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It is quite clear from a glance that the 700K is a gaming keyboard due to the bank of five macro keys attached to the left side of the unit and an extra row of keys along the top edge of the keyboard.
From an aesthetic point of view it seems to draw inspiration from Corsair's keyboard range, with the keys arranged across a large brushed aluminium plate. The metal plate is set within a black plastic casing which contrasts nicely with the aluminium finish of the keyboard.
We are quite impressed with the build quality of the Cougar 700K. The aluminium plate used feels premium and the construction of the keyboard is solid, however the black plastic casing feels cheap and unrefined to the touch. We have no doubt that this unit will last a long time, though, thanks to the use of mechanical switches and the otherwise decent build quality.
In a similar fashion to the majority of high-end gaming keyboards on the market, the Cougar 700K features LED backlighting. Unlike some competing keyboards, it does not offer colour configurable lighting. However, it offers extensive configuration of the backlighting in the included software which we will detail later on in the review.
We find a series of five macro keys on the left edge of the keyboard which can be programmed in the included software package. There are four further buttons along the top left edge of the keyboard which let us switch between three different configuration modes and record our own macros on the fly. Below these we find second functions on the F1-F4 keys which let us switch between 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x report rate on the fly.
In the top right corner of the motherboard we find a series of six buttons. From left to right we find a backlighting control button, a button to deactivate the Windows key when gaming, play/pause, stop and track forward and back buttons. We also find volume up, down and mute buttons nestled just above the numpad.
The 700K is supplied with a palm rest which fits to the front of the keyboard. This features a magnetic rubber palm rest which can be attached to either side of the palm rest. This makes it more comfortable to use and gives users the option of using it for the WASD and arrow keys. The palm rest feels a little cheap compared to the rest of the keyboard, though, which is a little disappointing considering the price point.
Like most high end gaming keyboards, the 700K features a USB pass and headphone/microphone pass through hub on the rear which lets you easily hook up your mouse and headset.
Cougar have chosen to use a quality braided cable for the 700K which feels very good quality indeed. This terminates in two gold-plated USB connectors and two gold-plated 3.5mm jacks for the headphone and microphone functions.
