How To Connect a Keyboard To a Console

You can make your console feel like a PC if you have a compatible keyboard. Take a look a this guide and try out the Alloy Origins to make it happen!

Did you know you can connect a keyboard to your console? While it is impressive what some gamers are capable of doing with two joysticks and a pair of thumbs, there is a certain level of finesse to mouse and keyboard gaming that is lost on a console. Also, it takes so much longer to send that victory taunt message to your opponent.

If you’re a fan of PC gaming, but all your mates play on console, it can be hard to adjust to a controller. Luckily, you don’t really have to. Just plug in your keyboard and mouse using the tips below and you’ll be owning with them in no time. Maybe you don’t need a keyboard for actually playing, but it’d make things like entering passwords when you have people over or sending messages, and that’s fine, too. Getting a keyboard compact enough to stow away next to your console means you’re always ready to type off a quick retort when the “u mad?” DM comes in from your last challenger. Here’s how to connect a keyboard to your console for any need you may have.

How To Connect a Keyboard To a Console

PS4 and Xbox One consoles will allow you to connect a keyboard via USB. That’s useful, since PC gaming has moved on by now to the point that PS/2 and serial connections are almost completely extinct and everyone’s mice and keyboards are USB anyway.

On PS4: Take the USB lead and connect it to one of the USB slots on the front of the console, between the slats of the diagonal prism. If your keyboard has a detachable cable, like the HyperX Alloy Origins, you’ll need to plug the other end into the keyboard as well, naturally.

On Xbox One: Depending on your model, the USB slot will be in the bottom-left corner of the front face, below the faceplate shelf, or on the left side of the unit when it is lying horizontally. If those are taken up by chargers for your controllers like the HyperX ChargePlay Duo, then there are also a couple more USB slots on the back. It’s almost as if this thing’s a PC in a smaller box! Weird, huh!

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The ChargePlay Duo for the Xbox One.

You can connect a USB mouse to your console as well and play FPS games with added control. If you don’t need to use the keyboard all the time for gaming, it may be useful to have a keyboard with a smaller form factor, such as the HyperX Alloy Origins, which features a detachable braided cable for even easier storage.

Now you can connect a keyboard to your console you’re that much closer to gaming perfection. Why not take it a step further and get some headphones to keep you in the game?

Nicole is a fan of gaming, music, and movies. Feel free to reach her at nicole.castillo@allgamers.com for questions, concerns, or just good music and movie recommendations!

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