Corsair's Vanguard 96 series blurs the line between keyboard and stream deck

Vanguard 96 Pro, the pricier of the pair, is a Hall effect device with hotswappable magnetic switches. Courtesy of Corsair's proprietary MGX hyperdrive tech, gamers can setup secondary actuation points to introduce additional functionality for a each key. Pressing W in most FPS games would typically mean "walk", but a deeper keystroke can be set up to result in a sprint - similar to the pressure-sensitive analog triggers in game controllers. 

Customization of these actuation points is incredibly precise with 40 different intervals between 0.1mm and 40mm and Rapid Trigger technology diminishes the latency between multiple keypresses. Corsair is advertising a clearly overkill 8 kHz polling rate on both keyboards. Nevertheless, 8 kHz is here to stay and like we saw in our recent review of the KeyChron C1 Pro, even budget mechanical keyboards want some of the action.

The set of G-keys by the side of the keyboard is the latest attempt to incorporate an Elgato stream deck into a keyboard. The last attempt turned out to be a 1262-key April Fool's joke, but this time, it looks legit.

Corsair is marketing its Vanguard 96 keyboards as an all-in-one control centre for gamers and streamers alike, and the company has chosen to do so in the cleverest way yet. The position of the G-keys eliminates the chance of accidentally launching macros, triggering overlays or switching up your RGB lighting profile. Streamers can set up the functions of these hotkeys in Corsair's iCUE or Web Hub. 

Besides the six G (game?) keys, there is also a button to launch Virtual Stream Decks, which allow for unlimited virtual panels each consisting of up to 64 programmable hotkeys.