Foreword:

Since learning computer in 1995, I have been used to the 104-key full keyboard. In fact, I am neither financial, nor have I played King of Fighters on the same keyboard with my friends for a long time, but it is just a habit. In recent years, there have been more and more things, so many that a computer can't finish them. Strictly speaking, I work with 1.5 computers more often, with a desktop computer at work and at home, and a game notebook on both sides. In addition, I often throw the camera and other digital products on the table, and the space is even more insufficient.

Speaking of which, 87-key compact mechanical keyboards have long been available, but in the past, the number keys were reduced. If you want to replace a new keyboard, of course you want to do it in one step.

Unpacking articles:

I believe that many friends, like me, play games after work, which belongs to the type of light gamers. Therefore, the selected peripheral products will take both into consideration.

In fact, my desk is not big. Next to the 32-inch monitor, there is not only a host computer but also another gaming laptop. The desk is not a serious computer desk, but a solid wood desk. As for the large white piece on the desk, you thought it was a desktop, but it was actually just a super-large mouse pad. And under the keyboard, you thought it was spray-painted, but it was actually another mouse pad.

As an old user of Dimo ​​peripheral products, the Dimo ​​mechanical keyboards I have come into contact with before are all full keyboards, especially the F4 ghost, which is a very special semi-modular mechanical keyboard. There is an illusion that all Dimo ​​keyboards have 104 keys. Unexpectedly, Dimo's new product this time is an 87-key three-mode mechanical keyboard.

From the outer packaging, we can know that the three-mode includes 2.4G wireless, Bluetooth and wired, which is also the standard configuration of the three-mode.

This is a typical compact 87-key keyboard with color-blocked keycaps and a business-like style.

The biggest pleasure of a compact mechanical keyboard is to save desktop space. Of course, in addition to the compact design and reduced buttons, wireless also frees the keyboard from the shackles of cables, and the desktop is naturally more fresh and concise.

The four borders are extremely compact, there is nothing but the keycaps, and it looks more refined.

Our five fingers are all different lengths, so a flat keyboard is clearly not ergonomic. The Dimo ​​F87 Star Destroyer adopts a design with six rows of keycaps and four levels of height, which presents an arc as a whole, so as to fit the physiological signs of the human body.

The design of the floating keycap is still used, the panel seems to be non-metallic, and the dark gray panel looks low-key.

After adding yellow accents to the gray tone, the entire keyboard seems to come alive. It is worth mentioning that the keycaps used by the Star Destroyer are PBT, which are also two-color injection molding, but the keycaps have low light transmission.

The Star Destroyer also has 16.8 million RGB colors, and it can also be DIYed through software. However, due to the wireless keyboard, the backlight intensity is much lower than that of other mechanical keyboards of Dimo, and even the backlight of the characters is relatively darker. Basically, the backlight of the characters cannot be seen in the environment with the lights on, or the backlight is low.

As for the shaft body, the default is the shaft body customized by Dimo. From the feel, it should also be an optical shaft, that is, a similar type of optical shaft.

The Star Destroyer is designed with interchangeable shafts, compatible with all MX shafts, and basically all mainstream shafts on the market can be replaced with Golang. It is quite good for friends who have extreme requirements for hand feeling, or who like DIY.

Let's take a look at the details on the back, the non-slip foot pads on the back.

Two-stage height adjustment can meet the input habits of different users.

There is also a magnetic detachable hand rest design, which can make the wrists of friends who need to record for a long time more comfortable.

The specific size is 358X134X38mm, no matter how tight the desktop space is, it can accommodate it. Small and exquisite, it can also support three-mode and hot-swappable. For those who have many computers and many desktop decorations, the DIMO F87 Star Destroyer is a very interesting peripheral.

Hello everyone, I am Chen Shuaishuai, an anti-consumerist who understands digital.

Today, let’s talk to you about something that affects the feel of a mechanical keyboard—keycaps.

Next, I will talk to you about the common types of keycaps in the market from the aspects of keycap material, character processing technology, keycap height, and character engraving methods.

Keycap materials are mainly divided into the following types. Different materials feel different to the touch. The main differences between each material are as follows:

This is the most common keycap material in mechanical keyboards. The full name of this material is styrene plastic, which is engineering thermoplastics.

This material is used by many manufacturers because of its low melting point and relatively low cost of production, processing and color matching. ABS keycaps have better light transmission, so they are more suitable for use with mechanical keyboards with RGB lights.

But the biggest problem with this kind of keycap is its low durability and easy oiling. After a long time of use, the matte layer on the surface of the keycap will disappear, and the entire keycap will become shiny, and the sense and touch will be greatly reduced.

Some high-end ABS keycaps will spray a layer of wear-resistant material to reduce the probability of oiling, but this cost is relatively high, and generally only appears on higher-priced mechanical keyboard products. (Blow on Filco, the leader in ABS)

The PBT material is a polyester keycap with high hardness and crisp and delicate touch. After a long time of use, the fonts are not prone to wear and grease.

However, this kind of keycap has a higher melting point, is more difficult to process, and is also more difficult to color. The color vividness of the keycap will be much lower than that of ABS.

POM keycaps are thermoplastic crystalline polymers. This kind of keycap has the advantages of no oil, high density, and smooth and smooth feel. However, the color matching of this kind of keycap is relatively simple, and the processing is more difficult, and the production cost is higher. Few manufacturers use keycaps of this material.

The three keycap materials mentioned above can basically be installed on an entire keyboard for typing, while resin, metal, wood, rubber and other material keycaps are relatively small. The production cost of such niche keycaps is quite high, so it is recommended that you only choose a few as personalized keycap decorations.

Take resin keycaps as an example. Dozens of finished product experiments are required to make a satisfactory work. During this period, a lot of time and energy are spent. Moreover, the silicone molds used to make resin keycaps also have a service life. The time and energy are much higher than the keycaps of the previous three materials.

Because of their high price, resin and metal keycaps are mostly sold as a single piece, used for decoration and collection of key keys such as ESC space.

If you want to buy this kind of keycap, you can go to a second-hand platform like Mouyu to have a look.

After talking about the basis (material) of the keycap, let's take a look at the character craftsmanship of the keycap.

Laser engraving technology adopts laser engraving process, which has low manufacturing cost and is used in many entry-level mechanical keyboards. The keycap surface is uneven and not wear-resistant, which is its problem.

This is a process of processing characters and keycaps together. According to different processing procedures, it is divided into two-color injection molding and two-color molding.

Two-color injection molding is to make two colors together under one mold. The cost of this process is lower, and it is also called false two-color.

Two-color molding is more advanced. This process requires two sets of molds (first make the base color, and then add the second plastic material to another mold). Basically, the characters will not be worn off. Problems, but the more complex manufacturing process also brings higher costs. (If there is a keycap made of transparent material, it can make the letters transparent, which is very suitable for RGB backlit keyboards)

Dye-sublimation uses high temperature to sublimate solid resin ink into a gaseous form, and then penetrates this ink into the surface of the keycap.

It should be noted that only high temperature resistant PBT material keycaps can be sublimated. The advantage of this process is that it can make the characters more shiny and not easy to wear. The disadvantage is that it has poor light transmission and is not suitable for RGB keyboards.

In terms of durability, the keycap character processing technology is sorted as follows: Two-color forming＞sublimation＞laser engraving

The height of the keycap is another important factor that affects the feel and sound of the keyboard. A keycap suitable for your height can make you more comfortable when using it, and also allow you to better enjoy the tapping feedback brought by the shaft.

The original factory refers to the cherry, which is a very common keycap height on the market. Most people will feel more comfortable using keycaps of this height. Less prone to accidental touch, more suitable for touch typing.

This height is similar to the original keycap, but it will be higher overall, and it is also a type of height used more in mass-produced keyboards. Because the height will be higher, the cavity will be larger and the sound will be louder when typing.

Viewed from the side, this kind of keycap will present a curved stepped shape with a low center and high sides. The four sides of a single keycap are rounded, so it is called a ball-like height.

There is a kind of keycap with uniform height and no gradient.

The original creator is Wen Ruo, a domestic designer, but because of its ease of use, it was popularized by many unauthorized people. This type of keycap has a larger finger contact surface, so typing is more comfortable. It can better restore the feel of the shaft body, and it is very good to use it with the paragraph shaft. However, XDA height keycaps also have the disadvantage of being easy to accidentally touch, and are not recommended for compact keyboards.

It is higher than XDA, and the height of each row of keycaps is uniform. After the height is increased, the sound effect of the wooden fish sound will be more obvious when you hit the keyboard. Although the tactile feeling has dropped a bit, the sense of hearing will improve a lot.

Finally, add a little keycap character engraving method

At present, the most mainstream character engraving method is to engrave all the words and characters on the top of the keycap.

"Side engraving" is also called "front engraving". All words and characters are engraved on the side of the keycap. The advantage of such engraving is that the characters on the keycap will not be worn out due to long-term contact with fingers. (There will still be oil on the surface in contact with your fingers)

Anti-human keycaps, there is no mark on all keycaps. Experts in blind typing can consider it, but ordinary people don't recommend it. .

For more information about keyboard purchase and keyboard knowledge, welcome to my homepage to view.

Cherry (CHERRY) launched the KC200 MX keyboard today, equipped with MX mechanical switches, the overall fashion and youth, there are a variety of color matching versions available, priced at 629 yuan.

This series focuses on color matching, and uses brightly colored contrasting keycaps, which are like pieced together candies. It comes in four colorways: Peppermint (blue and white), Strawberry (pink-purple), Sweet Tangerine (orange-gray) and Cocoa Caramel (black copper).

In addition to black, the other three keycaps are all made of PBT material, which greatly improves the dirt resistance and color reproduction. And equipped with a brushed metal cover, so that the visual effect is even better.

The Cherry KC200 MX is equipped with CHERRY’s classic MX mechanical switch body. There are four optional black, red, tea, and green switches. It supports full-key no-click and 1000Hz high return rate. The four additional multimedia function keys above the keypad support CHERRY software. Customize button functions.

Back then, I bought my first MacBook Air (incompatible with office software) in order not to have to work after work. I have to say that switching from the Windows system that I have been using for many years to the macOS system has a lot of things to adapt to. . Everything else can be overcome slowly, but the only thing that makes me unable to adapt is the Apple keyboard. It is said that the scissors-style structure has been optimized. For me who is used to mechanical keyboards, typing on an Apple computer always feels like I am directly tapping the desktop with my fingers. So finding a suitable keyboard became the first purchase goal of Apple accessories.

The keyboard of the Keychron series is recognized as one of the best keyboards for the Apple system in the key ring. I bought his K8 Pro in a hurry before, and there is absolutely nothing to say that it is easy to use. Even with this keyboard weighing nearly 2 catties, it is basically impossible for me to run around with it and a notebook on my back. Later, I also looked at a few other low-axis keyboards. Either the price was too high or the value was not good. The moderate feeling was a little bit short of the perfect keyboard in my mind.

There is a saying that "a good meal is not afraid of being late". During my search, I successfully found the new K3 Pro product from Keychron. As an upgraded version of Keychron's overseas hot-selling K3. This product is basically the feeling of poking in the flesh of my heart. Spring is here, let's also change the keyboard to change our mood.

Needless to say about the outer packaging, the overall black packaging style can be regarded as an old actor of the Keychron family, mature and stable. The keyboard information and product characteristics printed with laser effect on the black outsole last year, I don’t know if it is for the same version of the packaging to send to overseas markets, anyway, I didn’t see the Chinese introduction on the outer packaging.

The packaging of the whole product is relatively compact, and the keyboard is well fixed by the foam partition to avoid damage to the keyboard due to bumps during the logistics process (you can rest assured that there is an air column packaging outside when it is shipped).

Check out the contents:

Keychron K3 Pro Bluetooth Mechanical Keyboard*1

USB data cable*1 This is an A to C cable, which also serves as a charging cable for the keyboard.

Key puller and shaft puller: one each.

Free keycap set: *1.

Instruction manual and quick start guide: one each.

One thing I personally feel regretful is that the seemingly ultra-thin low-axis mechanical keyboard does not come with a dust cover. If you use it in a fixed position every day, you may have to find a way to purchase a third-party dust cover!

We can see that the keyboard of Keychron K3 Pro is a keyboard with 75% configuration and a simplified 84-key layout. The keys are the same as our commonly used laptops. It reduces the proportion of desktop space while ensuring the convenience of daily use. Compared with some keyboards where the ↑↓←→ keys are reduced, I prefer this large-sized arrow key. .

The entire keycap adopts Keychron's classic gray-black color, and the ESC and ENTER are replaced by orange red. Make the entire keyboard look more agile. Of course, you can also find black ESC and ENTER keys in the keycaps provided. Let the entire keycap be gray and black.

The unique short shaft design is much thinner than the traditional shaft body, so the entire K3 Pro can be made very thin, the thinnest part is 17mm, and a 1550mAh battery is placed at the same time under this thickness, and the whole body adopts The upper and lower cover structure, the upper cover is made of aluminum alloy and the lower cover is impermeable plastic shell. The weight of the entire keyboard is controlled at about 500G, which improves portability.

On the left is the K8 Pro and on the right is the K3 pro. Obviously, due to the difference in the structure of the shaft and the keyboard, the thickness of the final product is very different.

The top of the K3 pro provides a Type-c interface for connecting data cables, and there is also a two-stage system switching lever and a three-stage mode switching lever, which can switch between wired and Bluetooth modes. Compatible with WIN, Android and Apple systems.

The most convenient design of the MAC keyboard is the preset shortcut keys for various functions. The K3 Pro retains these function keys, and also prints the icons directly on the keycaps, but on this point, I am a little reluctant to change this set keycap.

Comes with a two-stage foot support, which can realize three support angles of about 3°-6°-9°, and you can find a more comfortable use angle that is more suitable for you. Thanks to the thin and light design, I feel that it is even palm Tuo can be omitted. There are multiple rubber non-slip pads on the bottom of the entire keyboard, even on the support feet, which is very useful in actual use.

This time, the K3 Pro has been upgraded and launched many styles, which are divided into red switches, green switches, and brown switches according to the switch body. According to the functions, there are basic white light fixed shafts, cool RGB fixed shafts and the top configuration I bought, and the exclusive version: RGB hot-swappable. There are nine styles to choose from.

The keycaps are made of LSA height, PBT material two-color injection molding process keycaps, the PBT content ≥ 40% produced by a major manufacturer, this ratio can ensure that the keycaps are more wear-resistant and not easy to oil.

The shaft body is even more powerful, and it has been upgraded to the 2.0 version of Jiadalong short shaft. The stroke is increased, and the pressing feel is improved. It has improved the phenomenon of premature bottoming of the short axis in the past.

Keychron K3 Pro adopts the steel plate satellite shaft design this time, which keeps the satellite shaft and the shaft body at the same level, thereby reducing the swing of the large key. And from my photo, it can be clearly seen that the satellite axis has been run over.

With Bluetooth 5.1, K3 Pro can adapt to 3 devices at the same time, and use Fn+1/Fn+2/Fn+3 to quickly switch between the required devices to meet the needs of multitasking at any time.

K3 Pro's well-designed 5 floating foot pads can be placed on top of the native keyboard on the laptop, and will not press any keys on the laptop.

This is very convenient in actual use. After all, we can continue to use the touchpad of the Apple computer without leaving the keyboard. I think friends who use Apple computers to do video editing should be more impressed by this point, which is why I recommend this keyboard of K3 pro to friends.

And in the case of pure codewords, it is no problem to place the computer and keyboard separately, and do as you feel comfortable.

Simple text work can even be quickly edited and organized on the mobile phone through the K3 pro. After all, many APPs are now very powerful.

With the hot-swappable function, the shaft body can be easily replaced without welding, and other types of shaft bodies can be purchased later to achieve different user experience.

The RGB version of the streamer design can provide 22 lighting effect modes, and you can switch the lighting effect with one key through the button on the upper right corner of the keyboard, which is more playable.

Through the official disassembly diagram, we can see that there is no sound-absorbing filling between the positioning board and the PCB, but the ultra-thin design of the K3 Pro makes its own cavity relatively small, so the noise is also very loud when typing. small.

Keychron’s keyboard can adjust the keyboard layout through QMK/VIA software, and you can directly modify the key position through the official website download or online link.

It is also possible to perform macro editing on the keyboard to better improve work efficiency.

If you are a person who needs to switch back and forth between WIN and macOS, then Keychron's keyboard is a good choice due to its good adaptability. But you usually want to take the keyboard and your Apple notebook out, so with a budget of around 500 yuan, the K3 Pro keyboard is definitely one of your best choices.

advantage:

1. The entire keyboard is made of solid materials, and the weight is well controlled. Coupled with the same key layout as a notebook, it is definitely not a fake product when you go out, it is a pure productivity tool. The official battery life data is 35 hours. I haven’t compared it carefully. Anyway, I used it as the main keyboard for mobile office during this time. I usually use the wireless mode when I go out, and when I come back to the office, I connect it to the desktop with a cable, and I can charge it while working.

2. The Pro high-end products in Keychron's K series can definitely touch the threshold of customization. Although mine is an ultra-thin design, as long as you have strong hands-on skills, you can still carry out "special" upgrades to the keyboard. .

3. Bluetooth mode, multi-system support allows you to switch between computers, mobile phones, and tablets at will, which is very practical.

A little regret is: the Keychron brand feels that all its skills are currently focused on product design and R&D, and there are relatively few peripheral products. For example, my K3 Pro keyboard, I can’t find it in the official website. To the matching keycaps and suitable keyboard covers. You know, as a keyboard that is most likely to be taken out of the street, if you can provide a beautiful and practical keyboard cover, it will definitely be an icing on the cake.

The cord-cutting keyboard is outdated, and now the keyboard roll is not good, RK, VGN and other low-priced cups, the cord-cutting keyboard can be said to be a pure toss, and there is no cost performance.

But the fun of trash guys is to toss. To change the way of thinking, take the fun of tossing the keyboard as the key point, then the target is Lego. Comparing the fun of playing the cord-cutting keyboard with the fun of Lego, the price/performance ratio comes out.

The 61-key IKBC Poker is just a toy, and its productivity and games are not reliable.

The quality of the keyboard in Iraq is appalling. The positioning plate is rusty, the keycap is missing, and one of the shafts is broken. The rust has penetrated into the plastic, and the paint on the surface has peeled off.

Rusty positioning plate

broken shaft

Compared with the war-damaged condition of the front, the condition of the back can be described as "new".

The keys and wires of the Mini USB are separated, an ancient interface?

Open!

After removing the keycap, the positioning plate has been corroded in all directions, which is probably the result of rain + wind and sun.

A few screws are not rusted, but there are traces of corrosion. But not slippery.

Judging from the feel, it should be the first disassembly.

There are also large areas of water stains on the back of the circuit board.

The film of the Mini USB has not been torn off yet.

A heavily corroded toggle switch. Has been dipped into the circuit board.

Solder the Mini USB first. Interface deformation should be the main reason why the keyboard was abandoned by the previous owner.

After being plugged and unplugged for many times, the Mini USB is easy to contact and fail, no wonder it was eliminated.

The casing is probably due to poor contact, which caused the previous owner to get angry and deformed by violence.

Not only the USB was inserted and deformed, but one of the solder joints was dried off.

I found a keyboard cable and soldered it to see if there is any problem with the keyboard body.

After plugging into the computer, it is perfectly recognized, and all keys are fine. So the judgment is that the Mini USB was discarded because of poor contact.

However, the feel of this tea shaft is indeed indescribable.

There is no problem with the circuit and chip (in fact, the circuit of the cord-cutting keyboard basically has no problems, at most, a few axes are not triggered), and the switch is disassembled for renovation.

The shaft is covered in rust, which has seeped into the plastic. It can be seen how low the turnover rate of the thread-cutting keyboard is now.

It is estimated that this product has been exposed to wind, sun and rain in the warehouse for a long time.

The USB pins are rusted off. . .

After all the shafts are removed, the circuit board and positioning board can be disassembled.

In this way, the positioning plate is basically completely rusted.

The paint on the inside of the positioning plate is also bulging.

Refurbished, polished.

Sanding is really tiring and my hands are sore. So I almost gave up after polishing. It should be enough, just knock out all the rust.

After positioning and painting, the appearance of the circuit board after washing and brushing:

shiny!

One of the keycaps is broken, stick it with paper towel +402, don't worry about its strength.

Now that it has been done to this point, it is impossible to install a fake Mini USB interface, and directly replace it with TypeC.

But this position is not enough for the Type C interface directly, and it is not compatible with the original shell, so it is connected to the Type C female socket by flying wires.

TB is a few cents a female socket, plus a few flying lines.

After receiving it, it looks like:

There are also three fixed solder joints, which are soldered with tin to fix Type C.

Of course, because the shell of TypeC is conductive, the circuit board that may be in contact has been pasted with insulating tape to avoid contact short circuit.

After welding, the effect on assembly. It seems a little crooked

OCD forced me to re-solder.

Perfect and comfortable!

The next thing is simple, just do it in reverse.

Install the positioning plate, install the satellite axis, weld the axis, tighten the screws, and put on the keycap.

The process will not be repeated.

IKBC disassembled keycap + AKKO supplementary keycap arrangement, the effect seems to be not bad?

Summarize

The repair was intermittent and took a week.

After the repair, I feel that the quality of the shaft body is very average, and the hand feel is not good. So the next stage is tossing and changing the red axis, and it will be easier to use.

I have played more than a dozen keyboards intermittently, and it only cost a few hundred dollars. If the same fun is realized with Lego, it is estimated that I will add 0.

Another benefit of playing the cord-cutting keyboard is that it promotes friendship. The repaired keyboards are basically given to colleagues and friends who don't have high requirements for keyboards. Although it is a cord-cutting keyboard repair, it is still a mechanical keyboard with full Cherry switches. It is not bad for friends who don’t burn the keyboard, at least it is better than the dozens of membrane keyboards used before.

Therefore, the value of the cord-cutting keyboard is sublimated.