With its ROG gaming subbrand, ASUS is not stranger to making its own gaming-grade PC peripherals, including keyboards. So it should probably come as no surprise when the company unveiled a new one at COMPUTEX 2023. It’s called the ASUS ROG Strix Scope II 96, which is quite the mouthful.
According to the press release, the company calls this its first “96% wireless keyboard featuring the new ROG NX Snow switches”, which tells you what to expect in terms of number of keys and size. On that wireless bit, ASUS says the ROG Strix Scope II 96 can connect up to three devices via Bluetooth. Beyond that, there’s also a 2.4GHz dongle and the good old wired connection. Using this in 2.4GHz wireless mode, but with the fancy RGB lighting off, the company says you can get 1,500 hours of use.
ASUS has made quite the effort to emphasise that the ROG Strix Scope II 96 comes with its ROG NX Snow switches pre-lubricated for an extra smooth typing experience. The typing experience for these switches are also noted as linear, though we can’t say for sure if it’s fair to draw comparisons to the more common Cherry MX Red or other similar switches. And if you don’t like the feel of the company’s switches, you can use the ones you prefer as they are hot-swappable.
It also has got dampening foam to reduce noise, normally not something that keyboards with linear switches need to worry about. Though its inclusion is certainly nice,as is the roller on the top right corner. The accompanying image also shows a wrist rest, which hopefully is included in the box and magnetically attached.
With its unveiling at COMPUTEX 2023, an ASUS Malaysia representative has said that the ROG Strix Scope II 96 will be making its way to our shores at some point. That being said, local price and availability details are not yet available at the time of writing.
