Corsair K65 Plus and Corsair M75 for Mac review: built for Mac gaming

Corsair K65 Plus Wireless for Mac

MSRP $179.95

“Corsair has built a solid pair of gaming accessories that embody Apple’s burgeoning vision for Mac gaming.”

Pros

• Customized for Macs
• Smooth typing for work and gaming
• Comfortable mouse design suits all grip types
• Keyboard has hot-swappable switches

Cons

• Keyboard remapping issues
• Mouse has squidgy side buttons

These days, Apple talks the talk when it comes to Mac gaming, but does it walk the walk? Well, the latest gaming mouse and keyboard from Corsair would seem to suggest that it does, as they’re the result of a close partnership between Corsair and the iPhone maker. If you’d told me a few years ago that Apple would start collaborating with pro gamer brands, I wouldn’t have believed you — yet here we are.

The resulting offspring of this unusual union are new versions of Corsair’s K65 Plus keyboard and M75 mouse. They come in colors exclusive to Apple, plus a couple of tweaks here and there to make them more Mac friendly. I wouldn’t call them the best gaming keyboard or best gaming mouse, but there’s a lot to like about both accessories, which are a first for this new product category.

Corsair K65 Plus specs

Corsair M75 specs

Design

There are plenty of Mac-compatible gaming mice and keyboards out there, so what’s different about Corsair’s latest efforts? The most notable changes compared to the non-Apple versions can be found in the K65 Plus. Here, Corsair has made a raft of adjustments to make it a better fit for Apple’s computers, and much of that is found in the design.

The keyboard comes with macOS-specific keycaps, including Option and Command keys and media controls on the function row. It also has a bundled USB-C to USB-C cable (instead of USB-C to USB-A), plus the aforementioned new colors. Corsair sent me its products in white, which fit in well with Apple’s aesthetic. There’s also a translucent blue colorway that’s reminiscent of the Game Boy Color — or indeed the iMac G3.

The K65 Plus uses a compact 75% layout, which means the numpad and one or two other buttons have been sliced away. It’s ideal for gaming, as the smaller form factor is less likely to get in the way of your mouse during frantic gameplay. It has its quirks: There’s a Home button but no End key, for example, which led to me having to do some remapping in Corsair’s iCue app (more on that later).

Corsair has opted for dye-sublimated PBT keycaps. What does that word salad mean? Essentially, the key legends are printed onto a single layer of plastic using a lot of heat and laser tech, which should make them resistant to oily shine marks and fading legends. Unlike many PBT keycaps, Corsair’s aren’t textured, but they are compatible with backlighting. This looks good (there are lots of options in the iCue app), although buttons with secondary functions (like the function row) only have one set of legends illuminated, which makes them hard to find in dim lighting.

The switches underneath the keycaps are hot-swappable, so you can replace them with a different sort if you don’t like the way they feel. According to Corsair, the K65 Plus is compatible with three-pin and five-pin MX-style switches, which gives you a huge range to choose from.

Nestled in the top-right corner is a silver dial, which can be programmed to perform different functions. This can be set to tweak zoom levels, keyboard brightness, vertical or horizontal scrolling, and volume control. It’s a nice extra, albeit one I barely used.

Like the regular K65 Plus, the Mac edition has a switch around the back for flipping between Windows and macOS layouts, so the keys are where you’d expect them to be no matter which system you’re using. As someone who works across both Windows and macOS most days, this is a real understated benefit.

The connectivity options for both products include an included USB-C cable, Bluetooth, and 2.4GHz. The latter uses a USB-A adapter, but thankfully there’s a USB-C dongle in the box — it’s just as well when almost every modern Mac has switched completely to USB-C.

What about the design of the M75 mouse? The Mac version is almost identical to the regular M75, with the different colors being the only distinction of note. There’s a very subtle texture on the sides, which increases the grippiness without being overbearing, while there are two translucent strips and a Corsair logo that can light up with the color or pattern of your choice.

The M75 uses an ambidextrous shape, and you’ll find side buttons on both the left and right, so it works well for left- and right-handers. Disappointingly, the front-left side button (when used right-handed) on the M75 I received was very unresponsive — it could be pushed in with the same force as the other buttons, yet my presses wouldn’t register. Only after I pressed in harder — and the button moved in deeper — would anything happen. This quickly became annoying and felt like poor quality control on Corsair and Apple’s part.

On the top are the left- and right-click buttons, plus a scroll wheel with a fairly rigid scrolling action that’s noticeably louder scrolling forward versus backward. You’ll find the connectivity and DPI buttons on the bottom; I didn’t mind having the latter located where it was, but you might prefer a DPI button on the top.

As for the mouse shape, it’s a comfortable size that manages to be a good fit whether you use a palm, claw, or fingertip grip. It’s slightly larger than the Logitech Pro X Superlight 2 that I use day-to-day, but still felt perfectly comfy in use.

Performance

The K65 Plus comes with pre-lubricated Corsair MLX Red linear switches. In layman’s terms, that means there’s no tactile bump when you press each key, and this type of switch is usually designed for gaming, where fast reactions can give you an edge.

There’s a ton of foam stuffed inside the K65 Plus to dampen typing sounds. This foam also makes the linear switches a little softer to press. Normally I dislike linear switches because I end up “bottoming out” and hitting the key on the bottom of the keyboard’s frame, which makes my fingers sore after a while. With the more cushioned impact of the K65 Plus, that was never a problem for me.

The flip side is that these are far from the fastest linear switches you’ll ever use. That said, the keyboard stood up well in my gaming tests in a variety of titles, from fast-paced first-person shooters to more relaxing RPGs. Its comfy linear switches and compact size make it ideal for playing any of the increasing number of top-rated Mac games that we’re treated to these days. I’d prefer more textured keycaps for extra grip, but it’s not a massive concern.

As for typing, I still prefer tactile switches, but the fact that the K65 Plus is hot-swappable means you can customize it to your needs, albeit with a little bit of effort. Corsair includes a combined keycap/switch puller in the box, which is helpful. I also found no issues with key ghosting, suggesting that the n-key rollover works well.

The M75 mouse, meanwhile, was a solid performer throughout my time testing it. It feels comfortable, speedy, and accurate in both gameplay and everyday work, and the wide range of customizations available in the iCue app mean it’s pretty simple to adjust it to the task at hand. It glides smoothly over your mouse mat, although it’s worth noting that you don’t get any of the add-on weights that some gaming mice are sold with.

Corsair has included four swappable magnetic side buttons in the box, varying between ridged and smooth options. I tried replacing the squishy front-left one, but since the issue was with the button mechanism itself, it didn’t fix the problem.

On the subject of buttons, the left-click and right-click buttons produce slightly different sounds. That might not seem like much, but the left button’s sound managed to permeate through my headphones with a noticeable “ping,” which was a touch annoying. Maybe I’m overly sensitive, but it had me wishing for a damper sound.

Software

Corsair’s iCue companion app is used to set macros, remap keys and buttons, adjust device lighting, and more. It’s a pretty competent app, albeit with a lot of bloat cramming up its home screen. There are widgets to measure your computer’s vital stats like load and temperature, bright murals that can apply lighting effects to the mouse or keyboard, and ads for other Corsair products and downloads. It’s a lot.

Once you dive into the settings page for your device, though, the app is a lot cleaner and easier to navigate. The interface is intuitive and Corsair has built tutorials into the app to help you use its features the first time around.

Yet despite that, I still came across a few irritating bugs and issues. I mentioned before that the K65 Plus doesn’t have an End key. I tried remapping the Page Down key to End, and that worked well. But pressing Shift+Page Down (after remapping it to End) should have highlighted all text to the end of the current line. Instead, it would highlight everything to the end of my current document, performing the regular (unchanged) Shift+Page Down function. In other words, holding a modifier key ignored my remapping. This wasn’t a problem in macOS (you can press Command+Right arrow to get End key functionality) but caused a lot of friction in Windows.

Switching the devices between operating systems also presented software issues. For instance, I’d switch from my Mac to my PC, and the keyboard’s lighting would suddenly turn off, even though it was connected. Opening iCue would let me choose RGB effects, but none would have any effect. The keyboard would just sit there, unlit, despite iCue telling me it was dancing in rainbow colors.

The keyboard’s dial was also a little fussy. In Microsoft Word, for example, scrolling left would zoom out but scrolling right would not zoom back in, even though this worked perfectly well in my web browser. I’m not sure if this was an iCue or a Word issue, but it was a little bothersome either way.

Should you buy these devices?

Apple had a lot of input into these devices — it even made Corsair cut out almost all of the plastic packaging they come with — so you’ve got to imagine they’re pretty close to what Apple imagines are the ideal Mac gaming peripherals. So, should you buy into Apple’s gaming hardware vision?

Part of that comes down to price. Unfortunately, the K65 Plus for Mac is $20 more than the non-Apple version, setting you back $180 instead of $160. Corsair told me that’s due to the changes it made, including adding a USB-C adapter and offering new colors and translucent plastics. The K65 Plus is a solid gaming keyboard for Mac, but its high price makes it a little less appetizing.

As for the mouse, its $130 asking price isn’t cheap either, but it’s not an outrageous price to pay for a gaming mouse and it costs the same as the regular M75. It offers solid performance and plenty of customizable buttons, although Corsair really needs to fix up the squishy front left-side button.

Put together, there are a few annoying bugs that you wouldn’t expect to find given the price (especially considering the increased cost of the K65 Plus). From key remapping errors to spongy side buttons that don’t work as they should, these are the kinds of lapses you don’t expect from premium gaming gear. But given Apple’s long and bumpy road to AAA gaming acceptance, perhaps it almost feels appropriate.

That said, there’s a lot to like about them. They look great on your desk and perform well for the most part. I’m especially impressed with Corsair’s linear switches, which remain strong in gameplay yet don’t have the typical drawbacks for typists that you often find in switches of this type.

I wish Apple and Corsair would fix up their products’ occasional lapses in concentration, but if you’re an Apple fan wanting to take advantage of the increasing number of high-grade games coming to the Mac, these devices are worth considering.