The Riotoro Prism Gaming Mechanical Keyboard Review: Making A Strong Debut

Conclusion

The Ghostwriter Prism is a bold and also strange move from Riotoro. It is the company's first mechanical keyboard and, instead of targeting a wider audience, they chose to take on some of the most advanced keyboards of the market. The Ghostwriter Prism is not a keyboard designed for the average user but for those that want practically every feature there is.

Aesthetically, the designer of the Ghostwriter Prism tried to combine the austereness of simple geometric constructs with RGB lighting and a touch of striking red color. Aesthetics are a subjective matter but we believe that the Ghostwriter Prism is aesthetically pleasing and that its design matches almost every environment, without being too plain for a gaming desktop or too extravagant for an office setup. Our only complaint lies with the wide lighting opening on the Spacebar key that does not match the single LED found beneath it.

The quality of the Ghostwriter Prism is excellent. Its switches are coming from the most reputable manufacturer, Cherry, whose products always give us very consistent and exceptional laboratory testing results. The body of the keyboard is simple and sturdy, yet the sharp edges are weak points and may be chipped if the keyboard is hit with substantial force. Its extra buttons and sound volume wheel are of excellent quality and are very well applied. Inside the keyboard, the assembly job is excellent but, ideally, we would have liked to see better processor and LED control chipsets.

This keyboard's only real shortcoming at this point of time is the software. It is targeted towards a group of users that are very demanding and the current BETA version of the software is offering only rudimentary features. With the final release of the software still months away, a large number of potential purchasers may be dissuaded. Advanced gamers will probably have to result to a third-party macro programming software but that adds both complexity and cost, which reduce the overall value of the Ghostwriter Prism.

The Ghostwriter Prism is currently priced at $130 including shipping, pitting it against some of the best keyboards available right now. It does not lack the quality or design to compete in this segment of the market. Riotoro's real problem is that they are behind in the release of a good programming software that will allow the Ghostwriter Prism to unleash its full potential - something that almost every other company in that segment of the market does not have to worry about.