ASUS TUF Gaming K7 review: lightning-fast gaming keyboard with heat and moisture protection

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In addition to the well-known ROG, ASUS has another line of gaming devices called TUF. Called ASUS TUF Gaming

motherboards, laptops andall sorts of peripherals. Formally, TUF is positioned below ROG, but in reality everything is a little more interesting. The ROG brand produces top-end devices with a general “extraterrestrial” design and a bunch of all sorts of chips and lights. At TUF Gaming, the emphasis is on reliability and practicality. Most of the devices are visually made in a more “military” style (at least I have such associations). Today we received a new gaming keyboard ASUS TUF Gaming K7, which does not look too provocative, but can do a lot.

What is it?
What is interesting ASUS TUF Gaming K7?
What is included?
What does the ASUS TUF Gaming K7 look like?
How comfortable and what can the keyboard?
What is out of the extra features?
In the dry residue

What is it?

ASUS TUF Gaming K7 - wired gaming keyboardwith a standard layout, minimalist compact design, customizable lighting, dust and moisture protection according to IP56 and optical-mechanical switches.

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What is interesting ASUS TUF Gaming K7?

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Perhaps the most interesting features of ASUSTUF Gaming K7 are dust and moisture resistant and the switches used. The keyboard is protected according to the IP56 standard, that is, it will not die if, for example, tea is spilled on it. Plus, it can be painlessly wiped with a wet cloth to remove the consequences of many hours of fierce gaming fights. The keyboard uses optical-mechanical switches that appeared several years ago and now a number of gaming peripheral manufacturers are using them. Their main advantage is the speed of response: instead of closing metal contacts, interrupting the infrared beam is used to register a press, which can significantly reduce the delay. The keyboard itself is compact, with a standard layout, a metal top panel and customizable RGB backlighting.

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What is included?

The keyboard came to us not in our own box, but the complete set. In the box you can find the keyboard itself with a fixed USB cable, a wrist rest with soft filling and documentation:

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What does the ASUS TUF Gaming K7 look like?

if you loveSkeleton keyboards, as I love them, you will definitely like the ASUS TUF Gaming K7. It is very small in size: just enough to fit a standard layout, the corners are cut off. And switches with keycaps (caps) rise above the top panel of the keyboard. The top panel itself is made of a thick sheet of gray aluminum. It gives the necessary rigidity to the structure and adds visual aggressiveness. The rest of the structure is high-quality matte plastic:

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Keycaps of standard shape, made of black plastic, no unusual features:

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There are no additional buttons for macros or multimedia functions control, for this purpose Fn + F6-F11 is used:

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From “decorative” elements (besides the backlight), the only thing that can be noted is a black insert in the upper right corner with the TUF Gaming logo:

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The wrist rest is made of plastic withsoft insert on the top. The upholstery is made of faux leather with embossing, and the inside is filled with soft foam filler. No mechanical fastenings are provided; it is “attached” to the keyboard. only magnets. But it holds up well, in this case it’s enough. On the bottom of the stand there are six massive rubberized inserts, thanks to which the stand does not slide on the table:

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The bottom of the keyboard is made of a matte plastic plate. There are four large rubber inserts in the corners, there are holes for draining liquid:

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Folding legs are also equipped with rubber inserts for stability:

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The keyboard can be placed at two corners thanks to folding legs:

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The cable is 1.8 meters long and does not have a fabric braid or ferrite filter, like most gaming keyboards. Overall not bad, but feels rather flimsy and thin:

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ASUS TUF Gaming K7 is protected from moisture and dust, and the printed circuit board has a protective coating, which (in theory) should prevent oxidation of the internals.

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How comfortable and what can the keyboard?

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ASUS TUF Gaming K7 keyboard layoutalmost standard, without additional buttons. The only thing that, perhaps, only the most nerdy will notice is a slight shift in the number of function buttons: F1 is not above the number 2, but slightly to the left. But it seems to me that this is not a problem at all. Otherwise, everything is familiar: both Shifts are long, Enter is one-level, Fn is on the right, instead of the Win button.

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Multimedia buttons are combined with F6-F11, and Fn +The arrows are responsible for controlling the backlight. At + right Alt - record a macro. The lock indicators are located in a slightly unusual place: above the arrows. There are as many as 5 of them: Num, Caps and Scroll lock, macro recording mode and Win button lock.

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Of course, the most interesting thing about the keyboard isswitches. ASUS TUF Gaming K7 uses TUF Optical-Mech Switches. Judging by the LK markings on them, this is a Light Strike Libra, similar (or the same) are used in A4Tech keyboards. Interestingly, the backlight LEDs, like in Cherry, are located above the structure itself, but the specific shape of the lens makes the illumination more uniform. In fact, it was not possible to check: our sample did not have Cyrillic engraving.

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The main difference and advantage compared to“classical” The mechanics are that to register a press, instead of closing metal contacts, an interruption of the infrared beam is used. In “mechanics” the short circuit is accompanied by vibration, resulting in an unstable signal and a reading delay is used to avoid false alarms. Opto-mechanical switches do not have this feature, which allows for a significant reduction in latency. ASUS claims that the response time of “mechanics” is 5 ms (although in reality it can be up to 30 ms), and optical-mechanical switches operate in 0.2 ms:

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In addition to the response speed, this solution is moredurable due to the absence of friction of metal contacts. The service life is stated to be 100 million clicks. The TUF Gaming K7 is available with two types of switches: tactile (the gray color we have in our review) and linear. The tactile ones are reminiscent of Cherry MX Blue and produce a distinct click, and the actuation point is well felt. It requires 50 grams of force to operate, the travel to actuation is 1.5 mm, and the full travel is 3.55 mm. Linear feels closer to MX Red or Black. Full stroke is 3mm, activation distance is 1.5mm and required force is 47g:

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Difficult to measure real speed differenceactuation between mechanics and optical-mechanics without specialized equipment. But, according to personal feelings, the buttons actually work very quickly and accurately. I didn't experience any false positives. I think fans of fast shooters and action games will appreciate the benefits of optical-mechanical switches the most. Although the ASUS TUF Gaming K7 is generally very good at what it does. The only thing that is worth taking a closer look at is the linear version exclusively for games; for use both in games and for work - tactile ones, as we have in our review. But the latter have a small nuance: they are quite loud and I’m not sure that in an office with a lot of people this will be the best solution. There were no more complaints about the switches.

The keyboard is equipped with RGB-backlit with a bunch of different effects that can be switched without software:

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What is out of the extra features?

To configure the keyboard, a proprietaryASUS Armory II utility (common for all ASUS gaming peripherals). At the top of the application there are icons with connected devices. In the first window called “Keyboard” You can switch profiles and customize button values. The keyboard has a gaming mode with the Win button disabled, but if you wish, you can also disable the Alt+Tab and Alt+F4 combinations. The backlight can also be adjusted in the same tab. The next tab is responsible for recording macros. It is possible to edit and adjust the delay. Next is ASUS Aura synchronization (if you have multiple devices). And a tab with click statistics:

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Although not essential for basic functionsuse software. The keyboard has a built-in memory in which you can immediately write macros. There is a set of useful quick button combinations. In addition to the above combinations for multimedia control there are:

Fn + Win - disable the Windows button
Fn + right Alt - start and end of the macro recording, after which you need to press the desired button to assign it
Fn + 1-4 - switching profiles
Fn + left and right arrows - switch backlight modes
Fn + Del - color customization, increase in red, 10 gradations
Fn + End - increase blue
Fn + PageDown - increase green
Fn + Esc - reset to factory settings (long hold)

In the dry residue

ASUS TUF Gaming K7 keyboard - that rare onea case when there is nothing particularly to complain about at all, and you don’t want to do it. During use, it left the most pleasant impression of itself. It is equipped with very fast and durable optical-mechanical switches (and there is a choice between tactile and linear), has a simple but very reliable design, looks cool, and is also protected from dust and moisture according to the IP56 standard. It has a bunch of additional functions and built-in memory for storing your own settings and macros, and for starters, it also has fully customizable RGB backlighting with support for ASUS Aura Sync. But still, the engineers saved a little on one element: with such a design and capabilities, it’s somehow strange to see a thin cable without braid and the ability to replace it. The keyboard will go on sale on June 2, but in the meantime you can pre-order it for3000 UAH. Once on sale it will cost3500 UAH.

5Reasons to buy ASUS TUF Gaming K7:

very fast and durable optomechanical switches;
convenient, reliable design, high-quality materials;
protection against dust and moisture according to IP56 standard;
stylish appearance and RGB-lights;
built-in memory, the ability to configure offline and convenient software.

1The reason not to buy ASUS TUF Gaming K7:

thin cable without braid and replaceable.