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HyperX’s standout, budget mechanical keyboard, the Alloy Origins, is now ready for the esports spotlight. The Alloy Origins 60, a 60 percent smaller riff on the 2019 model, brings the original’s strengths to a compact body. Though only slightly less expensive than the full-size version, and featuring the company’s proprietary Red linear switches, the $99.99 HyperX Alloy Origins 60 manages to undercut many new and upcoming 60 percent keyboards in terms of price. Like its predecessors, the Alloy Origins 60 is simple, not basic, and a great, essentialist keyboard choice.
Streamlining the Origin
Launching amid a surge of 60 percent gaming keyboards seemingly aimed at competitive play and esports, the Alloy Origins 60 doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It’s a 61-key version of the 2019 HyperX Alloy Origins, featuring the same switches, materials, and feature set. To slim down to its new 1.5 by 11.63 by 4.13-inch footprint (HWD), it strips away the function row, command keys, and arrows. The streamlined keys, along with media controls and onboard profile selection, have been added to the keyboard as alternate inputs using the function key. Some keyboard-makers have played with the standard keyboard to build in room for improvisation, but the Alloy Origins is simply a smaller keyboard.
Removing the keys and condensing the keyboard makes the keyboard much smaller and easier to maneuver on your desk. You won’t have a hard time tilting the keyboard to an ergonomic angle while PC gaming.
It’s worth pointing out, though, that the keyboard’s aluminum base panel is heavier than average. Depending on your style that can be a blessing or a curse. On the plus side, the 26.1-ounce (1.63-pound) keyboard isn’t moving unless you move it. On the negative side, spot adjustments require a slightly more concerted time and attention, which may be a problem mid-game. The Alloy Origins 60 features a detachable USB-C cable for easy transportation.
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Like the original Alloy Origins, the Alloy Origins 60 features HyperX’s proprietary Red linear switches. As I’ve mentioned in past HyperX keyboard reviews, these switches have a unique feel, even among linear switches. While they feature a light touch, they don’t have that “hair trigger” quality seen in other gaming-first switches. It’s a much more balanced typing experience that lends itself well to both gaming and typing.
The Alloy Origins 60’s PBT keycaps are marked with sidecaps that show alternate function key shortcuts like many of the new compact keyboards. Since these secondary layouts aren’t set in stone by any stretch, it’s an important addition, even if it’s rapidly becoming commonplace.
Lastly, while I normally don’t dwell on minor accessories like alternate keycaps, the Alloy Origins 60 comes with an incredibly cool-looking alternate spacebar laced with topographic-like shapes that really takes advantage of its RGB lighting. Both the spacebar and the other alternate keycap, a letter-size key with the HyperX logo, are made with ABS rather than PBT, so they aren’t quite as durable. Still, it is one of the few manufacturer-made alternate keycaps I’ve seen that really felt like an aesthetic upgrade.
Small Size, Big Ngenuity
The Alloy Origins 60 offers customization options through HyperX’s Ngenuity configuration app. Ngenuity has been a work-in-progress for some time, but it has become a reliable utility. It’s easy to remap keys, change RGB lighting, and adjust other settings. There are still a few places where the app is confounding. Switching among many profiles and keeping track of which ones are in the keyboard’s onboard memory is hard to follow, for example.
In general, Ngenuity gets “close enough” that I wouldn’t call it a hindrance to the Alloy Origins 60, but it isn’t as polished as top-tier configuration apps, such as the Corsair iCue, Logitech G Hub, or Razer Synapse.
Play Small, Win Big
At $99.99, the HyperX Alloy Origins 60 is on the affordable side, but it isn’t significantly cheaper than competing keyboards. Most compact gaming keyboards fall in the $109.99-$129.99 range (like the excellent Fnatic Streak65, which excels and innovates), so it doesn’t particularly stand out in terms of price. Still, the Alloy Origins 60 is a solid pick, through and through. It looks good, has distinctive switches, and adheres to all the tenets of the rapidly standardizing 60 percent gaming keyboard canon.
4.0
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The HyperX Alloy Origins 60 mechanical keyboard works just as well as its larger sibling thanks to a well-designed body, balanced proprietary switches, and useful configuration software.
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Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/hyperx-alloy-origins-60-gaming-keyboard
