At first we would like to thank CORSAIR for offering us their K83 Wireless Entertainment Keyboard for testing and reviewing.

 

About Corsair:

"Founded in 1994, Corsair has grown from pioneering the high-performance DRAM market to one of the world’s leading providers of enthusiast-grade PC components and peripherals. Our groundbreaking technology and innovation can be found in our high-performance memory, ultra-efficient power supplies, PC cases, PC and CPU cooling solutions, and solid-state storage devices. Under the Corsair Gaming brand, launched in 2014, we provide gaming keyboards, mice, headsets and mouse mats to eSports professionals and anybody who is passionate about competitive PC gaming.

 

Corsair hardware is regularly featured in showcase “dream systems,” and we have earned the adulation and respect of the press, professional gamers and overclockers, high-end system integrators, and PC enthusiasts worldwide by delivering leading-edge technology backed by renowned service and support.

 

Corsair has developed a global operations infrastructure with extensive marketing and distribution channel relationships, and our products are available through leading distributors and retailers in over sixty countries worldwide."

Product Features:

 

Refined Style.Visually Brilliant

 

Sleek and durable brushed aluminum design with adjustable white LED backlighting suits your modern living room.

 

Modern Control Joystick

 

Intuitive joystick control with click buttons plays games like a gamepad and makes menu browsing a breeze.

 

Touchpad

 

Integrated precision touchpad features tunable settings with advanced Microsoft Windows® 10 four-finger gesture support.

 

Media

 

Dedicated aluminum volume roller with press-to-mute smoothly fine?tunes your audio

 

Connectivity - Flexibility

 

Connect to your living room PC, compatible smart TV, streaming media player, or other devices with a choice of ultra-fast 2.4GHz wireless or low-latency Bluetooth® wireless.

 

Quick Keys

 

Convenient hotkeys for media playback and navigation or switch seamlessly to standard F keys for shortcuts and gaming.

 

Natural Fit

 

Comfort contoured keycaps with an intuitive layout and 20-key rollover ensure you’ll never miss a keystroke

 

Strong Wireless Encryption

 

128-bit AES wireless encryption helps protect your keystrokes from wireless eavesdropping to keep your personal data safe

 

USB Rechargeable Battery

 

Up to 40 hours of continuous use or play while charging when plugged into USB.

 

Programmable with Corsair iCUE Software

 

Lighting control, joystick and touchpad customization, sophisticated macro programming, and more, all from a single intuitive interface.

 

Product Specifications:

 

CORSAIR has recently launched a new wireless (WiFi/BT) keyboard for usage in the living room (ideally paired with our media center/TV) and comes with plenty of controls we can take advantage. No additional mouse is needed for this setup, since the keyboard does also have an embedded touchpad with advanced Microsoft Windows 10 four-finger gesture support.

 

The product is shipped inside a compact cardboard enclosure, holding the usual CORSAIR artwork:

 

 

 

On one of the box sides, we will learn of the included hardware and documentation but also get some system requirements, depending on the used platform (PC (WiFi) / PC (Bluetooth) / Android):

 

 

 

As we have seen with the latest-gen peripherals from the same manufacturer, the product also gets a nickname, “Lounge Wizard”:

 

 

 

More product information is available on the bottom; mainly here you will see a list of the main product features:

 

 

 

After unsealing the box, you will be able to spot the keyboard, along with an envelope that contains the documentation:

 

 

 

Speaking of the documentation, we have the start-up guide along with the Warranty Guide leaflet:

 

 

 

The manual does explain the installation and usage modes in detail, together with helpful drawings:

 

 

 

After removing the keyboard from the box, we will see that underneath there is an additional layer with hardware bundle:

 

 

 

To be more exact, we are getting one USB wireless receiver, but also an USB data/charging cable:

 

 

 

The supplied cable is in a non-tangle format, slim, which is a nice touch!

 

 

 

Both USB connectors do feature CORSAIR branding:

 

 

 

This type of USB wireless received we have also found before along with the DARK CORE RGB SE mouse:

 

 

 

 

The K83 wireless entertainment keyboard does sport a professional design thanks to its top brushed aluminum plate; the keycaps do feature a rounded design and underneath we are dealing with CORSAIR’s own ultra-low profile scissor switches:

 

 

 

Beginning from the top left corner of the keyboard, we have the Status LED near the ESC key, that indicates the battery status but also the connectivity mode; moving further to the right, we do have the navigation hotkeys present:

 

 

 

Before the next set of function keys, CORSAIR has placed the CapsLock indicator; here we have the WiFi/BT1/BT2 interface selectors but also the Play media button:

 

 

 

The ScrollLock status indicator is joined by the next batch of media keys:

 

 

 

The right side of the keyboard is a bit raised, in order to avoid accidental presses on the touchpad; the top corner does house the backlight brightness key selector, the F lock key but also the Volume roller; the roller can be also pressed inwards in order to make use of the “mute” function:

 

 

 

The navigation joystick makes scrolling on web pages an easy task, but can be assigned for other functions as well (such as gamepad mappings for games):

 

 

 

 

The touchpad does support the advanced Windows 10 gestures and we can choose to leave it with the default mappings or configure it in iCUE:

 

 

 

In the lower right corner, we do also have aluminum left/right mouse buttons:

 

 

 

The Insert/Home/PgUp/PgDn/End functions can be accessed from the Tab and directional keys:

 

 

 

 

When looking from the side, the keyboard is quite slim and the aluminum frame is placed at an angle, for a comfortable typing position:

 

 

 

In the front, we can see the L button for gaming purposes, the On/Off button with LED indicator but also the USB charging/data port:

 

 

 

Nearby, we do also have a larger R button, placed conveniently, also for gaming purposes; the joystick, along with the L/R buttons aim to offer a gamepad-like experience:

 

 

 

Here is also a look on the bottom keyboard area:

 

 

 

A debossed CORSAIR logo is present here, along with the usual certificate logos:

 

 

 

The keyboard lighting does really help at night and is not very bright so it won’t hurt your eyes:

 

 

 

K83 Wireless keyboard is fully compatible with the iCUE ecosystem; the application will detect it and display the options for configuration:

 

 

The menus we can work with are displayed on the left side:

 

 

In the Actions menu, we can define different other functions to the keyboard; we can choose one of the presets to work with:

 

Macro

Text

Media

Launch Application

Timer

Disable button

 

Profile Switching

Remap A&Z keys

Remap Num & Symbol keys

Remap Function keys

Remap Enhanced keys

Remap Numeric keypad

Remap Modifiers and Lock keys

Remap Language keys

 

Remap Mouse Button

Remap Keystroke

 

The Gestures section is a function taken over by Windows 10 initially, but, if desired, we can switch the controls to iCUE:

 

 

The lighting effects are quite simple for this keyboard:

 

 

 

Sometimes, the joystick may need calibration and we have a dedicated menu just for that:

 

 

Navigation-related options such as touchpad pointer speed/tapping speed, joystick dead zone/max zone/sensitivity can be configured next:

 

 

Next up, we have some miscellaneous settings available in the Performance tab:

 

 

After connecting the keyboard to our media-center via the supplied dongle, we have started typing some documents; the keys have a low activation and are pleasant to work with, but the touchpad needs a bit of a learning curve and does not seem as easy to use versus a regular mouse. The included joystick adds quite a bit of functionality to the keyboard, and is a much better solution for scrolling on pages than using the touchpad. CORSAIR has also added a bit of “gaming” feel to the keyboard by adding the L/R buttons, but these are not as accessible for use as on a regular gamepad, but very simple games could take advantage of this solution.

 

In terms of multimedia, the keyboard has plenty of controls; the Volume wheel idea is borrowed from CORSAIR’s gaming keyboards, while the adjustable lighting system is very handy when operating the keyboard in low lighting conditions.

 

The keyboard does feature four interfaces for usage with different hardware:

 

-wired USB connection

-2.4Ghz WiFi connection

-two separate BT connections

 

The K83 CORSAIR Wireless Entertainment Keyboard is available online for about 138 Euros.

 

Pros:

 

-great build quality

-brushed aluminum top layer that reinforces the chassis

-plenty of interfaces for usage with different devices

-it has flavors of a media center keyboard coupled with a gamepad

-the backlight is great for usage in low-light conditions

-it has iCUE support for even more customization

 

Cons:

 

-the L/R buttons are not as easy accessible as on a regular gamepad

-price

 

CORSAIR K83 Wireless Entertainment Keyboard is Recommmended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to CORSAIR for making this review possible!