Upcoming Keyboards

[JaccoW]

On GH there was a thread which was called "great finds".
It was mostly for e-bay finds and the like, but it was often used to show the first signs of new keyboards and keycaps which were lacking a lot of info at the time.

I would like to propose this thread as a place to show nice things you come across, even if it's just a single picture or something very little people have heard of. Please excuse me if there is already a similar thread here, I'll close this one.

So to kick off:

Took a quick look at the Keycool website today and I came across a few interesting models:

Keycool 87 LED

558 Chinese yuan = 87.47 U.S. dollars

- Backlit
- TKL
- Plate mounted
- Cherry stabilizers

Keycool 84

378 Chinese yuan = 59.25 U.S. dollars

- Noppoo Choc Mini equivalent
- Detachable cable
- Perhaps plate mounted? (decide for yourselves)
- Red leds on the white version = sweet

What do you guys think?

[GeorgeStorm]

I rather like the look of them both actually.
I think it's the first fully backlit TKL board I've seen?

[IvanIvanovich]

Keycool price is dangerous on those. It's probably going to bury Ducky Shine 87. Choc mini copy does not interest me. Where is the cheap Poker copy you bastards? Oh wait I think that was that other cheap company I heard rumor was making one.
Anyone heard anything more about the new Plum keyboard that had similar layout to the Apple IIgs keyboard? I've been looking forward to that one.

[JaccoW]

Yeah I am curious about the Ducky shine 87 too. The only picture I have seen is from computex:

(Note the F13, F14, F15 )

My only concern is the size of those leds on the keycool.

It's certainly no Déck, but those are small.

[IvanIvanovich]

I am skeptical of all Chinese made backlight board, seems like always the first things to go, certainly true of iOne and seems like Vortex too. But just because they are rectangle instead of round does not mean they are any worse. They actually might be better for having less spread and more focus to the legend area. Most promo shots are guilty of shopping the intensity of backlight, but they do look pretty brilliant in comparison to some other shots of backlight keyboard.

[ShakeR]

My first post here, so not sure about the site linking rules but here's an article as just posted by popular demand on Shine II coming in August:

http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/articles ... _is_coming

Also, Ducky Dragons in later this month!

[AKIMbO]

I'm digging the 84 key kb.

[Half-Saint]

It seems like there's a new brand of keyboards coming out every month...
...and they all look more or less the same.

[JaccoW]

It's a keyboard.. make it much more different and people will find it too special and it won't sell.

[Charlie_Brown_MX]

It's a keyboard.. make it much more different and people will find it too special and it won't sell.

True, but do we really need fifteen only-slightly-different 80-something-key keyboards? I get the feeling that the manufacturers aren’t interested in innovating so much as making as many quick bucks as they can.

[JaccoW]

It's a keyboard.. make it much more different and people will find it too special and it won't sell.

True, but do we really need fifteen only-slightly-different 80-something-key keyboards? I get the feeling that the manufacturers aren’t interested in innovating so much as making as many quick bucks as they can.

True, especially with a couple of very similar designs (Leopold, Keycool, HPE) some even being pretty much direct copies of the casing and placement of the function keys. It is not as exiting as a wild variety of keyboards, but it will prompt a lot of different companies to enter the market and enable people to buy a good keyboard for a fair price.
Internal competition will force them to differentiate and in a few years weed out the weaker ones.

The best is likely yet to come.

[Charlie_Brown_MX]

It's a keyboard.. make it much more different and people will find it too special and it won't sell.

True, but do we really need fifteen only-slightly-different 80-something-key keyboards? I get the feeling that the manufacturers aren’t interested in innovating so much as making as many quick bucks as they can.

True, especially with a couple of very similar designs (Leopold, Keycool, HPE) some even being pretty much direct copies of the casing and placement of the function keys. It is not as exiting as a wild variety of keyboards, but it will prompt a lot of different companies to enter the market and enable people to buy a good keyboard for a fair price.
Internal competition will force them to differentiate and in a few years weed out the weaker ones.

I wouldn’t be so sure about that. There are a lot of markets where there’s huge competition, lots of different players, but almost no real innovation. I’m also not sure how a flurry of near-identical releases from a few companies will in any way prompt other companies to enter the market, especially considering it’s not a huge market to start with.

I’d also quibble with the implication of your statement that all these entrants will “enable people to buy a good keyboard for a fair price”. People can *already* get a good keyboard for a fair price. “Fair” and “cheap” are not the same thing at all.

[Keyboarder]

Excuse the beginner question but where would one acquire these keyboards as a European when they are released (and when are they scheduled to be released)? I really like the TKL ones with backlight.

[codehead]

I like the "let's try something new" character alignment on the Keycool keycaps.

[bebuxe]

>Keyboarder
Get one from a Taobao agent (Lin TaobaoAgent or qtan5370). I am getting one these shipped to make a review. I hope they are awesome.

Need to buy a camera now

[bebuxe]

Did a quick review for keycool 84 NOT 87 before I fall asleep:
http://deskthority.net/news-reviews-f4/ ... l?uid=2292

[JaccoW]

And Roccat is coming with a Mech keyboard as well:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?f ... =3&theater
They are asking what switch most people prefer.