Page 2 - A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
On first glance, the XPG Mage does not really stand apart from other modern mechanical keyboards. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but even the older XPG Summoner had a bit more character in its looks. The XPG Mage employs a standard island-style design with an exposed aluminum backplate in a dark gunmetal gray color. The brushed backplate is finished nicely, although you will probably see some fingerprints and handling marks over time. On top, we have standard height keycaps with an OEM profile in all black. The rest of the keyboard is made out of plastic, including the base underneath and the keycaps. The black on grey appearance is rather muted, although the party piece of the Mage only comes alive when you plug the keyboard in, as you will see later on.
As for dimensions, the XPG Mage is 446mm in width, 135.9mm in depth, and 32.9mm in height. These are pretty typical numbers for a full-sized keyboard. It is a bit more compact than some other full-sized keyboards. In terms of mass, the XPG Mage weighs in at a relatively light 820g, which is lighter than some tenkeyless keyboards we have reviewed in the past. With its wider yet lighter body, there actually is a bit of deck flex in the middle of the board. There is also a bit of torque action, although this is more so when it is twisted at the extreme. The Mage does still feel sturdy, but the hard plastic shell underneath bends a bit when pushed upon. This should not affect daily typing but it could be improved upon, nonetheless. Unfortunately, if you want a wrist rest with this keyboard, you will have to purchase a separate one from a third-party. The XPG Mage does not include one and I think this is more necessary for full-sized, full-height keyboards like the Mage.
This is a 104-key keyboard with a QWERTY ANSI layout. The whole keyboard is standard in its spacing, which includes a standard bottom row. As such, the Windows, Fn, Ctrl, Alt, and Menu keys are all the same 1.25U size. Otherwise, the Indicator LEDs are located on the top right corner where you might expect for Game Mode, Number Lock, and Caps Lock. Interestingly, there is no Scroll Lock indicator despite its form factor.
As for secondary functions, these can be found all around the keyboard. This is probably why XPG has included a quick start guide to get users acquainted with the extra functions. All of these are activated with pressing the Fn key followed by the specified one. Starting at the top row, we have F1 to F3, which are used to select between three profiles that are saved to your keyboard. F6 is marked with a gamepad controller, which turns on Game Mode. By default, this mode disables the Windows key, but you can also disable Alt+Tab and Alt+F4 combinations to ensure you do not accidentally leave or exit your running game. F7 to F12 hold all of the volume and media controls. F7 is used to mute, while F8 and F9 decrease and increase the volume, respectively. F10 to F12 are Play/Pause, Previous Track, and Next Track. End is used to lock your entire keyboard. If you want to reset the entire keyboard, you can press Fn+Esc. Finally, the arrow keys and number pad arrows are used to adjust the backlighting and its effects, as we will cover later. One thing I really like about XPG's implementation of the function key is that solely pressing the Fn key will illuminate only the applicable secondary keys in white. Furthermore, the active profile illuminates in red. This lets users see only the necessary keys that work with the Fn key, making it easy to locate and identify your secondary functions.
The keycaps on the XPG Mage are made out of ABS, or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. I prefer PBT as opposed to ABS, because it is more durable and keeps its color better. On the other hand, ABS often become shiny over time with use as the original texture rubs off. These keycaps have an OEM profile. As for the translucent legends, you can see these are laser-etched. This does make the keycap cheaper to manufacture and produce, but it can lead to letters chipping off or the legend becoming unclear. In fact, during my testing period, one of the keycaps started to chip off at the corner and I could see light bleed through. Otherwise, the choice of font here is clean and legible throughout. The keycaps use standard MX stems.
As for key rollover, the XPG Mage offers NKRO over USB. NKRO is abbreviated for N-key rollover, which refers to the number of keys independently scanned by the hardware. This fixes issues of ghosting found on cheaper keyboards. While ghosting is a marketing term, there are cases where keyboards will not be able to recognize more than one keystroke at a time, causing for missed keys. This can be frustrating when you are playing games or even if you are a very fast typist. On an aside, the original usage of ghosting in keyboards actually referred to a third key being registered when two other keys were pressed, which thankfully is not a problem with most modern keyboards.
Before continuing on, one of the selling points of the XPG Mage is the key switches. There are three main types of keyboards in the market today. The cheapest but most common is the membrane keyboard, which is the easiest to make, but also has poor typing feel and response due to squishy keys. Next is a scissor switch keyboard. This can be thought of as an enhanced rubber dome with two extra interlocking plastic pieces connected to the key and the keyboard. This creates a better tactile response and typing experience in comparison to the aforementioned membrane. Scissor switches are often found on laptop computers. Mechanical keyboards cost the most, because each key switch is an independent part. These switches are generally composed of a base, stem, and spring, with varying degrees of tactile and audible feedback.
Our unit of the XPG Mage features Kailh Red switches. This is a clone of Cherry MX Red switches, so it features a linear travel and relatively low pressure required to depress the switch. According to XPG, these key switches are guaranteed to last 70 million actuations. These have an initial activation distance of 2mm and an overall travel distance of 4mm. In addition, this has an actuation force of 45g, which is similar to MX Reds. Unfortunately, these are the only switches available with the XPG Mage, so those looking for nonlinear switches or a clicky keypress will have to look elsewhere. Otherwise, the LED for each switch sits above the stem, while the whole body is clear. We will see how this affects our lighting situation later in our review.
Looking at the back and bottom of the XPG Mage, we have a few interesting things to point out. At the back, we have a single USB Type-C port to plug the detachable braided cable into your computer. It is offset to the right side so that the cable does not get in the way. Unfortunately, we do not have any USB or audio passthrough ports here. At the bottom of the XPG Mage are four rubber feet, with one in each corner. The back of the keyboard has kickstand feet to pop out and raise the keyboard up. These feet add quite a bit of height overall, but they are also rubber tipped to ensure the keyboard stays in place regardless if it is lifted up or not. Otherwise, in the back is a center sticker to show the serial number and product information for the XPG Mage.
After plugging the XPG Mage into my computer, I used the full-sized keyboard for over several weeks for the full immersion experience. The first thing that took me a bit of time to get used to it was its size, especially as I am quite used to a tenkeyless form factor. Secondly, I missed having a dedicated volume wheel or separate media keys like I have with my Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series. While these are more premium features, I really appreciate not needing to use secondary keys. XPG's implementation of secondary functions with its illumination is really smart, but it does not beat dedicated keys.
In terms of typing experience, the Kailh Red switches performed as you might expect with a linear feel. I really like red switches for a linear, light, and agile feel. I think linear switches are still preferred for gaming situations, while typists may look for nonlinear switches, like blue or brown variants. My experience with the XPG Mage was a bit of a mixed bag, as there were quite a few quirks in my gaming and typing experience. For one, I still think Kailh switches have a squishy bottoming out and rough key travel, at least when compared to Cherry or Gateron switches. Other things I noticed included the sound made when typing on the keyboard. This includes the metallic ping sounds of bottoming out and some squeaking on the long, stabilized keys. The XPG Mage uses Cherry stabilizers to support keys like the Space bar and Enter, but there was more play and wobble than I would have liked, which further aggravated the issue. The squeak seemed to also stem from the stabilizers, which indicate some greasing could have helped here. Otherwise, I did not notice any issues like debouncing or chattering while testing the XPG Mage.
Getting later into the night, I flipped my room lights off to see how bright the XPG Mage would shine. The Mage has seven built-in effects saved on the keyboard and can be cycled through by using the left and right arrow keys. Pressing the Fn+Up or Down increases or decreases the brightness of the backlights, respectively. Finally, the arrow keys on the number pad can be used to change some effects, such as the direction of the rainbow wave. Lighting can be changed in XPG's Prime software, as you will see shortly. As for the lighting quality, XPG designed the keycaps well, placing the letters directly above the light source. This means you will have even and clear legends, even in the dark. The lights also reflect off the backplate to make for a nice hovering effect overall. There may not be too many lighting effects, but it is implemented well to illuminate the keyboard functionally while also looking good.
As for the software experience, the XPG Mage uses XPG Prime, which is a lighting and macro utility for their keyboards and mice. This is the same software that is compatible with the XPG Summoner. The utility is a 188MB compressed file from XPG's website. After I installed the software, I went through upgrading the firmware of the Mage, which was a straightforward process. XPG does ask users to log in to the software, but you can also continue as a guest to bypass this request.
After selecting the keyboard for configuration, there are three different menus. The first is Lighting, where you can choose and save different lighting effects to your keyboard. This includes static and reactive effects as well as some ambient modes that synchronize the keyboard with your currently playing audio. You can change colors, brightness, and some effect-specific modifications. The next option is marked Key, and this is where you can change what each key will do on your keyboard. While there are no dedicated macro keys, you can reassign almost all of the keys on your XPG Mage to execute different functions or even disable them altogether. Finally, Gaming Mode is where you can select what you want to disable when Gaming Mode is active. By default, this is just the Windows Key, but you can also disable Alt+Tab and Alt+F4, as we mentioned previously. The bottom menu item of Macro opens into a different window where you can record keyboard or mouse actions to be used in the Key menu. Otherwise, users can synchronize this into three profiles held internally to the XPG Mage. Finally, you can see CANVAS is a selectable option, which lets you synchronize these effects across multiple XPG products. Overall, XPG Prime is clean and functionally does what you would expect for a peripheral utility.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Conclusion
