Miwu BlackIO 83: Black Crystal open source and changeable keys, a cost-effective killer for transparent mechanical keyboards

Miwu, for me, this brand is also an acquaintance.

I used the previous ART Z680 for nearly a year, which is enough to prove my love for this product. It was not until more and more software such as PS was used in the previous period that the frequent use of shortcut keys for 68 keys was a bit dwarfed, so I changed the configuration. full keyboard.

During the period, I also experienced the Z680cc, which I called the "Youth Edition", and the Xiaomi wired mechanical keyboard manufactured by Miwu as an ecological chain brand. Afterwards, I gave away these two, and my friends gave them very good reviews.

Overall, it is a very good experience at the same price. Miwu, as an ecological chain enterprise endorsed by Xiaomi, will not have quality problems after a short period of use like some unknown small factories.

With the previous experience, this time I bought the handsome rice thing BlackIO 83.

For this brand new series, the official definition is: Black, which represents mystery, high-end, and exploration of the unknown, combined with the IO channel of connection, openness, and digital world, gave birth to the #BlackIO series.

The target users are mavericks, geek lovers who do their own way, designers who pursue the ultimate pursuit...they are groups who are not satisfied with the status quo and bravely break through themselves.

Let's unpack and inspect the goods before we talk.

BlackIO 83 is a high-end product with a geek style. The whole packaging box is black and simple, but it is different from the entry-level Z680cc. The inner layer of the Z680cc is corrugated paper, and the BlackIO 83 is the same as the mobile phone packaging box. This kind of coated paper is high-end and high-end.

The big "IO" logo in the middle of the front, the product name of "BLACKIO 83" below, the product slogan of "ANY THING YOU WANT", and the brand LOGO of Miwu "MIIIW" are all treated with rainbow reflection.

In the lower right corner, there are four product characteristic marks with black reflection, and the words "COLOR: #00000080".

On the side is the brand LOGO of Miwu "MIIIW".

On the back of the box, six product features and product information stickers are distributed in the lower left position.

The packaging box is designed to be pulled up and down. In order to protect the keyboard, the keyboard is wrapped in a protective bag, the keyboard is covered with a protective film, and there is a sponge cushion on the inside of the top cover of the box.

In addition to the main keyboard, there are quick operation guides, instruction manuals, and accessories are placed in a separate black carton.

The accessory box includes a USB Type-A to Type-C data cable about 1.7m long, a two-in-one key puller, and 8 replacement keycaps—two OPT (option) keys, two The CMD (command) key is a replacement for Mac users, along with the translucent four-way arrow.

Dangdangdangdang~Look at the protagonist's keyboard.

Let's talk about the layout and size first.

First of all, the 83-key arrangement is just right for me. I reluctantly replaced the ART Z680 some time ago because it was not enough.

At the same time, BlackIO 83 strikes a certain balance between looseness and compactness. Not all keys are stacked together, but a certain interval is made between the main four functional areas, which can be easily distinguished even by blind typing. The position of the button area reduces the chance of accidental touch.

Of course, this also makes BlackIO 83 slightly larger than other keyboards with around 83 keys. I think this size arrangement does not have too much consideration for "convenience". It is not for you to take it out and use; it is not 100% The full key arrangement is more to remove the infrequently used function keys and reduce unnecessary desktop space occupation, but without sacrificing the practicality of input.

In terms of appearance, as the BlackIO series, of course it must be Black—the overall black translucent design is not as eye-catching as many fully transparent keyboards. At first glance, it looks low-key and steady black. The fn layer symbol uses bright cyan, which fits this geek style, and the transparent elements can only be seen after a little closer inspection.

Good design connects—as Jobs insisted, a really good carpenter will make the back of a cabinet as beautiful as the front.

It seems that geeks always have a paranoid pursuit of transparency. Whether it is Apple's first-generation iMac or the transparent exploration version of Xiaomi mobile phones that Mi fans are fanatical about, this translucent design brings users closer to the internal design. , will also have a higher process difficulty.

In fact, Miwu has tried a transparent keyboard before. The upper cover of the ART Z980 adopts a translucent design, but the keycap is still opaque, and the interior can only be appreciated through the frame and side.

But this time it goes a step further, the entire button part is made transparent, which means that every button has to consider how to be transparent.

The first is the transparent keycap. The PC material makes the texture of the entire black keycap uniform and transparent. If you look closely, there is a little bronze in it.

This kind of keycap is actually a bit controversial in terms of touch. Compared with most traditional keycaps, it will be slightly sticky, and the surface will be more prone to fingerprints.

But looking good is the last word. For me personally, I find it completely acceptable after getting used to it.

The keycaps of the arrow keys have been electroplated, and the surface is reflective, colliding with other keycaps, showing a different and harmonious metal texture. If you don't like it, you can also replace it with the included transparent keycap.

The character symbols of the arrow keys are hollowed out, and the key lights will show through here.

As for the internal shaft body, Kaihua fully transparent jellyfish shaft is selected, and the entire shaft body is transparent except for the metal pins. Both the keycap and the shaft body are detachable and support hot-swappable replacement.

Light transmission is very good.

Remove the shaft body, you can see that the lower positioning plate is also transparent, but with a frosted texture, you can vaguely see the parts below.

The space bar says "Innovation in the Open" product slogan, which means innovation in the open, echoing the open source freedom and appearance innovation of this keyboard.

The upper left corner protruding from the top is the indicator area, which are the indicators of power, capitalization, and connected devices (Bluetooth 1/2/3/2.4G).

On the right side of the front side, facing the direction key area, there are Miwu "MIIW" Logo and BLACKIO series Logo, see also "COLOR:#00000080", this color code is no stranger to programmers, in CSS The language actually corresponds to the translucent design of the keyboard.

The left part, corresponding to the position of CTRL and WIN key (OPT key), is five signs representing the characteristics of the keyboard.

将键盘转过来，这背面一侧靠左部分分布着按钮开关和接口，分别是电源键、三模连接切换（有线/2.4G&蓝牙无线模式）、系统适配切换（WIN/MAC）USB Type-C接口。

The power button is rebound and self-locking. Press the button down to turn on, and press the button again to pop up the power to turn off. The other two switches are toggled left and right.

On the right side of the switch interface area is the long-overdue USB 2.4G receiver storage slot. Both the Z680 and Z680cc lacked the storage slot before, and it is easy to lose the 2.4G receiver. On BlackIO 83, the receiver can be The device is stored here.

The right half is a "self-report" of the same Geek style: "IT RUNS QMK ON THIS DEVICE." This device supports running QMK~

Viewed from the side, different function key areas are distinguished by different heights of the keycaps, which reduces the chance of incorrect input.

Flip to the bottom, among the horizontal lines and concave-convex textures, there is a sticker with product information in the upper middle. The two-section feet on the left and right sides can provide three different keyboard angles, and each section of the feet has a foot pad. There are 8 screws and 5 foot pads distributed at intervals around it.

How can such a handsome keyboard lack RGB lights?

Southbound RGB lights, the official claims to provide a constantly updated QMK light effect library.

At present, there are more than 40 kinds of switches through buttons, including single-color/two-color/multi-color, static/dynamic, constant light/interactive and other forms.

If you don't like fancy things, you can also choose a single color yourself. After the light is turned off, the appearance advantage brought by the transparent shell will increase sharply.

I mentioned the touch of the keycaps earlier, let’s talk about the feel.

The Kaihua transparent jellyfish axis on the BlackIO 83 is a linear axis. With the Gasket structure, it feels smooth, and the triggering force is moderate. There is no obvious tired feeling when coding and coding for a long time.

Under the action of the internal double-layer silicone mute pad, the sound is not loud, crisp but not particularly crisp, and has a feeling of being suppressed at the end. It is quite tricky, suitable for the office, and will not disturb others too much. Steal a structural diagram from an overseas official website for everyone to see.

As for the biggest open source highlights of this keyboard - VIA key change support and QMK support, it has been introduced in the experience of other keyboards before.

Just use a Chromium-based browser to open the usevia.app website, authorize access to HID devices, import the json configuration file of the keyboard on the DESIGN page, and then you can freely customize the key positions and lighting effects, and what operation any key corresponds to. All can be highly customized according to your habits and preferences.

At the same time, it also supports the definition of 10 macro keys, which can not only directly write QMK key codes, but also provide a more friendly recording method.

QMK corresponds to the underlying system firmware of the keyboard. If you have the programming ability, you can even flash the keyboard to add the operations and functions you want.

In addition, the keyboard supports full key without punching, simply press a wave to test it.

In terms of battery life, 4000mAh is considered a relatively large battery capacity in mechanical keyboards. After all, there are 2000mAh but more expensive transparent mechanical keyboards.

Personally, I like the sense of security brought by the large battery mechanical keyboard. Wireless connection such as Bluetooth is a very cool experience, but it adds to the burden of charging. powerful. Officials say that BlackIO 83 can achieve more than 200 hours of battery life.

Of course, it takes a little longer to charge a large battery. The full charging time takes about 3 hours, and the power is within 5W.

As a high-end product of Miwu, BlackIO 83 is carefully designed in details, and the overall configuration is relatively bucket. The price of 699 yuan is already high-end in its own product line.

Previously, many transparent mechanical keyboards tended to use full transparency to face the female market, but BlackIO 83 captured the love of geeks with the sense of technology created by black translucence, which made a good difference.

Compared with the above, compared with the transparent keyboards such as Luofei and Numeow, which cost thousands of times, it is full of sincerity and full of cost performance;

In contrast, the halo of the Xiaomi ecological chain enterprise is precisely the brand, traffic, after-sales service and product strength advantages of Miwu. There are almost no bigger brands of cheaper transparent mechanical keyboards.

There are a few friends around me who have bought some well-known mechanical keyboards from small factories, but problems such as key failure occurred within a few months. The Miwu mechanical keyboards I have experienced, whether it is entry-level or high-end, use a Over a year easily.

At the same time, although there are disadvantages such as easy to stick fingerprints, this is something that almost the entire transparent keyboard category needs to face together. Just like a beautiful woman must dress up and make up, transparent keyboards also need to be cleaned and renewed frequently.

If you are not a Virgo with obsessive-compulsive disorder, you don’t care about this at all, and the Miwu BlackIO 83 is completely worth buying.