HyperX Alloy Elite Review: A Great, No-Nonsense Keyboard

Our Verdict

The HyperX Blend Elite has a spacious design, authentic Cherry MX keys, dedicated media controls and an interface that requires no software.

For

Authentic Cherry MX keys
Smart pattern
Discrete media keys
Great functioning

Against

Garish backlighting
So-so pricing

Tom'due south Guide Verdict

The HyperX Alloy Aristocracy has a spacious design, authentic Cherry MX keys, dedicated media controls and an interface that requires no software.

Pros

+
Authentic Blood-red MX keys
+
Smart blueprint
+
Discrete media keys
+
Great performance

Cons

-
Garish backlighting
-
So-so pricing

Fellow '90s kids may remember an episode of Rocko's Modernistic Life in which the hapless protagonist attempts to purchase a new TV. His middle'south desire is a model called "Mr. Sensible," a small, affordable set that would fit perfectly in his living room (and that, naturally, gets replaced with an exorbitant monstrosity). When I tested the $110 HyperX Alloy Elite mechanical gaming keyboard, Mr. Sensible was the get-go affair that sprang to heed.

The Blend Elite has information technology all: a spacious blueprint, authentic Scarlet MX keys, defended media controls and an interface that requires admittedly no software. The crimson backlighting is a fleck garish, and its lack of software too means a lack of programmable buttons. Still, these are relatively minor gripes for a keyboard that delivers everything the average gamer needs and near null he or she doesn't.

Design

The Alloy Elite is about as elegant every bit they come up. The square key caps take up nigh of the keyboard's rectangular trunk, with only a few modest gaps to maintain even spacing. A bar higher up the Office keys has dedicated keys for media, brightness, lighting patterns and game manner (which disables the Windows keys and Alt-Tab during games). There'southward also a removable wrist rest down below that was, in my experience, quite comfy.

(Epitome credit: HyperX)

What impressed me about the Blend Aristocracy is that in that location's essentially no wasted infinite on it. If your gaming setup has room for a full-size keyboard, the Alloy Elite volition fit comfortably in information technology — and if you have to forgo the wrist rest, it's piece of cake enough to remove. The cherry backlighting means information technology may not mesh with your room (more on that later), just in terms of sheer physical appearance, it's hard to see how HyperX could accept improved on the Blend Aristocracy.

Keys

You lot can purchase the Alloy Aristocracy with either clicky, tactile Cherry-red MX Blueish keys or tranquility, linear Cherry MX Red keys. While it's disappointing that the tranquillity, tactile Reddish MX Brown keys aren't offered, the Reds and Blues ought to delight most people. While other mechanical switches from Razer and Logitech are inching closer to Cherry quality, zilch beats the originals, and Ruby is still at the top of the mechanical key switch market.

I used TypingTest.com to evaluate the Alloy Elite, and institute that I could type 126 words per minute with vii errors. For comparing, with my Logitech G810 Orion Spectrum, I typed 119 words per minute with seven errors. For people who wonder whether Cherry-red keys are really more effective, wonder no longer.

The detached media keys, including a volume dial, are too a nice touch. Having pause, play, skip and volume buttons simplifies things so much. It'south positively inexplainable to me that some keyboards that cost more than $100 insist on secondary function button commands instead.

Features

Because the Alloy Elite does not use whatsoever proprietary software, its but real features are a few lighting patterns, the game manner and its detached media keys. The lighting patterns are non terribly interesting, and the cerise backlighting is a divisive choice. Red-and-black gaming setups are all the rage right now (at to the lowest degree if you lot ask PC manufacturers), but blue, green, gray or white color schemes are just equally common, and mayhap more and then. The scarlet backlighting isn't bad, per se, but it limits your gaming nook's cohesion potential.

Non having to deal with software is a boon, since equally before long as yous plug in the keyboard, it'southward good to go. (There's even a USB pass-through, which is either very useful or total superfluous, depending on your setup.) On the other manus, because you lot can't program macros or reprogram any of your keys, the Alloy Aristocracy may non be as versatile as comparable keyboards from companies such as Logitech, Razer and SteelSeries. I was fine with the trade-off, simply it's worth thinking nearly.

Operation

With a smart layout and Ruddy MX keys, the Blend Elite performs spectacularly in both depression- and high-stakes gaming scenarios. I tested information technology with a diverseness of games to see how information technology held upward to both furious cardinal pounding and laid-back borer, and it excelled in both categories.

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In heated competitive games such equally Heroes of the Storm, the Alloy Aristocracy mapped my keystrokes accurately and instantly, and didn't take any problem with rollovers or multiple keystrokes. In more measured experiences, similar Hex: Shards of Fate, a single light tap could gear up my attackers confronting my opponents. Whether I was slaying demons in Diablo III or trying out new characters in Overwatch, the Alloy Elite was a reliable companion.

Bottom Line

HyperX hasn't been producing keyboards for very long, which only makes it more impressive that the Alloy Elite is and so proficient. While it's not as deeply customizable every bit some of its competitors, and the backlighting volition not suit anybody'southward taste, its fundamentals are beyond solid. The keys, layout and performance are all top-notch.

The price could be a sticking point for some gamers; after all, yous could go a Logitech G413 keyboard for $90, or a Corsair Strafe (with Cherry MX keys) for $100. Then once again, if discrete media keys are worth their weight in aureate to you, they should at least be worth the price of a upkeep game.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a scientific discipline writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and engineering. Afterwards hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.