I first learned of the CORSAIR iCUE NEXUS a few months ago from my CORSAIR contacts, with plans in the longer term wanting the launch to coincide with strong first-party support for CORSAIR and other programs/games. I was admittedly excited at the prospect of finally having a good implementation of a second-screen-on-keyboard experience, having just finished testing the EVGA Z10 RGB keyboard that was disappointing relative to original promises made. With that in mind, I am having a deja vu here in that I perhaps went in expecting more than what the final product offered. There are more comprises than I like, be it with the installation, where it would have been nice to see a universal mount to use under a monitor, for example, or just a better screen overall with better viewing angles and more vertical pixels at least.

The iCUE NEXUS is in my opinion a better product and user experience than such options from others, including CORSAIR. With their acquisition of Elgato, the Stream Deck family of screens is a direct comparison to the iCUE NEXUS. There are definitely a lot of common functions both have on a system-wide scale; however, the two brands and associated software programs have been kept distinctly separate to date. So the iCUE NEXUS is more of an analog for the gamers with CORSAIR products and iCUE familiarity relative to the Stream Deck for streamers with Elgato products and their associated software. It might as well be a completely different company offering altogether as far as I am concerned.

Other such second-screen experiences are typically more for monitoring and not control as well, and these are all over the place with LCD or OLED screens integrated into CPU coolers, water blocks, and even PSUs. People considering the iCUE NEXUS at $99.99 as an alternative to buying a second monitor are better off comparing these options to a second monitor in that they are typically only used for monitoring. The more enterprising among us would do better for the money, however, with a touch screen tablet and third-party programs for control and monitoring (think AIDA64 monitoring with external display support, for example), and such an option does much more than the iCUE NEXUS is capable of. There are compromises everywhere, and the CORSAIR approach with this is to offer a dumb—not smart and self-sufficient—screen with mediocre display specifications backed by powerful software and user-friendliness. It's obviously not for everyone, and yet it needs a strong community to get better screen support for third-party applications. I suspect it will see a sale sooner rather than later to really get things going, which would then in turn make the iCUE NEXUS much more attractive. But such is the nature of the world today that however niche it may be, it is unique enough to garner interest today.