One of my favorite parts of the K55 RGB Pro XT, however, is in the upper-right corner: a suite of dedicated media keys. A lot of cheaper keyboards skimp on these, relegating them to keyboard shortcuts instead.

There’s also a detachable wrist rest, which is pretty comfortable thanks to a coarse, bumpy texture. NOTE: If you need to stop recording, hold the macro button until the macro indicator stops pulsing or blinking. The K55 RGB Pro also works with Elgato apps, which you can use to assign additional software shortcuts to control your live streams (though you can assign regular macros and shortcuts as well). Starting and stopping a stream, changing scenes, or muting your audio can be tied to the left-side "G" function keys. The Corsair K55 is a membrane keyboard, which means it utilizes rubber domes under its keycaps as opposed to mechanical switches. The result is a softer keypress with a nearly silent response. Thankfully, this doesn't translate to spongy keys—there's still a pleasant amount of resistance when typing or gaming. Under the keycaps are three RGB lighting zones instead of more expensive per-key lighting. The colors on the K55 have an excellent diffused glow and really fill up the space with light, thanks to the rubberized domes and floating keycaps.In hardware mode, your keyboard can run any lighting effects or macros that are saved to its onboard memory. You can even record macros when iCUE is not running, so long as your keyboard has space in its onboard memory. Unlike higher-end Corsair boards, there are no swappable game-centric keycaps included with the K55. Honestly, that's probably to be expected at this price, and with the large amount of cash you're saving there's plenty of custom options available on the internet.

When it comes to how the keys feel, the Corsair K55 RGB Pro XT is destined to be divisive. I have no desire to wade into the never-ending “membrane vs. mechanical” debate, but I will say that in my experience, mechanical keyboards are generally more comfortable, better for gaming and able to last a much longer time.This Corsair keyboard is arguably a good place to start in the world of PC gaming peripherals, but there’s a whole lot more to see if you can afford to spend just a little more. At 19.0 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches, the Corsair K55 RGB Pro XT is pretty large, even by full-size gaming keyboard standards. Part of this length is due to the extra macro keys, but other keyboards with similar features, such as the Logitech G915, are a full half-inch shorter.