIR K100 AIR has a lot of features certainly, and yet many of these can be had in keyboards which cost far less. Indeed, you are getting this essentially to use it wirelessly in the living room or on your desk as a low profile keyboard which is built well and has a good battery life. This is exactly how and why I am using it and perhaps you are in the same boat. Anyone else should not be considering this for the asking price.