Corsair K100 Air review: "A top-notch wireless keyboard"

With the launch of its new low profile mechanical keyboard called the Corsair K100 Air Wireless, I'm wodnering what took the hardware behemoth so long? For the longest time, the best gaming keyboard to offer no cords was the Logitech G915 Lightspeed and that was pretty much the only one of its kind but we’ve seen a few more pop up in the last year or so - including the Razer Deathstalker V2 Pro. Retailing for $279 (£279, AU$479) it’s probably easy to see why people aren’t rushing to buy these low profile boards.

So Corsair has a lot to prove with the K100 Air and it’s off to a good start. It’s thinner, lighter and faster thanks to Slipstream wireless and AXON hyper-polling at 8000Hz. It also has a much better battery life than the G915 but no choice of switch types which could be a deal breaker for some. Overall though, it’s an impressive low-profile wireless mechanical board and I quite like it.

Design & features

In terms of design, the K100 Air looks a helluva lot more like a flattened K70 Pro than the K100 Pro board with which it shares a name. It’s impressively thin at 17mm towards the back and tapers to just 11mm at the front. The all-black chassis is made from brushed aluminum which feels really rigid, and durable and weighs just 0.78kg – almost 300gms lighter than the G915. The K100 Air has a slightly larger forehead which houses an array of controls for keyboard profiles, media playback, and the always welcome, textured aluminum volume dial. In the middle is a status display that shows your different connections, capslock, battery indicators, and RGB Corsair logo.

The K100 Air offers a full-size board with 108 Cherry MX Ultra Low Profile Tactile mechanical switches. If you’ve used a mechanical keyboard on a gaming laptop recently, I’d say this feels very similar. Its non-swappable chiclet-style keycaps with 1.8mm of travel and actuate at just 0.8mm reinforce that similarity. The keys are individually backlit with N-Key rollover and, with iCUE software, you can create lighting effects up to 20 layers deep which is kinda nuts. The lighting is very bright and clear but annoyingly, the secondary key functions aren’t backlit.

On the top edge of the K100 Air is a cubbyhole to store the Slipstream USB dongle as well as a USB Type-C port for charging and wired connections. Finally, there's a power switch that is just on or off and not the typical wireless-off-Bluetooth toggle. That's because the K100 Air supports up to four devices which you can switch on-the-fly using keyboard shortcuts. The K100 Air will work with Windows PC, Macs, mobile devices as well as both Xbox One, Series X/S, and PlayStation 4/5 consoles.

Performance

The K100 Air performs excellently, as expected, for a wireless keyboard in 2022. The Cherry MX ultra-low profile switches feel odd initially due to the lack of substantive travel distance. But they are snappy, clacky, and tactile which is great for typists. The K100 Air never exhibited any noticeable lag even while using Bluetooth but serious gamers will want to stick with either Slipstream or the wired connection – especially if you want to make use of the AXON 8000Hz hyper-polling. Slipstream wireless still manages an impressive 2000Hz polling rate which is more than enough for most gamers. 

Playing Destiny 2, I felt the K100 Air was just as quick and responsive as any wired keyboard. The hard edge of the space bar was noticeable on my thumb whenever jumping in game though. Regardless, playing Deathloop and Assassins Creed Odyssey were all pleasant experiences. You can also save a bunch of customisations and macros to the dedicated keys to your liking. While it's easier in iCUE software, you can also do on-the-fly macro recording on the board with relative ease.

The battery life on the K100 Air was also pretty good. With all the glorious RGB running, I typically got about four or five days' use out of it before needing a charge. That’s in line with Corsair's claim of 50 hours which trumps the 30hrs on the G915 and 26hrs on the Razer Deathstalker. If you turn off the RGB, the K100 Air can go up to 200 hours between charges. When the battery is low, you get a subtle, pulsing red indicator in the status bar of the keyboard. It will take somewhere between three to five hours to charge fully. 

Should you buy the Corsair K100 Air?

I really like the Corsair K100 Air Wireless, especially since I always have multiple devices on at any one time. The ease and convenience the board offers is very welcome. It's a gorgeous board thanks to that slim profile and all-black brushed aluminium finish. The ultra-low switches feel nice and crisp but definitely won’t be for those who prefer greater travel of larger Red linear switches. Also, for $280, this isn’t a cheap board but if you absolutely have a thing for low-profile mechanicals, this is a top-notch wireless keyboard.

How we tested the Corsair K100 Air

I’ve been using the K100 Air as my daily driver for the last two weeks. I’ve used it primarily wirelessly; connected to a Windows PC with the Slipstream wireless and my work Apple MacBook Pro 16 on Bluetooth. I used the board for approximately 10 hours everyday and left the lighting to run in all its glory. I also tested the wired connection though not with a console. In that time, I’ve typed well over ten thousand words worth of reviews so I’m pretty clear on how the keys feel. For games, I’ve been playing mostly Destiny 2, Deathloop and Assassins Creed Odyssey on PC. In that entire time, I’ve charged the board twice. I never switched it off and just let it sleep according to its preset battery saving options.

You can read more about how we test keyboards at 12DOVE, as well as read about our holistic approach to gaming tech in our full Hardware Policy.

If you are looking for more peripherals to team with something like the K100 Air, then check out our guides to the best gaming mouse and best wireless gaming mouse too.