ASUS STRIX Tactic Pro Gaming Keyboard Overview
The keyboard itself is made mainly of plastic, but does have a very solid feel to it. This is a full-sized keyboard with a full compliment of keys plus a full number pad. There is also a set of macro-keys on the far left, which we will talk about in a second. One thing I really liked about this keyboard off the bat was that even though it has 21 macro keys, it’s not overly large. This is important because we know at LAN parties desk space comes at a premium.
As I mentioned this keyboard has Cherry MX Brown key switches. Cherry MX Brown switches are tactile and have a non-clicky actuation. They are most like a Cherry MX Blue switch, but the Blue switches have that louder audible click so many people do prefer the brown switches.
On the far left of the keyboard you have a set of 10 (M1-M10) dedicated macro keys. That is quite a lot and we are not even done with macro keys yet!
Along the top of the keyboard the F1-F8 keys have an alternate function for 8 more macro keys (M14-M21). Up top there are also indication LEDs for the profiles you are on.
At the bottom of the keyboard there are three more dedicated macro keys (M11-M13). This gives you a total of 21 macro keys, which is quite a lot! This makes this keyboard ideal for MMO gamers who want to assign different actions and commands to a multitude of different buttons and have them easily accessible. I really like the placement of the bottom three macro keys. It is quite easily while in-game to take your thumb off the keyboard and access these three keys.
On the top right corner of the keyboard are the multimedia controls. These include a scroll wheel for volume and buttons for play/pause, mute, back and forward. It is also great to have these because you don’t want to have to get out of your game to adjust the sound.
Taking a look at the keyboard from the side we can see that it has the same type of curvature we see in most gaming motherboards. This sets the bottom three rows of the keyboard at an downward angle design and the top three rows at and upward angle. This design should make typing as well as gaming much more comfortable. There is also pop-out feet on the bottom of the keyboard which give you an even better angle.
The USB cable that is connected to the keyboard is very thick and braided. The USB connection is gold-plated, which we like to see on all gaming products.
