Alienware - AW510K Full-size Wired Mechanical CHERRY MX Low Profile Red Switch Gaming Keyboard with RGB Back Lighting - Lunar Light

This keyboard hits all my wants. I do not mind that it is wired, but be mindful that it requires 2 usb ports to connect to. The keys have this soft yet firm feel and I love the clicky sound. I am super impressed with Best Buy’s open box quality, I selected “excellent” and can’t beat this for $60. The colors are vibrant but I agree the dashboard is slightly cumbersome and that’s my only feedback for Alienware.

I would like to preface this review by mentioning that I have never used a mechanical keyboard ever. I am a person who has largely used chiclet/laptop style keyboards. As such, I was drawn to this keyboard for its low profile form and full size. It was also important to me to get a white keyboard, since I have a lot of vision issues against black keyboards, though this product ended up being more of a pale grey. The best I can describe the color as is the color of light grey toned paper, if you’re familiar with it. But with the LEDs on, it easily can be read as white, so this is not a huge issue. As long as I can see the keys, I’m satisfied. Typing takes some adjustments; not only am I coming from experience only with laptop keyboards, but I’m also not used to any type of mechanical keys. That being said, the MX Cherry Reds are smooth and sensitive; it doesn’t take much to register a keystroke. As a heavy handed typer, I haven’t noticed any issues regarding repetitive keystrokes, but I have learned that if I’m not careful I can lean my hand on a key too heavily and accidentally trigger it. Again, not a deal breaker. I’m very happy that the keys are solid and clicky, but not terribly loud that I will keep up my family in the other room. The sound is audible, but subtle. There is some instance of rattle and ping with keys like the space bar, shifts, and enter keys, but they aren’t so obvious while actually typing versus button mashing. The biggest issue I had wasn’t even with the keyboard itself. Alienware’s “Command Center” software is ridiculously slow, as well as sensitive. It took nearly 15 minutes to set up the keyboard’s lighting profiles. The software definitely hasn’t been optimized in a while. It functions, but barely enough to be decent. This isn’t an issue with the keyboard itself though, so it isn’t worth a star deduction, but definitely worth mentioning to future customers. If I was to nitpick, I would say that the LEDs for things like the function key lock, num lock, and similar features, is really annoying. I’ll be keeping my keyboard set to white (which is tinted slightly blue, FYI) for the most part anyways, but the fact that those keys light up white when in use is frustrating. Especially since I use media keys a lot and would prefer to keep the function lock on 24/7 for easier access to those. Maybe there is a way to configure this, but so far I haven’t found anything online. Once again, Dell provides relatively poor service in that department. Overall I really like this keyboard. It’s a premium price, so I recommend snagging it while on sale or open-box like I did. If you’re in the market for a white, low profile keyboard, this should fit the bill nicely, but there may be some cheaper alternatives if you can sacrifice some of the bells and whistles here.

Excellent keyboard. The keys are nice and soft and the keys aren’t as loud as other alienware keyboards I’ve owned. The lights are great and easy to edit.