The Return

Finally done most of the task needed for this semester. Will update some review on the new PLU Ml-G3000-POM USB-NKRO Edition. Stay tuned.

More details on mechanical keyboard

*This was taken from http://forums.vr-zone.com/hardware-arena/890488-vr-forums-mechanical-keyboard-club-guide-discussion-thread.html#post8701746 , i've added extra information but the original author: Undarken.

Types of mechanical switches:

Buckling Springs:

- Tactile and clicky

- 65g to actuate

Blue Cherry MX:

- Tactile and clicky

- 50g to actuate

Black Cherry MX:

- Non-tactile(linear) and non-clicky

- 60g to actuate

Brown Cherry MX:

- Tactile and non-clicky

- 45g to actuate

Red Cherry MX:

- Non-tactile(linear) and non-clicky

- 45g to actuate

Topre:

- Tactile and non-clicky (spring and rubber dome combined)

- Available @ 30g, 45g and 55g variation

Glossary:

Clicky refers a "click" sound is produced when the switch is actuated.

Tactile refers to a "bump" that is felt when the switch is actuated.

Nkey Rollover (NKRO) is the ability of the keyboard to recognize as many keys as you can press at once.

Most keyboards are 6-KRO or 2-KRO(99% of keyboards).

Keyboard sizes:

104 / Full-sized:

The standard keyboard

87 / Tenkeyless / 80%:

A keyboard without the Numpad 

Personal Opinions:

Blues:

Blue are so nice to type on it give you "OMGWTFBBQ THIS IS AWESOME, LET ME TYPE FOREVER". 

Note that clickiness might irritate others who are around you.

Recommended for general use or anyone who types alot.

Brown:

Brown are so light that I can touch-type and ride the actuation point(bump) easily.

Note that Brown are too light for some as they unknowingly press some keys just by resting their finger on the keyboard.

Recommended for people with a light touch or computer-related injuries.

Black:

Black are the truly the best for gaming and decent to touch-type on.

Note that if you have the habit to bottom out keys, Black will feel heavy and tired your fingers quickly.

Recommend to people who game alot and type only short messenges

Red:

Red are suitable for gaming which consists both advantage of Brown and Black switch. 45g actuation force of Brown, non-tactile and non-clicky of Black. Less burden from long term usage, suitable for gamers that play games all day long.

Recommend to people who game alot and with a light touch. 

Buckling Spring:

Buckling Spring still give the best typing sensation despite the age of this technology.

It feels even better that Blue Cherry but the "noise" is not acceptable to most.

If you born when typewriters were still around, you will definitely enjoy Buckling Spring.

Topre:

These are the perfect version of rubber domes and last much longer than conventional rubber domes.

After using other mechanical keyboard, any other keyboard with rubber domes feel mushy(includ. the Topre)

These are exotic switches which comes with a exotic price tag.

These are MY PERSONAL OPINIONS. Reader's discretion is advised.

Everyone have different opinions.

Review on Steelseries 6GV2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Here is the Steelseries 6GV2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard.

The snapshot above shows a cherry MX black switch for their keyboard. This switch is linear, unlike the brown and blue switch which gives user a clicky tactile bump.

From the side view, it looks like a plain keyboard and does not even look like a gaming keyboard at 1st.

The front view for the keyboard, looks pretty much like the old school compact keyboard i used to have during the old days.

Top view, They uses white LED for the num lock, caps lock and scroll lock indicator, looks odd but at least it is not like the blinding white LED on 7G.

It comes with a PS/2 converter for those who prefer to have NKRO  feature. On USB, you can get up to 6 simultaneous key pressed down and 1 modifier key which makes it a total of 7 keys under USB connector.

As you can see, the switches are mounted on a metal plate which provide better stability compared to those PCB mounted switches on Cherry boards.

Pros: 

1. The anti-ghosting on PS/2 is pretty amazing, suitable for games that requires simultaneous key pressed down. (FPS games,  Music games )

2. Sensitive switches that captures your input faster.

3. Silent keys, pretty good for typing in the middle of the night especially if you do not want to wake up anyone nearby.

4. Media keys allow users to control their volume with a short distance combination of steelseries key and the function key.

5. Feels pretty good typing on it.

Cons:

1. The NKRO features are not available on USB is a pain in the ass for those who need to press more than 6 keys at once. Music gamers for ez2on, DJ Max, LR2, O2jam that uses USB port will face this problem. Not everyone are used to  the big sized modifier key.

2. No clicky feeling might leave the user in question: "did i pressed the key just now?". 

3. The lifespan is  something which i personally doubt at, as the more you press it, the less springy it gets. The feel is totally different than a rubber dome keyboard.

4. The replaced windows key is something not so convenient as i tends to press the left windows key to access my stuffs. They could come up with a key to disable it temporary.

5. A little out of budget and does not illuminate like the Merc. From the switch there you can clearly see that there is LED slot for LED, i wonder why they never implement on it?

6. Long term rapid key press will somehow lead to losing the springy feel. You can change the switches of course..

Overall Rating:

Design: 8/10

Durability: 8/10

Tactile feel: 5/10

Price: 7/10

Performance: 8/10

Comment:

For those 1st timer, you might feel a little uncomfortable without the bump you used to have on normal rubber dome keyboards. Comparing it with the Razer keyboards, most of them are flat keys except the blackwidow expert and blackwidow ultimate that uses the blue switch with a more clicky feel. 

PLU Standard Mechanical Gaming Keyboard: ML-G2000-POM

Details:

Model: ML-G2000-POM

Connector: USB & PS/2

Anti-ghosting: YES on PS/2

Keycap: POM

Lifecycle: 50 Million / Switch

Weight: 1.2kg

Other features: Function keys, Disable Windows Key

*Having both PS/2 and USB connector on the same cable allow users to plug-in their keyboard to any computer..

*POM keycaps and laser inscribed letters makes the keycaps more durable and last longer compared to normal plastic keycaps.

*Mechanical switches with a lifecycle 10 times more than normal membrane keyboards are used.

*Function keys allow users to increase/decrease their volume , resume/pause their media player, etc.

*The Windows Key disable function key allow users to temporary disable their windows key to prevent unwanted interruption/ pressed Windows key accidently during gameplay.

PLU first extreme anti-ghosting USB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard ML-3000-POM

Details:


Model: ML-3000-POM
Connector: USB
Anti-ghosting: YES ( Up to 7 or more. )
Keycap: POM
Lifecycle: 50 Million / Switch
Weight: 1.2kg
Other features: Function keys, Disable Windows Key

*The extreme anti-ghosting feature is specially designed for gamers that require to press more than 7 keys, especially for O2Jam players.

*POM keycaps and laser inscribed letters makes the keycaps more durable and last longer compared to normal plastic keycaps.

*Mechanical switches with a lifecycle 10 times more than normal membrane keyboards are used.

*Function keys allow users to increase/decrease their volume , resume/pause their media player, etc.

*The Windows Key disable function key allow users to temporary disable their windows key to prevent unwanted interruption/ pressed Windows key accidently during gameplay.

Introduction to mechanical switches

The figure shown above is how the mechanical switches looks like and how it works. Unlike normal membrane keyboard, the switch uses spring and metal plates to send signals. As shown in the 2nd figure, you  can see that there are 2 metal plates ( the red and the blue plates). When the switch is pressed down, the metal plates inside will came in contact ( the yellow part is the main contact point ) with each other and the signal will be generated. What gives the switches a longer lifecycle compared to the membranes are the spring and metal plates. Membrane are made from rubber and it will lost it elasticity as times goes by due to oxidation and it gets harden. 

Mechanical switches will not have this kind of problem.

Cherry are well known for they mechanical switches and their switches is being used by 

well known keyboards including the Filco PKB104M,  Razer Blackwidow & Blackwidow Ultimate, 

steelseries 6G & 7G.

The switches varies from black switch, white switch, green switch, brown switch, grey switch, blue switch 

and the red switch. 

Each different coloured switches possesses different features based on user's needs.

Introduction

PLU is a company that manufactures keyboards in China. Their keyboards are built from Cherry MX mechanical switches which have a longer lifecycle 10 times more than ordinary membrane keyboards and POM keycaps with laser inscribed letters which are able to withstand longer than normal keycaps. These keyboards are mainly for Gaming and it has been used by players for WCG. Here is a sample of players using PLU keyboards in WCG.

I will update more information of the product in the near future.