At CES 2018, Asus unveiled its first ever animated mechanical keyboard called the Asus ROG Stix Flare II Animate. With its sleek design and high quality materials, the Logitech G710+ MMO Gaming Keyboard looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. It’s the programmable LED lights that truly makes the keyboard unique—and yes, I am referring to the RGB keys!
Its RGB backlit keyboard lets you customize its light settings so you can create different lighting effects. And because it uses Cherry MX red keys, they’re easy to press down and feel great when typing. Most keyboard’s media keys are usually located on the right side, just above the number pad. On the right side of the keyboard there are two buttons labeled “Volume Up” and “Volume Down.” Instead of using the space above the numpads for the keyboard’s AniMe matrix LED displays, use them to show off some custom artwork.
The AnimaMatrix consists of 312 miniature light emitting diodes (LEDs) that you can control using an Arduino board and programming code. You can use the Mini LED module to light up when there’s sound playing through the speakers, change colors depending on whether the keyboard has its backlight turned off or on, or indicate which color scheme the keyboard currently uses (RGB).
You can also choose whether to receive email notifications when new messages arrive and at which times during the day they appear.
Asus has added tiny LED lights to some of its products before. At first glance, the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo looks like an ordinary laptop from any vendor. But if you look closer, you’ll notice something different — a small OLED display panel just above the keyboard. In addition to bringing the technology to new devices, Asus has been working hard to improve its existing products by adding features like Dolby Atmos surround sound audio support for headphones. It may be the most decked out peripheral, but the ASUS ROG Strix Flare 2 Animate isn’t just for show; it offers an impressive feature set including RGB lighting effects, customizable audio profiles, and even voice control via Amazon Alexa.
There are plenty of different kinds of lights available for keyboards, but these are some of the most common ones. Asus’ ROG STRIX FLARE 2 ANIMATE keyboard features programmable RGB LED lights under each key. It has been designed so that it fits perfectly onto most laptops without any additional tools needed.
While Razer’s keyboards’ wrist rests have their own built-in lighting systems, you need to take off the light diffusers from Asus keyboards’ bottom edges and attach them to the wrist rests in order to turn them on. Razer makes having a glowing wrist rest easy; Asus has made it look like a chore.
Asus has gone beyond just making its products look good by adding some extra features like an LED light bar and a speaker system.