ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Capsule Review

The ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro Gaming Keyboard

The first thing that you will notice about the ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro gaming keyboard is its massive proportions. Despite having only five extra macro keys to the left side of the board and three below the Space Bar, the Ryos MK Pro is 51cm wide and 23.5cm tall (20" by 9.25"), making it one of the largest keyboards that we have ever seen. The integrated and, sadly, non-removable wrist rest is the main reason this keyboard requires so much desk space.

No doubt it was necessary for ROCCAT to increase the proportions of the keyboard due to the inclusion of the thumb keys and they chose to do so by integrating the large wrist rest. The entire body of the keyboard is plastic and has been sprayed with a matte black paint, with glossy black cosmetic accents. ROCCAT advertises the body as being "smudge-proof" and that is partially true, as none of the plastic parts will get dirty easily – but that of course does not mean that the Ryos MK Pro cannot get dirty at all.

Aside from the eight extra Macro keys, there are no additional keys on the Ryos MK Pro, including multimedia and volume control keys. The multimedia controls are restricted to button combinations, i.e. holding the FN key and pressing one of the Function keys. For example FN + F1 will mute the sound, FN + F4 will bring up the calculator, and FN + F12 will initiate the on-the-fly macro recording. Furthermore, FN + Pause/Break will put the computer to sleep. The LED indicators for the Lock keys have been placed between the arrow keys and the document navigation keys.

Cherry is the supplier of the mechanical switches of this keyboard. They are the world's most renowned manufacturer of mechanical keyboard switches – and for a good reason. Our testing has proven that they tend to be more consistent than most competitive products at this point in time. We received the Ryos MK Pro with MX Black switches, but ROCCAT also offers it with Red, Blue, and Brown switches, allowing the users to select whichever switch suits them best. (Note that the current online pricing varies slightly depending on the choice of switch, with Black being the least expensive and Blue/Red costing the most.) ROCCAT implemented the switches very well, mounting them on a strong board and using cross-type supports under all of the larger keys.  

One of this keyboard's most notable features is the inclusion of 3.5" audio jacks and a USB 2.0 hub. The audio jacks and the USB 2.0 ports can be found very thoughtfully placed at the top left and right corners of the keyboard, respectively.

ROCCAT was certainly not joking around when they added "super-stable support" in the list of this keyboard's features. There are five very large anti-skid pads beneath the Ryos MK Pro, making the plastic body of the keyboard very difficult to slip on any surface. Two height adjustment feet can be seen near the top of the body.

The backlighting is perhaps the most important and notable feature of the Ryos MK Pro. Every key, including the thumb macro keys, has a very strong blue LED installed. The controller features per-key illumination, allowing the user to tweak or turn off the illumination of each different key. There are several lighting programming options in the software, which we will cover on the following page.

The removal of the top plastic cover reveals the metal board that the keys and the main PCB are mounted on, as well as a lot of hollow space where the wrist rest is. ROCCAT performed an excellent assembly job – everything is very well secured, the cables are cleverly routed, and the soldering job is immaculate. There are two microcontrollers inside the Ryos MK Pro. The main microcontroller is the NPX LPC1752FBD80, with an NPX LPC1111/102 next to it. A Cypress CY7C65642 USB 2.0 controller can also be seen, managing the hub.