The K95 Platinum XT still comes with the same Cherry MX mechanical switches, 19-zone LightEdge RGB lighting and brushed aluminium frame as the regular K95 Platinum, but the XT lets you program custom streaming commands onto its dedicated macro keys using Elgato’s Stream Deck software. It also comes with an alternate set of blue S-key keycaps for said macro keys, making it easier to see at a glance, and a detachable leatherette palm rest. It will be available in three types of Cherry MX switch, too: the tactile, bumpy Brown, the linear Speed Silver (both of which are now guaranteed for 100 million keystrokes, according to Corsair), or the clacky linear Blue type.
Speaking of streaming, Elgato also announced a smaller version of their Key Light LED system, the Key Light Air. Whereas the full Key Light has 160 OSRAM LEDs powering its customisable studio light, the Key Light Air cuts that number down to 80. It’s also not quite as bright as its larger brother, hitting a peak brightness of just 1400 lumens instead of 2800 lumens. Alas, it’s not quite half the price of the big Key Light, as it will still set you back £130 as opposed to £190. Still, if you’re short on space or don’t have the budget for a big, proper Key Light, the Air should hopefully fill the gap. Finally, Elgato announced a new 4K60 S+ external capture box as well, which can now capture 4K HDR10 gameplay at 60fps with zero lag without needing to be hooked up to a connected PC. Instead, you can just record straight onto the newly-added SD card slot. What’s more, Elgato say its built-in HEVC encoding should let you record around seven hours of gameplay on a 256GB SD card. You’ll need to plug it into a PC if you want to take advantage of its Live Commentary or Flashback Recording features, though, as the former lets you record mic audio as a separate track while the latter lets you rewind and save gameplay retroactively.
Over on the Corsair side of things, meanwhile, the only major announcements of note were a couple of new coolers: the iCue RGB Pro XT Liquid cooler (pictured above, left) and the A500 Dual Fan air cooler (pictured above, right). The former is the latest in Corsair’s long line of all-in-one liquid CPU coolers, featuring dynamic RGB lighting in radiator sizes up to 360mm, while the latter uses a quad direct-contact heat pipe design to help get rid of all that hot CPU air. The A500 Dual Fan also has a fancy slide and lock fan mount system that lets you adjust the fan height so it doesn’t end up clashing with your motherboard’s RAM. Handy! Personally, I’m just pleased they didn’t announce any more mice, because good grief I reviewed so many Corsair mice last year and I could really do with a break. So thank you, Corsair. I appreciate it. Now where’s that RGB iCUE-enabled Key Light, eh? For more news from this year’s CES, check out our CES 2020 tag.
