Now it should be noted from the start that the Alloy Origins keyboard itself isn’t a new product. It’s been on the market for just shy of a year and, until now, has only been available with either HyperX red or aqua for your switch options. The update here comes in the form of a new option, the clicky HyperX blue switches. For this review, I’ll be going through the keyboard overall as well as taking a look at how the HyperX blue switches compare to the previous options. With all of that in mind, let’s kickstart this review with some technical specifications!
 

Tech Specs

Keyboard

• Switch: HyperX Switch
• Type: Mechanical
• Backlight: RGB (16,777,216 colors)
• On board memory: 3 profiles
• Connection type: USB Type-C to USB Type-A
• Anti-Ghosting: 100% anti-ghosting
• Key rollover: N-key mode
• LED indicator: Yes
• Media control: Yes
• Game Mode: Yes
• OS compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7

Key Switches

• Switch: HyperX Blue
• Operation Style: Clicky
• Operating Force: 50 g
• Actuation Point: 1.8 mm
• Total Travel Distance: 3.8 mm
• Life Span (Keystrokes) 80 million

Cable

• Type: Detachable, Braided
• Length: 1.8 m

Dimensions

• Width: 442.5 mm
• Depth: 132.5 mm
• Height: 36.39 mm
• Weight (Keyboard and cable) 1075 g

So right out of the box I noticed that there’s a beautiful simplicity here. All you get is all you need; the keyboard itself, the detachable USB-C to USB-A cable, and a short overview manual to help you get started. Setup is as simple as plugging the keyboard in and getting down to business. The board itself is made from an aircraft-grade aluminum frame that makes it sturdy and durable, without being too obnoxiously heavy. The RGBs shine through beautifully, reflecting off the frame and through the keycaps in a noticeable, but not distracting way. It’s a 104-key board complete with number pad, but it’s designed with desk real estate in mind. The keys are placed close enough together to reduce overall size, but far enough apart that it minimized overlap typing. On the base, there’s legs that give you three options for angling your keyboard; 3 degrees, 7 degrees, or 11 degrees. Now your mileage will vary on these, and depending on if you have a wrist rest your preference may be different, but I liked the keyboard best at a 7 degree angle, and found that the most comfortable for my setup. When it comes to aesthetics, I’m beyond satisfied with this keyboard.

Getting right into the big change on this keyboard, let’s talk about the HyperX blue switches. As shown in the tech specs, these blue switches have an operating force of 50g, actuation point of 1.8mm, and a total travel distance of 3.8mm. For lifespan, HyperX advertises 80 million keystrokes per switch. If these specs seem familiar it’s because, functionally, these switches are borderline identical to the HyperX red and aqua switches. The only difference between the three is that the blue switches have a 5g heavier operating force of 50g compared to 45g for the red and aqua. The HyperX site lets us compare these specs to the Cherry MX Blue switches, and from there you’ll notice HyperX’s offering gives some slight performance increases; a 1.8mm actuation point versus the Cherry MX’s 2.2mm and a 3.8mm travel distance as opposed to 4mm. Overall, though, these differences likely aren’t going to be noticed by most. The most noticeable difference here is that the HyperX blue switches are advertised as having a lifespan increase over the Cherry MX by more than 30 million keystrokes. So while similar, it does look on paper as if the HyperX blues outshine the Cherry MX ones just a bit. In terms of performance, the HyperX blues offer what you’d expect of blue switches; a nice little bump in feedback while typing, with that satisfyingly obnoxious clicky sound ringing out with every keystroke. Beyond the writing of this review, I did most of my testing of the board while gaming and working my day job from home with both writing and video editing. In all three uses I found it fast, responsive, and satisfying to use. That said, it’d be a little hard to justify recommending an upgrade to this board if you picked up the original release with red switches, or the aqua switch update back in February.

So coming back to the keyboard in general, there isn’t a ton to add to the customizability. You’ve got a single lighting profile out of the box, five options for your backlight brightness, and a game mode that defaults to disabling the Windows home button so that it doesn’t accidentally get pressed during game sessions. To get the most out of customizing your Alloy Origins, you’ll have to download the HyperX NGENUITY software, available for free on the Microsoft store. Through this software, you’re able to adjust the keyboard much, much more to your preference.

On the RGB lighting front, the software gives you seven total options for your lighting profile, ranging from a wave of rainbow colors, two alternating colors, one solid color, and pulsating single colors. With each light profile, you can adjust them further by changing the opacity, adjusting the speed and angle, and changing colors for certain profiles. There’s also three different keystroke effects you can add to your backlight, giving a total of ten different light customization options. If you can’t decide on just one setup, or if you have multiple people using the keyboard on the same PC, you can save up to three profiles on your keyboard that can be changed at a single keystroke. That said, though, even in the software there aren't a whole lot of customization options available. But the tweaks you can make to each lighting option and the effects you can add should hopefully mean that you’re able to find something that strikes your fancy.

Through the NGENUITY software, you’re also able to adjust your game mode settings, telling it to block the use of more than just the home button. You can have it also block Alt + Tab, Alt + F4, Esc + Tab, and Ctrl + Esc. You can set up your custom macros and, finally, the software allows you to re-map the keys on your keyboard, letting you essentially change your keyboard layout to whatever you want. So there’s definitely a good level of customization available, but the software does only work on Windows 10. If you’re still running an older version, or if you aren’t on a Windows machine, you’re basically stuck with the default RGB and layout options. Beyond that, though, the software works fine enough and is relatively user-friendly.