New toy arrived.


Snug grip on the wire.

Shopee got.
https://shopee.com.my/product/31974753/845006980?smtt=0.0.9

Hi guys!
Where does everyone get their switch films from?
Can't seem to find one off the easy sites so thought I'd ask for the cheaper/ better options as am concerned shipping might get expensive.
Thanks!

My 7 years old membran keyboard just died and I am looking to find a good replacement keyboard that can last me for a long time.
I'm planning to venture into mechanical keyboard this round... and has been doing a bit of research last few days. Could you guys recommend which keyboard I should go for. My keyboard size requirement is TKL... No need the num pad, but i'll need the F1-F12 keys.

Im looking into Huntman TE vs Ducky One 2 TKL. May I know what is your take on these 2 keyboards compare side by side, quality wise vs value.

As for the switch. I wasn't very sure... I always like the tactile feel/sound from the Razer blackwidow greenswitches (which I always test play in all the computer shops whenever I have a chance), but at the same time , I am worry it will actually be too noisy for everyday use... My usage are 95% work (photoshop ,autocad, 3ds max etc) , and 5% casual gaming FPS ,csgo etc.

The more I research the more poisoned I am in this. I need to hold back... because honestly, any keyboard should b able to do what I want to do, but im just ... itchy for that .. feeellll.....

im bad at making perspective into words, but welcome to this mkb rabbit hole.

i wouldnt reccomend those 2 kibod just because ppl says so. and for the price you could have a better board, but losing the RGB for sure.
coz base on reviews, razer had some mishaps, and as for ducky, its an ok board. Might as well buy a tecware and cheaply mod it to make it better. still will cost less than a brand new Razer or Ducky but with a much better typing experience.
but with the price estimation and no hassle of modding, i think is better to buy Leopold(i.e Leopold FC750R). never own one, but good reviews and one of the better OEM board overall.

Switch still is a personal preference. Just pick one. Lul. if no like, can always resell later. buy first, think later.
and trying few switches, will be different then typing on a complete board.
every switch oso got pros and cons. example,
tactile = u gain the crisp sound and tactile feels, but (for me) not good for double tapping in games.
linear = if scratchy no good, but if smooth is like typing on a cloud of boobs.
so again, just pick one. unless u type really really fast, i dont think the sound will annoy officemates.

so good luck !

Thank you for sharing! They are short but informative! The reason I am checking razer n ducky is because I know they are more widely available locally, and I will be able to test them before I buy them.

I am actually looking at Leopold, because I simply love the simple look of it! But I wasn't sure where to get them. I check shopee /lazada and I am not sure if the those price has been hiked up. Or must I buy directly from china/taobao?

As for switches. I assume as long as they are cherry switches, they will feel exactly the same. Meaning I can just go lowyat/any IT shops to test any keyboard with the same Cherry switches?

I try to quickly get into the mkb rabbit hole, and OUT from it as soon as I found one satisfying one

agree on availabiliy.
never owned a Leopold but i think now can get locally oso. not very sure on the price diff if buying straight from Taobao. Others can share info.

yes, basically that. might differ feels a bit due to wear n tear of each shops. just like u driving two godcarmyvi, A might differ from B due to diff wear n tear. but still the same maibi.

I just went to Lowyat to check whatever Mechanical keyboard I can try on. Tried every razer & logitech products. I am surprise to find that I do not actually like the optical switch on the Razer Huntman TE. I seem to enjoy typing the most with the Razer green switch on Blackwidow... Does that mean the Cherry Blue switch will be the closest to my liking for other non razer keyboard?

I tried ducky, but the shop only let me try type on it with the plastic wrapper on top. so basically I cant really get the best feel out of it.

Other brand I came across is IKBC at Viewnet. The sample keyboard they have there is with cherry Red switch, which I can finally confirm is not to my liking.. Anyone using IKBC? is this brand "ok" to begin with?

IKBC boards are nice and solid.

Thank you for the feedback! I am looking into that. Just found out they have official distributor in Malaysia...

Bro, may I know what brand is this?

PCB and case from Kprepublic. The XD84PRO.

Switches salvaged from an IKBC CD108 that I killed...

Ohhh this is built from scratch! cool. I actually like your keyboard size and keys arrangement. Very neat and compact! Got all the keys I need in the smallest form factor. Do you have any recommendation of case that has similar layout as this?

The form factor is called 75%, hence the caption.

There are lots of cheap prebuilt boards on Aliexpress if you search for it. If 75% doesn't work, try searching for 84 key as well. If you want to go custom, some shops also provide assembly service at additional cost if you buy all components from them.

If you want to find high quality prebuilts, I can only recommend the Vortex Tab 75, Vortex Race 3, and Drevo Excalibur.

nice

another good thing about this stabilizer is that it's pre-clipped, like what we do to stabilizers' sliders (clipping mod), to get rid of the mushy feel of stabilized keys when typing.

you can pm GRexer or quovadis123 to see if they still have stock for this. alternatively you can join future group buys if you saw one at our mymkb fb group.

Yup I did clip and band aid my Cherry screw ins when I built my board.

I might not use these C3s though. I have clipped the offending wire back in 3 times now. The second time I paid more attention to it. I noticed that it actually popped out immediately when I put on my walnut wood keycap. Because it had a tendency to be difficult to secure the stabs in the keycap, I would push it down and rock it left and right to get the stabs all the way in the keycap and that is when it pops out.

So I didn't rock my keycap on the third time....so far so good. Only time will tell.

Thanks ! I begin to understand the 75% size. I looked into the 3 prebuilts you recommended , and I love the look of the Vortex Tab 75 the best. But seems difficult to find and buy. May I know for these prebuilt keyboard , I’ll still be able to buy/swap all the key caps in the future if I want to ? Also the switches, I’ll b able to swap if after sometime I like a change of feel.

Will go fully custom cost more than any of these prebuilt? Say my budget is below rm500. And also I’m fond with the idea of going wireless/ Bluetooth if possible to make my set up cleaner . So far I only know Ikbc offer the Bluetooth version . Is there much other option ? Sorry for asking so many questions 🤭 I think I started to get carry away

Vortex can be bought on Taobao. Though with the current situation, it might take a while... I ordered something on Tuesday and it still hasn't been shipped. Taobao sellers aren't usually that slow.

Yes you can change keycaps, they all use switches with MX style stems.

None of the prebuilts I mentioned have hotswap PCBs, so you'll need to desolder and solder to change switches.

Custom is generally more expensive.

Current version of Vortex Tab 75 can do Bluetooth and USB C. IINM there was a first version that did not.

ok the actual culprit is key cap installation. it's good to know about this

ok the switch type that you prefer is clicky. it's the noisiest of all hehe

imo you should just start with tecware phantom elite tkl. it's affordable, and it allows you to swap switches on-the-fly. to me, it makes more sense than soldered builds if you intended to learn stuff about mkbs.

the main issue about 75% in terms of key caps, is that you should check if the sets that you are about to purchase have all matching keys with your key layouts. for instance, the right shift of vortex tab is 1.75u, and the bottom row needs 3x 1u caps. generic key caps don't have these keys.

if you're interested in learning more, i really suggest getting to know more about basics first. just do this at your own pace. it helps to make more informed decisions later on. and about commercial board options, what we suggest are really for your reference mainly, based on our personal preferences and experience with them.

Wuhan outbreak is breaking the whole retail operation in cn so everything is expected to be delayed currently.

hopefully things are getting better over there. i really wanna try out the new enjoypbt double-shot abs cap sets asap hehe