Gadgetory

what's up Tech fans Kevin you're on ticket tomorrow bringing you guys another accessory review and today we're taking a look at the max Nighthawk x8 backlit mechanical keyboard now this is a part of many similar lines of keyboards that all have pretty much the same features but the main thing that distinguishes the x8 is that it uses brown cherry MX switches as opposed to the blue switches in the x7 and the red switches in the x9 so you guys know the drill by now we're going to talk about what features it has how customizable it is and of course how it performs to let you know whether or not it's worth its MSRP of 144 99 so let's check it out so first off as the name implies this is a backlit keyboard this particular one as you can see features a couple different colors going on the colored lights are however not customizable you can choose between a couple different colors when you order the keyboard but once you get it the color you chose is what you're stuck with there are some lighting options for things like how bright the keys are or if they pulsate or not but past that the colors are set now backlit keys aside the nighthawk is pretty simple and straightforward when it comes to aesthetics there's not really any fancy shaping or over-the-top style going on here just a good solid rectangle the windows key design has been replaced as well as having a couple customizable key replacements including a nice little portal reference and Clark keys to replace the f1 through f12 buttons now along with these replacement keys the nighthawk does come with one extra little accessory it right outside of the box and that's a wrist rest now in this case it's not one of those plastic ones that just attaches to the bottom of your keyboard but rather a separate cloth one which does a pretty good job of keeping your wrists nice and comfortable so that's how the keyboard looks and when you get right out of the box right away now let's talk about special features and what makes Nighthawk possibly worth getting over its competition now as I said earlier this is a part of a line of different keyboards whose main difference is which switches you get based on preference the brown ones in this case gives you a nice little tactile response won't maintaining the low force of the red switches as opposed to the higher resistance of the blue ones giving it a nice balanced approach making it appropriate for use in multiple styles of games or just for some heavy-duty typing another nice background feature that we are seeing in this keyboard that's getting featured in a lot more gaming keyboards these days is full and key rollover meaning that no matter how many keys you press simultaneously they're all going to register in addition to that it's also called turn into functions for all of the F keys one through six double is multimedia controls 7 through 11 for switching between different macro profiles which I'll get to in a bit and f12 is used for activating the game mode so you can disable that pesky little Windows key last but not least the keyboard does also feature a small hub to plug other devices into you've got your microphone and audio jacks as well as a pair of USB 2.0 ports each capable of supplying a hundred milliamps of power now some other minor functions worth noting right away is that it does include a heavy-duty braided cable so the cable does have a extra durability and the USB connector is gold-plated so it'll stay shiny longer this one also has an adjustable height between two options either just simply lying flat on your desk or slightly elevated now as I said earlier some of the function keys do have an alternative use as switching between different macro profiles and as you've probably noticed by now the nighthawk does not have any dedicated macro buttons so if you want to use macros and you download their customization software you'll have to replace one of the standard keys with alternative macro option of which you can have 10 different macro setup per each profile now in all honesty the lack of any dedicated macro buttons really isn't that big of a loss no individual game is going to ever really require you to use every single button on the keyboard so you can customize each profile to fit what macros work for what game you're currently playing and by not using any dedicated buttons it helps keep the overall keyboard much more trim so with all that out on the table what's the final verdict on the nighthawk well I think the easiest way to sum it up is that it's a keyboard that heavily favors function over style shirt has backlit keys and a few thematic replacement keys but the overall design is very very simple and then all honesty a little bit on the bland side you can't customize the colors of the keys and there are no dedicated macro buttons but at the same time though while the keys don't have customizable colors they ace their performance test not having macro buttons keeps the whole thing nice light and trim and while it's simple looking it's incredibly sturdy this keyboard is all about minimal frills and peak performance if you're in the market for a keyboard that just gets the job done with having to deal with all these extra bells and whistles then it is an excellent choice for the MSRP of one $44.99 and if you want a different type of switch well as I said earlier the X 7 and X 9 are basically the same thing with different switches the X 7 model gives you blue switches for the same MSRP of 144 99 while the red switches on the X 9 will just cost you an extra 5 bucks well that was my review of the Max nighthawk x8 backlit mechanical keyboard if you guys are interested in grabbing one or just want to look up a little more on them we do have a link posted down below with pricing and availability as always guys if you enjoyed watching this video please make sure to let us know by hitting that thumbs up button we always appreciate it and if you're not a subscriber yet and you liked what you saw then hit that button too because it got more great PC content on the way if you're interested more gaming specific stuff or does more videos from me you can also check out my own channel and Twitter which are linked down below as well thank you guys so much for watching tech tomorrow I'm Kevin Kenton and I'll see you later you