I've finally acquired a Realforce 87U in 45g uniform. I found the 87U in 55g is a little too heavy for extended periods.
I thought it would be simple. I got my 55g in white/light grey since it looks great. I got the 45g in black keycaps with black font on black case because that's all they offered. I didn't particularly like the look so I planned on switching cases/keycaps, selling the 55g, and calling it a day.
However, nothing is that simple around here. Turns out that the black keycaps actually look very nice in person. Here's where it gets tricky though... They sound and feel different from the white/light grey keycaps.
On both keyboards, the black keys sound a little higher pitch on the upstroke. It's almost like they sound like a "click" versus the white keys "clack" on upstroke. I pulled the keycaps to have a look underneath and found that the thicknesses aren't exactly the same on all sides or on the cross-joints under the top of the cap.
In addition to that, the black keycaps feel more rough on top, which I actually like. They have a little bit of a gritty feeling that is really nice. I thought maybe it was just because my white keys had been worn in, but it's true of the rarely used keys (and I didn't use my 55g board much anyhow).
Then there's the next problem... I switched the keycaps between the boards, as I really wanted the light keycaps with the black case and red escape key. It looks absolutely divine... but as it turns out, the off-white case with the black keycaps with black legends looks fantastic, as well. I was expecting a stormtrooper look but the case is too far from white to look that way. This keyboard looks great in all four colour combinations you can make from the keycaps and cases.
Now I don't even know what to do. I know for sure that the 45g is perfect for me, but I can't decide on which keycaps or even which case to use now. I really wasn't expecting the caps to feel different, and naturally it's the black caps that sound and feel nicer to me while the light caps look nicer, IMO.
Anyways, I thought it was interesting that there was a difference. Here are some potato-quality photos to give you an idea of how they look now. Mind the mess... in between homes.