Technologies

Corsair K100 Air Gaming Keyboard Review: A Sleek Design for a Steep Price

This ultrathin mechanical gaming keyboard does it all and looks good doing it, but all those features don’t come cheap.

There are a couple reasons a keyboard can get as expensive as Corsair’s $280 K100 Air (£280, roughly AU$415): If it’s a modular gaming keyboard that you essentially build yourself or if it’s wildly feature-packed while supporting wireless operation. The K100 Air falls firmly into the latter class, with $250 competitors like the Logitech G915 Lightspeed and the Razer DeathStalker V2 Pro. And I feel the same way about the K100 Air as the DeathStalker — I love it, but that’s a high price to pay.

Corsair K100 Air

$280 at Amazon

$280 at Best Buy

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Like

Thin enough to slide under things like monitor stands
Can store the multidevice wireless dongle on board
Dongle is PS4 and PS5 compatible

Don’t Like

Secondary key functions (like @ or %) aren’t backlit well enough
Crumbs can get stuck under keycaps

The broad set of features includes 2.4GHz wireless, three Bluetooth pairings and wired operation, four dedicated macro keys, 2.4GHz compatibility with the PS4 and PS5, and 8MB memory to store up to 50 custom profiles on board. That’s on top of the usual per-key RGB lighting, gaming features and media keys. As with all these keyboards, some of the features aren’t available on console, such as customizing the backlight rather than cycling through the presets. It also lets you boost the polling rate to as high as 8,000Hz when connected via USB, which I’m not sure you really need.

It’s also the thinnest of the bunch, mostly because the Cherry MX Ultra Low Profile mechanical switches it uses are laptop-thin (Logitech and Razer use their own), with the keycaps sitting much closer to the surface. Normally I don’t care much about relative thickness, but in this case it means I can slide the keyboard underneath my monitor stand.

The flip side is that if you get crumbs beneath the keycap on the other models you can easily shake them out. They’re less likely to fall in under the K100’s keycaps, but if they do, they’re hard to dislodge. And they’re not replaceable. I had one brief incident where a key got stuck, but a little pounding seemed to do the trick and I haven’t had any other issues.

Corsair K100 Air showing wireless adapter docked in the rear of the keyboard — It comes with one of those easy-to-lose wireless dongles, but there’s also a place to dock it in the keyboard to minimize its chance of going MIA.

Josh Goldman/CNET

It’s a full-size keyboard, and pretty well designed; stiff, with balanced keys (no spacebar wobbling) and concave keycaps that prevent finger slippage. It uses one of Corsair’s small Slipstream multidevice USB dongles, which has a little nook to slide into. That’s not an issue if you stick it into your system and forget it, but my box o’ dongles overfloweth. The multidevice dongle is only compatible with a handful of Corsair devices at the moment, though.

The edges of the aluminum top plate feel a little sharp, but just annoyingly sharp — not bloodthirsty. It also suffers from one of my pet peeves, a lack of backlighting on secondary characters like «$» and «%».

The K100 Air only comes with tactile switches. Because of the laptop-like short travel distance, it’s hard to feel a separate actuation level — you kind of press hard and they bounce — and I’m not sure that they’re well suited for games where a quick, light touch is required. But if all you’re doing is WASD-ing around with some interaction, it’s nice.

And it’s comfortable for typing, with enough force to minimize accidental strokes. It’s especially suitable if typical wireless keyboards leave you cold (raises hand). Because it’s relatively quiet for a nonlinear mechanical switch, it’s appropriate for work as well.

Corsair rates the battery for about 50 hours with the backlight off. I work and play in the dark, so my backlight is always on, and I get a few days on it before I feel compelled to plug it in.

A close up of the media roller, media keys, macro keys and other typical groups of keys like the number pad. — The K100 Air is a full size keyboard with the typical accoutrements you expect from a pricey model, like a volume roller and media keys.

Josh Goldman/CNET

Switching among the various wireless connections is seamless, though it’s a little frustrating that there doesn’t seem to be a way to switch between wired and the Bluetooth connections — you can switch to Bluetooth, but not back. So, for example, gaming wired on your system and answering Slack messages or taking notes on your phone (raises hand again) is cumbersome.

It took me a while to get used to the feel of the keyboard, but I’ve come to like it a lot. It’s definitely great for typing and general work, and decent for casual gaming. (That’s «casual» in the «what-comes-below-enthusiast» sense.) That price tag is probably a big sticking point for some people, but if you’re OK forking over $250 for the competition then it’s certainly worth the extra $30. And if it goes on sale, it’s definitely worth thinking about.

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Technologies

Chrome Autofill Now Supports Passport, Driver’s License and Vehicle Info

Soon, you’ll never need to remember anything ever again.

Computer users are accustomed to web browsers autofilling everything from names and addresses to credit card numbers. Now, Google Chrome is adding new enhanced autofill options that allow users to automatically populate fields for passports, driver’s licenses, and their vehicle’s license plate or VIN, Google said in a blog post on Monday.

Desktop users must choose to turn on the feature, which is called enhanced autofill. Otherwise, it stays off. To turn it on, open Chrome, and at the top right of your browser, select more, then settings, then autofill and passwords. Finally, choose enhanced autofill and turn it in.

Google says Chrome now can «better understand complex forms and varied formatting requirements, improving accuracy across the web.» The company also says that enhanced autofill will be «private and secure.»

This enhanced autofill update is available in all languages, and more data options will be supported in the coming months.

A representative for Google said the company had no additional comment.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Chrome is a critical component in Google’s business. The web browser, currently the most popular in the world with a 73% market share, according to GlobalStats, provides the company with valuable user data that it uses to sell advertising. Advertising is how Google makes the majority of its revenues. New features help keep users loyal to Chrome, making it more difficult for them to switch to other browsers, including those from companies like Perplexity and OpenAI.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Nov. 4, #407

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Nov. 4, No. 407.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle makers will never run out of categories because they have discovered they can just pick one athlete and make a connections group out of four facts about that person. They do that today with the blue category, so if you don’t know that one player, you’re out of luck. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Get up and go!

Green group hint: College hoops.

Blue group hint: Famous basketball player.

Purple group hint: Not fair, but…

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Energy.

Green group: Men’s college basketball teams with the most championships.

Blue group: Associated with Damian Lillard.

Purple group: Foul ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is energy. The four answers are pep, verve, vigor and zip.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is men’s college basketball teams with the most championships. The four answers are Kentucky, UCLA, UCONN and UNC.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with Damian Lillard. The four answers are 0, Dame Time, Trail Blazers and Weber State.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is foul ____. The four answers are out, shot, territory and tip.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, Nov. 4

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 4.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? There are a few tricky clues, so read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.