MelGeek CYBER01 Magnetic Switch Gaming Keyboard

Gaming keyboards tend to boast low actuation points (as in, the distance a key needs to be pressed down before it is registered by the computer) and ridiculously high polling rates. For first-person shooters, milliseconds matter and can determine whether or not you can take down the enemy or succumb to them. Mechanical keyboards have traditionally employed mechanical keyswitches, some of which are more tactile than others to get the “THOCC” sound while not impeding gameplay. That is, until magnetic keyswitches entered the market.

The MelGeek CYBER01 is not MelGeek’s first foray into the gaming space (check out their Mojo84!), but it’s their first keyboard with magnetic switches. Keyboards with these switches are pretty rare in the mechanical keyboard category, save for the likes of Wootings, Keychron, and Steelseries. Seeing as this is my first time using a mechanical keyboard, I’m left wondering: Is it worth the hype? How does it fare in an FPS?

In theory, magnetic switches offer an entirely new experience than that of linear or tactile switches. Each switch has a magnetic sensor that can detect higher degrees of sensitivity, customizable actuation and reset points (as in, the distance your finger presses a key to register an input), and a far higher durability  (as in, enough to withstand up to 100 million presses) thanks to the Hall Effect. You know how the DualSense Edge prevents joystick drift – it’s because there’s a magnetic sensor in the device preventing wear-and-tear from physical use. Imagine that in a keyboard switch.

Knowing all of this, it is quick to come to the conclusion that keyboards with magnetic switches are best fit for gaming. On paper – it makes sense. The higher intensity of game you play, the greater you need precise and repetitious inputs. Games like VALORANT and Counter-Strike 2 can wear down most WASD-keys on keyboards because of the importance of peeking, strafing, and other minute inputs that can keep you alive. Console players have been complaining about joystick drift for years on their Joy-Cons, DualSenses, and other controllers. Magnets are good, folks! They solve for so many gamer problems! (I’m inches away from quoting Jesse Pinkman’s famous magnets line from Breaking Bad’s “Live Free or Die” episode.)

They’re just expensive and often gated behind the “pro” category of accessories that aren’t available by default to “casual.” They’re reserved for those with the knowledge and desire to have “premium” things even though these products are quite honestly what players deserve. Our peripherals should hold up over two or more years.

When I first received the CYBER01, I wasn’t fully convinced about the power or value of magnetic keyswitches. Past experience has taught me to be wary of “gaming products” due to them being gaudy, uncomfortable, and overpriced while adding little of value.

The CYBER01 proved me wrong. It was the real deal in an unparalleled experience and a fantastic first impression for a keyboard with magnetic switches.

There’s only one CYBER01 keyboard, so what you see is what you get. No worrying about which keyswitch type to get (for now), no worrying about the sound or the feel when making a decision. I know that some keyboard folks prefer specific brands and types of keyswitches – the CYBER01 can be customized once you have it in hand thanks to its hot-swappable switches and keycaps. The CYBER01 comes equipped with MelGeek’s Gateron White Magnetic Switches; MelGeek sells the Gateron Jade Magnetic Switches that offer a slightly louder sound.

Because there is a single model, this makes the review process easier for me to share my experience. What I encountered during my two weeks of using the CYBER01 will most likely be your experience, too.

When I first opened the box, I was presented with the keyboard, a braided USB-A to USB-C cord, keycap pullers, some stickers, and a simple instruction manual that pointed me to the MelGeek website to download the keyboard companion software, MelGeek HIVE (more on that in a moment). Thankfully, I didn’t have to set much up; I simply plugged the keyboard into my desktop tower, it lit up, and I was off to the races.

The CYBER01 utilizes an aesthetic that looks similar to CDPR’s Cyberpunk 2077 involving matte black, neon yellow, and LED accents. It weighs around 2lb, sitting at a gradual angle that makes resting my fingers on the keys an easy affair. The keycaps are plasticky, translucent, and have bright yellow legends. Everything is readable. When the keyboard lights up, the LEDs shine brightly through the translucent caps. At the edge of the keyboard is an LED strip, further adding additional accent lighting to the keyboard.

Personally, I’m not a fan of the yellow colors on the keycaps and the keyboard proper. Nor am I a fan of the feel of the keycaps. I would have preferred that the keycaps utilized a white font color for the legends and were made of a slightly sturdier material. I know that many folks have adopted the Cyberpunk aesthetic given that it is the current flavor of the month for hardware designs, but the industrial meets futuristic emblems don’t do it for me. Luckily, the keycaps can be very easily removed and replaced with the keycap puller. I also love the LED strip surrounding the keyboard – it illuminates the translucent keycaps at the top while also adding a delightful splash of color even when the individual keycaps’ LEDs are turned off.

If you’re a fan of custom keycaps (like the Cerakeys) that are similar to the Cherry MX style, do know that this keyboard features south-facing RBGs. I’ve been meaning to pick up the Cerakey V2s, but they are only compatible with keyboards with south-facing RBGs. I would love to use this keyboard with the Cerakeys, but that’s for another time.

I was sent a few of the Gateron Jade Magnetic switches to test on the keyboard. The Jade switches have a slightly sharper and more satisfying sound then the White switches (that come with the keyboard by default), and they seem to wiggle a slight bit less. The Jade switches do sound like Mahjong pieces, which is wild.

Now we get to the first important part of this review: How do the keys feel with the magnetic switches? Honestly, they feel quite unlike anything I have used in a mechanical keyboard. Keypresses feel insanely smooth, almost airy yet hollow, thanks to the switches’ construction. Because of being lightweight and magnetic (rather than traditionally mechanical), they lack the click-clacky feel that you may expect from your current mechanical keyboard.

Coming from traditional mechanical keyboards, with the most recent being the LOFREE FLOW (a low-profile, near-silent mechanical keyboard), using the CYBER01 had a significant learning curve. My fingers had become accustomed to meaningful keypresses, audible clacks, and physical responses I had spent the past several years experiencing as I’ve written my reviews for DigitalChumps. The default actuation point was set to an incredibly small value, meaning that the slightest keypress would register an input.

That initial shock was shortlived. Once I had installed MelGeek’s HIVE software suite, I could freely adjust the settings of my keyboard, ranging from customizing individual keys’ lights, creating multi-input macros that would activate upon a single button press, enabling the keyboard’s Rapid Trigger setting, and more. I was also able to select from multiple lighting presets (like breathing, waves, and more). The software is fairly intuitive, except for some of the windows where you can customize individual key colors and create macros. I would have preferred some additional explanation or larger buttons for some of the features, but those can be easily solved with a software update down the line.

The first thing I did once I installed HIVE was adjust all of the keys’ actuation points to be ~2.0mm. As I became more familiar with the keyboard during the review period, I ended up adjusting the actuation for all of the keys to be at the 1.2mm mark. This became especially useful when I enabled Rapid Trigger for gaming. Rapid Trigger is another unique feature of magnetic keyswitches, allowing for repeated key presses without a key needing to fully reset. HIVE allowed me to enable the feature on any individual key (or all, or none!) in case I wanted to have some keys be more sensitive than others.

I know some folks won’t like the idea of using a software suite with their mechanical keyboards, especially those who are into the plugging-and-playing mentality. However, for a keyboard that has customizable actuation and Rapid Trigger technology, having that ability to adjust the keyboard to your liking is paramount to getting the most out of the magnetic keyswitches and the features they offer. For my case, starting off with less sensitivity prepared me for making the keys more sensitive in the future.

In an office setting, I am unsure how well this keyboard would hold up as a daily driver. I know some of you have a home office where you get work done and then play video games when you’re off the clock, but I’m hesitant to recommend this keyboard given that the majority of the features built into the CYBER01 are fit for gaming over all other purposes. Its design makes it a very unique, albeit flashy, addition to your desk. However, if you’re into making your office flashy and full of LEDs, this keyboard may be a fine addition to your desk. It’s compatible with Windows and Mac, too. If you’re doing a lot of typing in your day-to-day work while heavily gaming at night, then the CYBER01 is a great fit for your needs.

Onto the gaming assessment. We know that most of you use your keyboards for gaming, and this is a gaming keyboard. This means we should talk about its fit for your gaming needs.

During our review period, we subjected the CYBER01 to a litany of games in order to get a feel for its fit for which kinds of games may benefit from using the keyboard. We tested the keyboard in playing VALORANT, Duelists of Eden, Counter-Strike 2, Starfield, Pepper Grinder, South Park Snow Day, League of Legends, Ghostrunner II, Civilization, BlazBlue Entropy Effect, and Stardew Valley. Doing so allowed us to see how the keyboard would fare across a variety of genres.

Let’s start with heavy gaming. High-intensity games like VALORANT, Counter-Strike 2, Starfield, and Ghostrunner II are candidates in this category given that they require levels of low input lag, high precision, and repetitious inputs. Think of FPS titles in this category, specifically those where competition is involved. The CYBER01 was fantastic to use in these games. I tested these games with AND without Rapid Trigger. There was a noticeable difference in my in-game responsiveness and executing precise combinations of presses when I had the feature enabled. In VALORANT, peeking became far easier to execute. When I decreased the actuation point and made the movement keys more sensitive, the lightest of button presses registered inputs and gave me the slightest of upper hands.

There were moments where I felt like the keyboard was reading my mind. After I had gotten over the sensitivity shock that resulted in too many false inputs being registered, I felt like I was able to handle myself better than I ever had in an FPS before the review period. I want to make something clear here: I do not profess to be a top-tier FPS player, nor do I aspire to be one. I prefer to have fun when I play the games I review for DigitalChumps as well as the games I play when I’m off the proverbial clock. I don’t think I became “better” at FPS games in a way that was unfair to other players, but I felt like I had greater control over my character in ways that I wasn’t able to do with a regular mechanical keyboard. I won’t say that the CYBER01 will make you a better player (or any keyboard with magnetic switches, for that matter), but it may reteach you how to play with a mechanical keyboard while optimizing your inputs overall.

This is probably where most of you will stop reading the review. If you are an FPS player, then the CYBER01 is the keyboard you should consider if you’re looking to boost your productivity, enter the mechanical keyboard category, or even upgrade to a mechanical keyboard with magnetic switches. If you’re still on the fence, read on.

Onto the medium-intensity (or intermediate) games, meaning platformers and MOBAs. The CYBER01 worked great in Pepper Grinder and BlazBlue Entropy Effect. Not that these two games required heavy button presses, but the adjusted actuation points made it so I could time some jumps and attacks easier than I could using other keyboards. In League of Legends, inputs registered flawlessly. I wish that the game’s URF mode was enabled, as I would have loved to try out higher-intensity champions like Riven and Nidalee in a competitive setting. That said, it would be a fantastic fit for any LoL (or other MOBA) player, regardless of who they main.

The size of the keyboard helped quite a bit in making intermediate gaming a joy. The CYBER01 measures out to 370mm x 160mm, so it’s about the same size as most TKLs despite having two less keys. The CYBER01 lacks the PrtSc, Lock, and Pause function buttons, but it has everything else.

For light gaming, the CYBER01 was overkill thanks to how quickly the keyboard registered inputs. When I was rerolling and scouting other players in Teamfight Tactics, the decreased actuation point helped me quickly scout and check other players’ compositions. However, I had to adjust the sensitivity of the reroll key because of how quickly the keyboard registered my reroll when I didn’t mean to refresh the shop. As a Hyper Roll player, though, this keyboard was fantastic.

I won’t go so far as to say that the CYBER01 shouldn’t be used for lighter or casual gaming. Instead, I would exercise caution for those who prefer to play and ONLY play casual games. You most likely won’t need the Rapid Trigger functionality unless you would find yourself occasionally playing a higher-intensity game. It’s one of those situations where you won’t get the most of your fancy new CYBER01.

I won’t mince words here: The CYBER01 sold me on the wonders of keyboards with magnetic switches when it comes to gaming. As someone who uses multiple keyboards and plays multiple games on a weekly basis, the CYBER01 is a great introduction to this new subcategory of mechanical keyboards. I would personally prefer my keyboard to look and sound slightly different, but the HIVE software along with the keyboard’s physical customizability solves for those minor quibbles. If MelGeek releases a full version of the CYBER01 (as in, full number pad!), I would have no trouble using this keyboard in my day-to-day work. I use Excel every day, y’all. Numberpads are clutch to data entry and analysis.

The CYBER01 is a fantastic gaming keyboard. Its magnetic switches and customizability made playing FPS titles easier and more fluid. If you’re an FPS player or want an incredibly durable keyboard that employs a Hall Effect, then the CYBER01 is the easiest recommendation I could make for you. Magnetic keyswitches are the future, y’all – they’re worthy of the hype.