“Let’s move onto the peripherals.” It’s a sentence I always dread hearing during a CES booth tour, especially among mainstream brands like MSI. I know I’m in for a slew of keyboards that don’t come close to the best gaming keyboards, and they usually come at an ungodly price. But MSI left me gobsmacked at CES 2025 with its new $80 mechanical keyboard.
It’s called the Forge GK600 TKL Wireless, and it puts just about every gaming keyboard I’ve seen to shame. Not only is it packed with premium design elements usually reserved for expensive keyboards like the ROG Azoth and GMMK 3 — it also comes in at that insane $80 price. Even as I’m writing this article, I’m still shocked at the price. The Forge GK600 has no business being as inexpensive as it is.
But I’m sure glad it’s that inexpensive. The Forge GK600 has basically everything going for it. It’s a mechanical keyboard built with a hot-swappable printed circuit board (PCB), so you’re free to add your own switches if you want. The stock switches are really solid — I’ll get to those soon — but a hot-swappable mechanical keyboard for $80 is unheard of, especially from a brand as large as MSI.
Still, the Forge GK700 TKL goes further. It’s wireless, as the name implies, with support for both a 2.4GHz connection and Bluetooth. It also supports up to three Bluetooth connections and comes packed with a 4,000mAh battery.
For me, the real difference is the gasket mount and sound dampening. A gasket mount is the way to get the best sound out of most keyboard and switch combinations, and it’s something you’ll usually only find on a keyboard well north of $100. MSI is offering it here for $80, along with so much else, from the wireless support to the hot-swappable PCB.
I’d be very happy with the keyboard out of the box, though. MSI is using KTT HiFi linear switches on the keyboard, which sound excellent. There’s always room for enthusiasts to throw in something like Gateron Oil Kings, but out of the box, and even on the CES show floor, the Forge GK600 sounds fantastic. It has minimal ping and a fairly deep thock, regardless of the price. The fact that the keyboard is so inexpensive is just the cherry on top.
Now, there is a caveat to all of this. The Forge GK600 is completely made of plastic. Honestly, though, I’m totally fine with that. I love a big, thick aluminum keyboard that feels like a mantle on my desk — something like the Meletrix Boog75 — but at $80, I don’t expect that kind of premium treatment. MSI is using plastic, but it nailed just about every other aspect of this keyboard, and it feels great to type on as a result.
MSI plans to offer this keyboard in two color options, both of which are fairly attractive, contemporary designs for a premium mechanical keyboard. In addition to the keyboard itself, you also get a small status screen on the keyboard. It’s not customizable, but it shows you if Caps Lock or other functions are enabled and shows a small image of MSI’s mascot, Lucky.
I’m not sure when this keyboard will be broadly available — for a company as large as MSI, keyboards certainly don’t take priority — but I’m looking forward to giving it a close look once it’s available. Considering the price, I have a hard time imaging I’ll leave disappointed.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.