We've seen a keyboard with a built-in macro pad, and a keyboard with a touchscreen and a separate, add-on numberpad, but what if you want a keyboard with a numberpad and a built-in macropad without having to spend an extra $100?

I guess that's why there's the Turtle Beach KB5 — a full-size, wired mechanical keyboard with low-profile switches, an 8,000 Hz polling rate, and a built-in 2.4-inch touchscreen that functions as a mini macro pad (with six buttons). It's got the built-in numberpad, unlike the Corsair Galleon 100 SD and the Turtle Beach KB7, as well as the touchscreen / macro pad, though its version is about half the size. Still, maybe that's all you really need. The KB5 is also significantly cheaper than both of those keyboards, which retail for $300 and $200, respectively.

The Turtle Beach KB5 is available now, in black, for $149.99.

Design and Construction of the KB5

The KB5 is a full-size low-profile wired mechanical gaming keyboard with extra macro keys, a volume roller, and a full-color 2.4-inch touchscreen in the upper-right corner (above the 10-key numberpad). It has a roomy layout and is slightly larger than the average full-size keyboard, measuring approximately 18.78 inches (477 mm) wide by 6.89 inches (175 mm) deep. It's 1.06 inches (27mm) thick at its thickest point, including the keycaps.

The KB5 has a silver brushed-aluminum top plate with a coppery accent in the upper-left corner. It has a sturdy metal roller bar on the top toward the left side — though it's not really close enough to the left side to be in the corner, and I found it a bit awkward to have to reach over my function row to use the roller. I would have preferred it in a corner or even on the side, like the volume roller on the NZXT Function 2. It's a nicely-built roller, however — thick, metal, clickable, and with etched diagonal lines for grip.

The keyboard also has a row of five macro keys on the left side, as well as a 2.5-inch color touchscreen in the upper-right corner, above the 10-key numberpad. The touchscreen bumps up past the rest of the keyboard — the touchscreen side is just under 7 inches deep, while the other side is about 6.25 inches deep — so it doesn't cut into your keys. The KB5 has a full function row, a full 3x2 navigation cluster, arrow keys, and a full 10-key numberpad, along with the standard alphanumeric keys.

The KB5 features Turtle Beach's (formerly Roccat's) signature aesthetic — an open board with flat, shallow keycaps that leave the switch exposed, which makes for both easy cleaning and brighter, more visible RGB lighting. The keycaps are low-profile double-shot PBT, with shine-through legends; the board comes with four textured keycaps that you can use to replace the W/A/S/D keys (or, I guess, any four keys) for better recognition.

The bottom of the board is plastic, with six rubber anti-slip pads and two sets of plastic flip-out feet for angling the keyboard toward you. It's a fairly lightweight keyboard, weighing just under 2 pounds (1.96lbs / 887g), not including the wrist rest (which weighs an additional 7.5 ounces / 213g). This is about the same as the Logitech G515 Lightspeed, though the G515 is a TKL while the KB5 is full-size (plus a touchscreen and macro keys).

In the box, the KB5 comes with a plastic wrist rest, a 5.9-foot (1.8m) USB-C to USB-A cable, four textured keycaps for replacing the W / A / S / D keys, and a keycap puller.

Specs

Typing and Gaming Experience on the KB5

The KB5 comes with Turtle Beach's Titan low-profile linear switches, which are rated for up to 50 million keypresses and have an actuation point of 1.2mm and a force of 42gf. These are traditional low-profile mechanical switches — not magnetic Hall Effect switches like you'll find on the KB7 (and KP7). They're linear, which means a smooth keypress with no audible or tactile bump, and they're pre-lubed so they're pretty smooth.

While I'm not a huge fan of linear switches, the KB5's are quick and stable, and you get a decent little 'thunk' when you bottom out on the keyboard's aluminum top plate. The typing experience is very similar to that of the KB7, which is to say that it's very pleasant for a mainstream gaming keyboard with low-profile linear switches.

The keyboard has flat, shallow keycaps made of double-shot PBT. They have a slightly matte texture and should resist shine better than ABS keycaps, but I'm not fully convinced that'll be the case (maybe they just feel cheaper because they're thinner, overall, than regular keycaps, though). The keycaps are wide, with slightly curved tops, and the keyboard is roomy — I didn't have any problem getting used to the layout for the most part, though the extra row of macro keys on the left did throw me off a few times (this happens whenever there's an extra row of macro keys).

The touchscreen is located above the numberpad, and is fairly responsive. It responds to both taps and swipes (you can swipe through "pages" of controls / buttons), and I found the 2 x 3 layout a little more intuitive to navigate than the KB7's much larger layout — though still not as intuitive as it would be with tactile buttons, like the Corsair Galleon 100 SD has. In addition to the six customizable "buttons" on the touchscreen, there's also some other info displayed at the top — your current profile (you can switch between profiles by tapping this) and some keyboard info (e.g. numlock, caps lock, scroll lock).

The KB5 is also a solid keyboard for gaming, thanks to its quick, responsive linear switches and 8K polling rate. While it doesn't have magnetic switches like its pricier sibling, it does implement Turtle Beach's ReacTap, which is a software solution similar to simultaneous opposing cardinal directions (SOCD).

Features and Software of the KB5

Like all Turtle Beach products, the KB5 ships with firmware from 2001 (or at least it feels like it) and requires at least 16 mandatory updates before it can be used with the brand's Swarm II software. I'm exaggerating, of course — but not much.

Once I managed to get the KB5 up to date on firmware (and Swarm II up to date on software), I was able to customize the touchscreen, keyboard, and lighting. Swarm II is kind of mandatory for this keyboard, as you can't really customize the touchscreen without it — and the touchscreen is a large part of the selling point here. There's not a ton you can do with the touchscreen that you can't do with regular keys, at the moment. There are options for keyboard / Windows / multimedia functions, opening apps and websites, and assigning macros. And there are a couple of "dynamic" options such as a timer setting and performance monitoring, but it's not a robust ecosystem like that of Elgato or Loupedeck. Still, it's probably enough to get you started, and the Swarm II app includes a handful of templates in case you're out of ideas.

Keymapping is pretty straightforward, and you can map keys to do most of what you can map the touchscreen to do (save for visual things, such as performance monitoring, obviously). You can record and save macros in the app and configure ReacTap. You can also customize the lighting from a handful of presets (or per-key, if you so desire). The keyboard can save up to five onboard profiles, which you can switch between by tapping the profile number in the upper-left corner of the touchscreen.

The Bottom Line

The KB5 is actually a pretty nice compromise, and I like it better than the pricier (and fancier) Turtle Beach KB7. I love having a built-in numberpad that doesn't cost an extra $100 to snap onto the side of the board, and the smaller touchscreen is actually more manageable to use quickly and without (really) looking. The KB5 may not have magnetic Hall Effect switches, but its low-profile linear switches feel and sound pretty good for a mainstream gaming keyboard. And at $150, it's basically half the price of the combined KB7 keyboard and KP7 numberpad.

Of course, if you're really dedicated to making your keyboard a streaming deck substitute, the Corsair Galleon 100 SD is the only real option. Not only does it have physical buttons, it also has knobs — and it's supported by Elgato's Stream Deck software, which is still the real differentiating factor for macropad and touchscreen devices these days.

Go onto any forum or mechanical keyboard subreddit these days, and it can be a minefield as to what people recommend. It's an essential wall of noise with regards to size, shape, switch type and even more that can be daunting if you're a first-timer or you're someone getting back into the hobby after years of being out of it.

I was speaking to a fellow tech journalist at Computex 2026 a few months ago, and he raised this exact point with me. After being out of the hobby for several years, he'd come back to find it being more confusing than ever before, which completely switched him off.

Likewise, I've often thought we've reached a state of choice paralysis compared to where the hobby was, say, a decade ago. Back then, you had only a handful of switch choices, and while we've since seen the democratisation of hot-swappable sockets, machined aluminium chassis and open-source software, it can be horribly overwhelming when it comes to the decisions that actually matter — layout, switch feel, and budget.

Before I go any further, let me give you my credentials – I've been a tech journalist for the best part of a decade, reviewing keyboards from brands big and small, and I've been involved in the mechanical keyboard hobby since before it hit the mainstream. I've seen this market go from a small niche to something that can feel genuinely impenetrable if you're coming to it fresh.

To be truthful, it doesn't have to be that complicated. Underneath all of that noise, choosing your first mechanical keyboard still comes down to a few simple decisions, which I'll guide you through below.

1. Pick a size

It might seem a bit of a strange, but a good starting point is thinking about what size of keyboard you'd like. I don't mean the physical dimensions of the 'board, rather the layout and arrangement of the keys.

Keyboards can come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the typical full-size 100% down to ridiculously tiny 40% keyboards. So, let's divide them into categories.

Firstly, we've got between 60% and 65% layouts, which eschew a lot of features, such as a function row, nav cluster and number pad in the name of saving as much desk space as possible. These layouts have been popularised by gamers who need desk space for sweeping mouse movements and find the elements mentioned above quite redundant. Between the two, a 65% layout adds arrow keys and some navigation keys, which I think are non-negotiable for productivity work, but your mileage may vary.

Moving up a tad, we go to between 75% and TKL, or tenkeyless, keyboards. These bring back the function row and navigation cluster, giving you a lot more functionality than smaller layouts, while still chopping off the number pad. Personally, this is my favourite option, and I think a strong middle ground if you want to save space without sacrificing too much. I use this kind of layout a lot of the time, for what it's worth.

Then, you can go bigger, up to 96% and full-size 100% options that give you everything and the kitchen sink, number pad and all. It's what you're most likely used to, and if the number pad has become non-negotiable, then it's one of your only options. Opting for a 96%, also known as a '1800 layout', keyboard can give you the number pad while moving some keys around to save a little bit of desk space, if you want a slight compromise.

2. Pick a switch

This is perhaps the most difficult section, as each switch feels different, and we've got so many options these days it can be hard to know what's best for you. Muddying the waters further, the old color categories aren't quite as clear cut as they used to be.

For instance, a Red switch would usually be light and linear, a Black switch a heavier linear switch, a Blue switch tactile and loud with an audible click and a Brown switch soft tactile, with a slight bump halfway down the keypress.

Now, however, we've got switches named after everything from all the colors of the rainbow to planets, birds and more besides, and it can be so difficult to understand the minutiae behind how each switch feels.

My genuine advice is to order a switch tester – there are lots of them floating about on the internet – which can give you a range of different types of switch in one convenient place, and help you decide what you like.

When you've selected a tester, pay attention to how each switch feels – the worst thing you can do is bash each of them in turn with as much force as you can. Pay close attention to how it feels under finger with regard to consistency of the operating force as you go down the travel, and whether you like something that's linear with a smooth keypress or tactile, be it with a click or a bump.

Once you've honed in on a switch you like, then you can do some digging into which keyboard features those switches. Or, if you're up for a little bit of work, then you can pick up a bare-bones chassis with a hot-swappable PCB – this means it comes with no switches or keycaps, which you'll need to supply yourself.

Going for something hot-swappable is a key piece of advice I think – it saves the hassle of soldering, and gives you more freedom and choice. It's also dead easy to assemble a keyboard this way, even if you haven't done it before. Each switch will have little pins on the underside – line these up with holes in the PCB and push straight down until you hear it click into place. I recommend picking up more than enough switches to give you some spares in case you bend pins when putting them into the hot-swap sockets on the PCB.

The point here is that everybody has a different preference for switches and how they feel. There are other considerations, such as lubrication, which can make a switch feel smoother, and the acoustics of a case and how this plays into the sound signature you'd like, but that's getting into the weeds a little. It's important to make sure your case doesn't have any rattle or ping and has some form of sound dampening, but that's as far as I'd go at this point.

3. Set your budget

Pricing is arguably as integral as any other point of consideration for choosing a keyboard, as your budget can decide what kind you end up getting. It's worth going in with a list of features you'd like; good things to look for include PBT keycaps, good wireless connectivity and a sturdy chassis.

It's possible to get some excellent affordable choices (i.e. around £50–£70 / $60–$80) that seem to pack in everything when it comes to features: hot-swappable switches, versatile wireless connectivity, addressable RGB lighting and all the rest of it, but outside of a few options, some seem to sacrifice build quality by being mostly plastic, which can feel quite cheap and scratchy. At this tier, I'd do your research carefully and lean towards boards with a reputation for punching above their weight rather than just grabbing whatever looks good on paper.

Spending a little more and going into the very low triple figures is likely to net you a strong choice from the likes of Keychron with advanced software support and a machined aluminum chassis. That aluminum build makes a tangible difference in practice — it adds rigidity, dampens unwanted noise and gives the keyboard a solidity that plastic boards rarely match. I'm a great lover of the likes of the Q1 Pro and others from its range, which are an excellent starting point in the mid-range.

Beyond that, you can go further into the hundreds with something fully custom or a pre-built choice from the array of boutique manufacturers you'll find online. This isn't what I'd recommend to someone just starting out in the hobby — rather, it's something to consider if you're already knee-deep and have some spare cash to put towards making something truly personal. But it's worth knowing that world exists, because once you've caught the bug, it's a very natural place to end up.

Final thoughts

There are some elements here, such as even more niche layouts, that I haven't even touched on in this article, which proves how deep the mechanical keyboard hobby goes. However, that isn't the point of this article – it's just a (reasonably) quick explainer of key things to look for when you're picking up your first mechanical keyboard.

If you're ready to start shopping, I've looked at plenty of options at a range of prices I feel are worth your time over the years, while the wider TechRadar crew has reviewed hundreds of keyboards that are worth a mention. The Keychron Q1 Pro is a strong starting point (or there's the Q1 Ultra 8K if you want even more features at a premium price). Likewise, at a more affordable price point, the Gamakay TK75 V2 and Epomaker P65 are well-reviewed choices that tick the right boxes in my book. For a more comprehensive overview, our best keyboards guide is regularly updated and a good place to browse.

Ultimately, though, you can go in any direction you want to, and that's the beauty of this hobby. Just stick to some of the advice given here, and you should be in good stead to get a keyboard that's feature-rich, has the feel you're looking for, and at a price that isn't out of your budget.