Asus Strix Tactic Pro Mechanical Keyboard Review

The keyboard itself is big:

Not only is it fullsize but it is wider due to the ten extra macro keys on the side:

It also sticks out on the top sides to give the “strix” winged look.  At the bottom there is a bevelled area near the space bar with three more macro buttons:

In addition there are media keys above the numeric keypad including a rolling style volume control:

The backlighting is subtle, but I’m not a huge fan of the orange lines around the the top right – they just seem a little random:

Even the macro, numeric keypad keys and space bar are still mx brown switches – there has been no short changing.  The key cap remover can easily pull the keys off:

The only switches that are not cherry mx switches are the media keys and the macro keys under the space bar:
However the replacement keycaps don’t seem to be quite the right size no matter what order I tried them in:

The caps themselves are slightly translucent so the LED still shines through, however it’s off center position also means uneven lighting:

The underside of the keyboard is quite plain and features 8 rubber pads to stop the keyboard sliding.:

However if the feet are raised to give an additional slope to the keyboard then half the rubber pads no longer touch the desk.  The feet however are slightly rubbery themselves:

The USB cable is off center and has a thick braided cable.  It also has plenty of reinforcement as it leaves the keyboard itself.  It is not however removable:
The other end has a really nice and grippy USB plug though:
While it gets quite fat at the end, it’s slim enough at the start to not cause interference with other USB devices.

The back is removed without voiding the warranty by removing 8 screws all hidden under feet or other rubber pieces:
This makes it easier to clean out dust and junk, however the ribbon cable to the media key pcb is a little short.

So let’s talk about those macro keys – 21 are listed – ten are in the side panel that we showed and another three are next to the space bar.  The remaining 8 double up as function keys (F1-F8).  There is also a function key that can be used to toggle preset profiles as well as the reduced rollover capability (for competitions).  The selected hardware profile (3 available) is shown by an LED at the top, as well as some other cryptic modes such as G, M, Rec and NKRO.  The NKRO is the reduced key rollover mode.  Rec means you are recording a macro with the right alt key.  G means gaming mode (disables windows key), M means macro mode which means function keys are in macro mode.

Now let’s take a look at the Strix Software…