CONCLUSION

   Das Keyboard has a long history of professional grade keyboards that lack the usual bells and whistles we find in gaming models and that's why they originally launched Division Zero. Now the reason i say originally is that since our sample arrived here in the end of 2016 Division Zero seems to have been dropped and so right now the X40 Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard is under the Das Keyboard brand (the Division Zero page still exists however). Of course since the product remains unchanged this shouldn't matter to anyone but we obviously needed to point that out. So with that out of the way how did the X40 Pro do in our tests? In terms of build quality Das Keyboard remains true to their long history since both the internal metal plate and the top anodized aluminum plate make the X40 Pro very sturdy. Now i can't comment on the longevity of the Alpha-Zulu mechanical switches since they are still very new in the market but the Olive ones come very close to the Cherry MX Red mechanical switches and although the actuation point of 1.7mm is not that different compared to the 2.0mm of the reds in time you will notice they feel just a tad faster. Unfortunately although we don’t care much about such things in a sea of RGB illuminated keyboards just red may not be enough to some people (luckily people like us place quality and performance above looks that’s also why we have the Das Keyboard Model S in our lab) although the standby mode is a nice touch. Worth pointing out is that you don’t need the control software to record macros and adjust the brightness levels but it does make things easier. Finally the interchangeable top anodized aluminum plate may be a nice touch but getting a different one costs quite a bit and i just don't know how many people will end up doing so.

   I was happy to see that Das Keyboard reduced the price of the X40 Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard recently so you can currently find it for just USD129 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 129Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Needless to say you can find numerous RGB models at around the same price point and with Cherry MX switches but if you’ve ever used a keyboard by Das Keyboard than you should know that they don’t have much competition in the quality area. At the end of the day the X40 Pro may not become a best seller among young gamers but it does offer excellent build quality with very fast backlit linear mechanical switches (our version) and a total of 5 dedicated macro keys so for people like us who know what Das Keyboard is all about this will be a great keyboard and that’s enough to get our Golden Award.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- Design (Interchangeable Top Anodized Aluminum Plate)
- Alpha Zulu Mechanical Switches (Linear/60.000.000+ Operations/Gold Plated Contacts)
- USB 2.0 Passthrough Port
- Headphone And Microphone Ports
- Full N-Key Rollover (NKRO)
- 5 Dedicated Macro Keys
- Braided Cable With Gold Plated Plugs

CONS

- Single Color Key Illumination
- Interchangeable Anodized Aluminum Plate Cost (For Some)