HyperX EVE 1800 Gaming Keyboard Review

When I hear the name of the HyperX Eve 1800 Gaming Keyboard, I can’t assist however chuckle internally whereas considering of biblical references. Even the official advertising and marketing refers back to the gadget as “the eve of your gaming adventure.” Nonetheless, the symbolism is becoming, because it alludes to a starting, and on the extremely aggressive MSRP of $49.99 US, it’s clearly HyperX’s hope, because the Hewlett-Packard-owned gaming peripheral producer, that price-conscious players will contemplate the Eve 1800 their first critical gaming keyboard. Well, consistent with the biblical theme, heaven assist them.

With ambition to match its modest funds, the Eve 1800 is aimed toward protecting issues easy, with few frills, if any. Apart from a multilingual quick-start information pamphlet, the keyboard is the one merchandise customers will discover within the field. The roughly 1.5-metre USB knowledge cable is wired on to the keyboard and can’t be swapped out; its keys should not swappable, and no wrist remainder of any sort is included. That mentioned, hardware-wise, the Eve 1800 delivers on the fundamentals the place it issues most. Its 12-key rollover capability for simultaneous keypresses supplies ample enter bandwidth for many standard touch-typing duties and gaming, and its membrane switches guarantee consolation and diminished noise whereas working or taking part in.

There are solely a handful of standout options to assist distinguish the Eve 1800 from different merchandise within the HyperX keyboard line. Arguably, its compact 1800 keyboard design, also called a 96 per cent keyboard format, saves area on one’s desk with out sacrificing any keys or features by tightly packing all of the clusters of an ordinary keyboard format right into a extra environment friendly association with as few gaps as doable.

“Hardware-wise, the Eve 1800 delivers on the basics where it matters most.”

It can be the primary gaming keyboard I’ve ever encountered with a built-in media bar that’s each vertical and offset to the left, a quirk that I didn’t count on can be as stunning because it was till I bodily plugged the keyboard into my laptop and carried out some fundamental typing workouts.

Situated on the left facet of the keyboard, the Eve 1800’s media bar is a column comprised of three buttons, VOL +/-, and Mute, in addition to three tiny indicator lights representing Num Lock, Caps Lock and “Gaming Mode.” Most keyboards place these options both to the proper or within the upper-right facet, and as a right-hander, I discovered this new format fairly disorienting.

Another vexing facet impact of the Eve 1800’s media bar location is that the entire keys within the alphanumeric, numeric, operate and navigational clusters of the keyboard really feel as if they’ve been shifted to the proper by half an inch, which on the outset steadily brought about me to relaxation my fingers on the incorrect keys within the dwelling row, whether or not I used to be typing or at relaxation.

As a end result, I saved registering spelling errors, toggling the Caps Lock key on and off, and steadily needed to cease what I used to be doing so I might look down on the keys to visually reset my place. Quite frankly, I genuinely hated the format and couldn’t see myself ever getting used to it.

At least, that’s what I believed can be the case till, similar to one of many surgically brain-altered workplace employees in Severance, one thing in my thoughts ultimately “clicked.” After that, most of my touch-typing points disappeared by way of unconscious follow. I by no means got here round to liking the place of the navigational buttons, nonetheless, specifically the arrow keys, which conspicuously dangle from the bottom-right nook of the alphanumeric cluster as if the Right Shift key someway grew an extra, malformed appendage. I’m used to the navigational buttons having their very own uncluttered space the place urgent them won’t set off some other undesirable actions, one thing that sticking the Right Shift key and directional buttons shut collectively completely will do.

While we’re as regards to keys, the Eve 1800 has a number of features that may be accessed by way of keypress shortcuts with out essentially having to open the HyperX NGENUITY software program. Pressing the FN and Right Shift key collectively permits the consumer to cycle between three completely different consumer or RGB lighting profiles. Like most high quality gaming keyboards available on the market, the FN button can be utilized together with different specifically marked keys to regulate easy actions like brightness and the pausing, taking part in, forwarding and rewinding of media. Meanwhile, urgent FN plus the F12 button, which can be marked with a reticle image, toggles Gaming Mode on or off.

While the phrases “Gaming Mode” could sound essential, particularly for a gaming keyboard, there actually is just not a lot to put in writing dwelling about right here. Engaging Gaming Mode disables the Eve 1800’s Windows key so it can’t be unintentionally triggered throughout intense keyboard play, and lights up the suitable indicator within the media column with the reticle image to substantiate that it’s energetic.

As one these days expects with nearly any new gaming keyboard that involves market, companion software program within the type of HyperX NGENUITY supplies entry to the Eve 1800’s deeper features after an preliminary set up. The set up wizard describes updating to the most recent beta firmware for NGENUITY as optionally available, however customers ought to deal with that recommendation as “mandatory” as a result of they in any other case will be unable to entry any options past Light Sync, a dynamic mood-lighting characteristic that requires multiple appropriate HyperX gadget, so I can’t be overlaying it right here. Once the brand new NGENUITY beta is put in, customers can lastly get right down to customizing the Eve 1800’s profiles, macros and RGB settings, or so that you’d suppose.

Supposedly, a number of profiles will be created inside NGENUITY that the consumer can rename, modify for RGB lighting, and document and assign macro shortcuts for at each the keyboard’s base layer and FN, or operate, layer, which is pretty bog-standard stuff for gaming keyboards. Unfortunately, whereas I used to be capable of create and customise a brand new profile simply sufficient, I used to be not capable of finding a strategy to ship that profile’s RGB results to the precise keyboard, regardless of a number of makes an attempt.

“The trio of default RGB patterns already stored on the keyboard would appear to be all the customization you get.”

Perhaps it’s as a result of the NGENUITY software program continues to be technically in beta and there’s a glitch of some type stopping it, however for now, the trio of default RGB patterns already saved on the keyboard would seem like all of the customization you get. I regarded on-line for options, each in official and group threads, however was unable to search out any that labored.

That problem ought to have been sufficient for me to wrap up my overview of the Eve 1800 then and there, however I saved tinkering with the software program a bit longer out of curiosity for what ought to have been.

One of my greatest disappointments with the Eve 1800 is that there isn’t a choice to program RGB lighting per key, a characteristic that has develop into a should for me with any RGB gaming keyboard I purchase. Instead, Eve 1800 customers need to accept “10-zone customizable RGB lighting,” which for my part is a poor man’s illumination possibility that divides the keyboard into 10 evenly sized columns.

Within the software program, no less than, you’ll be able to program animations or results to run repeatedly throughout the span of the keyboard, as you’ll count on with nearly any gaming keyboard with RGB lighting, or you’ll be able to program one or a number of columns to run completely different patterns. Of course, it’s also possible to go away these columns utterly off. It is mostly a disgrace these options don’t appear to work exterior of the software program.

What additionally sticks in my craw, nonetheless, is that you simply can’t customise the orientation of the lighting results in every part. They can move in just one route at a time, and that applies to all sections directly, limiting the inventive potentialities severely. It might need been cool to simulate a vibrant waterfall of keys from each side tumbling right into a central black void utilizing such results, for example, however as soon as once more, that assumes the NGENUITY software program works correctly within the first place. Should that ultimately occur, there are 9 looped results customers will be capable of select from and customise: Alternating, Solid, Swipe, Breathing, Calming Waves, Twinkle, Confetti, Sunrise and Surging Waves.

There continues to be some excellent news in the event you simply want a strong typing or gaming keyboard expertise that provides a contact of aptitude. I examined the keyboard with a handful of my go-to PC video games, together with Halo Infinite multiplayer, Portal 2, Max Payne 3 and Blood: Fresh Supply, and I didn’t encounter any points with lag, responsiveness or actuation. If RGB results should not that essential to you, the Eve 1800 can nonetheless function an affordable keyboard possibility for somebody placing collectively a fundamental PC or console gaming setup on a funds, and if it occurs to be on a deep low cost, you might even contemplate it an outright steal.

But being fully sincere, for an entry-level gaming keyboard the HyperX Eve 1800 is sort of a catastrophe general, with the one factor saving it from receiving a good decrease mark being the good thing about the doubt given to HP-owned HyperX that the most recent firmware for the Eve 1800 is technically nonetheless in beta. The Jan. 29, 2026, launch notes for the most recent firmware replace, v. 1.5.0, mentioned a “full-blown native app” is incoming, so there may be hope that NGENUITY will ultimately handle the above-mentioned points. For now, although, I like to recommend a tough cross on the Eve 1800, which at current represents little greater than a beyond-basic gaming keyboard with simplistic RGB results.