Words by Jamie Wallace
AUKEY is a tech compamy based out of China, and by now, you will have undoubtedly seen its name emblazoned on some form of hardware over the past few years. The company made it big with everything from phone chargers and power banks to headsets and cameras. In recent years, AUKEY has made efforts to break into the PC gaming market as well, with a range of mechanical keyboards.
Enter the AUKEY KM-G6, a keyboard designed to be a competitor in an already over-crowded market at a shockingly budget price point. While most mechanical keyboards will be pushing three-figure prices, AUKEY is offering the KM-G6 for £30 / $45, a stark contrast and such a discount that it’s natural to assume that it’s far too good to be true.
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AUKEY KM-G6 LED Mechanical Keyboard – Design and build
At first glance, AUKEY’s KM-G6 mechanical keyboard is as basic as it gets. It’s a fairly standard 104-key LED backlit mechanical keyboard designed to emulate more expensive keyboards that make use of Cherry’s MX Blue switches. Instead of springing for a Cherry partnership, AUKEY has instead used Outemo blue switches. The end result is a nearly identical feel and sound to the Cherry option.
This works very much in AUKEY’s favour, as the company is able to offer a keyboard that, for all intents and purposes, looks and sounds very much like a Cherry MX Blue switch mechanical keyboard for a fraction of the price.
One thing that will be immediately noticeable is the truly terrible font AUKEY has chosen to use on its keycaps. The entire keyboard is, unfortunately, filled with keys bearing a font that looks like it would be more at home gracing the cover of any number of nu-metal band album covers circa 2002. It is, to put it simply, not an attractive look.
The entire board is lit using a full set of rainbow RGB lights, which help to create a striking look from a distance and helps alleviate some of the awkwardness of the keycap font. The lighting isn’t quite as bright or vibrant as other keyboards in the area but for the price, it’s impressive that AUKEY was even able to add this range of RGB lighting options into a board without it raising the price significantly.
The build quality of the overall board is sturdy. This is a relatively compact board design that consolidates its media keys into its function keys – meaning in order to utilise the media keys, you’ll need to hold down the Function key while hitting a number key, which will perform a number of actions, from lighting options to audio player controls.
Each key feels significantly weighted and has minimal wobble from side to side, which helps the keyboard not feel cheap. Instead, the entire board feels far more high quality than the price point would have you believe.
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AUKEY KM-G6 LED Mechanical Keyboard – Performance
In practice, the AUKEY KM-G6 is a surprising delight. Admittedly, this is a budget keyboard and expectations going in were measured, but once you have this board installed, it won’t take long to realise that this is an impressively tactile and responsive board to type on.
There’s an impressive array of RGB lighting options to choose from here as well. AUKEY has gone the unique route of having a set of eight pre-set gaming lighting modes, each themed after a different game series from Call of Duty to League of Legends, highlighting individual keys used during the games in question. An interesting choice and while it doesn’t make a massive impact overall, it’s a nice touch that will endear the keyboard to gamers in particular.
For the keys themselves, each key press results in a very loud, very clicky response that will no doubt annoy anyone around you while being as satisfying as possible. This will work better in some situations than others, obviously, but at its core, the AUKEY KM-G6 offers a far better typing experience than anyone should expect from a £30 board. I’ve hammered on about the pricepoint here repeatedly, but it’s important to state, because it’s an impressive feat.
For gaming, the AUKEY’s tactile keys are super responsive, allowing you to finesse to your heart’s content in everything from racing games to stealth-focused titles such as Hitman. The added RGB lighting for game-specific titles is a nice bonus, though it doesn’t add a whole lot to the experience overall.
Perhaps one of the biggest drawbacks I’ve found with this keyboard so far is the sub-par N-key rollover tech. While more expensive or feature-full keyboards make sure that the fastest touch-typists out there will run into no troubles when hitting keys in a rapid-fire style, this keyboard has, on occasion, struggled.
This means that every now and then, typing too fast or hitting too many keys at once results in nothing at all happening. It doesn’t happen often, but enough to be noticeable, and could be a problem during intense gaming sessions.
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Why buy the AUKEY KM-G6 LED Mechanical Keyboard?
If you’re looking for a keyboard that gives you all the satisfaction and tactile typing experience as a high-price mechanical keyboard for a fraction of the cost, the AUKEY KM-G6 is absolutely something to consider.
While it may not be as feature-packed as some of the more expensive gaming keyboards on the market, the AUKEY is a solid choice and an incredibly affordable option for those looking for an experience that doesn’t necessarily feature all the frills imaginable, but still delivers where it really counts.
A welcome addition to any PC gaming setup, the AUKEY KM-G6 offers a fantastic typing and gaming experience at a fraction of the cost of other boards of its kind.
Verdict
The AUKEY KM-G6 LED mechanical keyboard is far better than its asking price might suggest. This is an incredibly solid choice as a budget-price mechanical keyboard for typing or gaming and is a welcome alternative to the flashier, more expensive options out there.
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