MSI goes Mechanical

[Internetlad]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/MSI-GK-601-Mechanical-Keyboard,22390.html

Nothing we haven't seen before. Yellow backlighting is kind of cool, I had only seen that on Ducky prior, personally, but it's not a huge deal either.

[tp4tissue]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/MSI-GK-601-Mechanical-Keyboard,22390.html

Nothing we haven't seen before. Yellow backlighting is kind of cool, I had only seen that on Ducky prior, personally, but it's not a huge deal either.

wonderful.. .More iONE

[SmallFry]

Agreeing with TP4 here, unless they're cheap enough for me to strip the board of switches for less than .60 a piece (which it won't) I wouldn't touch an iOne board.

[rowdy]

Yellow nice

What gets me is this: "This back-lighting is said to keep working even after 50 million keystrokes per key."

So, what?  You'd keep the keyboard lying around and connected with the backlighting on as a conversation piece even after the switches are worn out?

It is said to keep working - implying that no-one has bothered to wear out a switch and see if it actually keeps working?

Wondering.

[tp4tissue]

Yellow nice

What gets me is this: "This back-lighting is said to keep working even after 50 million keystrokes per key."

So, what?  You'd keep the keyboard lying around and connected with the backlighting on as a conversation piece even after the switches are worn out?

It is said to keep working - implying that no-one has bothered to wear out a switch and see if it actually keeps working?

Wondering.

I highly doubt it'll keep working..  I have no idea how they're estimating 50 million keystrokes.. but I think they mean, if someone continuously clicked 50 million times..

This is not the life expectancy of a keyboard though, especially with an LED that's on continuously.... 50 million keystrokes will probably take you 10 years

10 hours of use per day... thats 36500 hours. VERY close to the usual 50,000 hours MTBF of leds.. Now given 108 leds.. you can bet some of them will fail.

[rowdy]

Exactly.  What really gets me "... is said to keep working ..." - said by whom?

[rootwyrm]

Hooray for "tech journalism." I opted not to write this crap up exactly because of the stupidity in the linked article. It is literally nothing more than regurgitating a press release. No research, no understanding, and of course, cheerily presented by morons as being 'news.'

Look, all you need to know about the MSI keyboards at this point is:
A) They're from MSI so the styling is either beautifully understated or totally atrocious. MSI doesn't do in-between these days.
B) They are most likely not OEMed. MSI is a much bigger ODM than the idiots regurgitating PR understand.
C) Oh yeah. MSI's also been making keyboards from scratch since about 1996 or so, to the best of my recollection.

Otherwise? Wait till somebody who isn't regurgitating crap they don't even comprehend takes an actual look at them. (They probably think it's a 'scoop' because it's not on the US PR site - which always lags behind - so probably machine-translated anyway.)

[MKULTRA]

Matches my Mpower hmm.

[Mugen]

ZzZzZz same old, same old.

[Dubsgalore]

No Interest xD

[ComradeSniper]

Too bad they're not as pretty as MSI's GPUs.

[missalaire]

Too bad they're not as pretty as MSI's GPUs.

^

[rootwyrm]

Too bad they're not as pretty as MSI's GPUs.

^

ITYM this:

[tp4tissue]

Too bad they're not as pretty as MSI's GPUs.

^

ITYM this:

Show Image

alotta wasted features on these boards.. they're pretty solid though.

I really wish they'd bring back x58 OC boards that had NOTHING except OC features.. i couldn't care less about the other stuff.

[ACallander]

Wow they are going insane with there color scheme.. wonder if they will release a red styled one for the new gaming motherboards

[rootwyrm]

Wow they are going insane with there color scheme.. wonder if they will release a red styled one for the new gaming motherboards

No, actually it's all pretty consistent with the blue/black/silver scheme. Which makes sense since it's Intel.

It's the gold scheme they have on the current (X79) Big Bang that's downright atrocious and a half. It's not as bad as ECS's "Golden Series" boards, but it's pretty bad.

[tauburn]

do i spy a glossy case 

[tp4tissue]

do i spy a glossy case 

No.... well... why not, i wasn't gonna buy an iOne anyway..

this was the same reason I didn't get a das.

[tauburn]

do i spy a glossy case 

No.... well... why not, i wasn't gonna buy an iOne anyway..

this was the same reason I didn't get a das.

well yeah no kidding. the gloss looks like **** in a matter of minutes unless you aren't producing finger oil somehow

[davkol]

It's probably plastic. I wouldn't mind glossy glass/metal.

[Grim Fandango]

Since mechanical keyboards really caught on with gamers, it seems that all these producers of gaming products are releasing their own boards. It is weird in a way, since I feel the advantage of using a mechanical keyboard really lies in its performance and feel when typing, while it does not really do anything for you when gaming.

The backlighting is nice. Always think backlighting looks cool. I just never get it because it is of no practical use to me, and some of the keycaps available that do not make use of the backlighting look even cooler.

[tp4tissue]

It's probably plastic. I wouldn't mind glossy glass/metal.

glass is probably never going to happen. failure rate would be too high. if you want "clear glass"

[tp4tissue]

Since mechanical keyboards really caught on with gamers, it seems that all these producers of gaming products are releasing their own boards. It is weird in a way, since I feel the advantage of using a mechanical keyboard really lies in its performance and feel when typing, while it does not really do anything for you when gaming.

The backlighting is nice. Always think backlighting looks cool. I just never get it because it is of no practical use to me, and some of the keycaps available that do not make use of the backlighting look even cooler.

Given proper technique the mechanical doesn't have much of an advantage vs any other keyboard.

The advantage is only because mechanical will train your hand to use less force, thus lessening the load on your wrists.


IF you go into mechanical and then develop good technique, then go back to rubber dome... You should have no wrist troubles..

The board still won't be as reliable, but the advantages in typing would be nil'

[davkol]

It's probably plastic. I wouldn't mind glossy glass/metal.

glass is probably never going to happen. failure rate would be too high. if you want "clear glass"

Most high-end phones and some subnotebooks have some sort of glass on their LCDs today.

[tp4tissue]

It's probably plastic. I wouldn't mind glossy glass/metal.

glass is probably never going to happen. failure rate would be too high. if you want "clear glass"

Most high-end phones and some subnotebooks have some sort of glass on their LCDs today.

thin glass sure, you can pour that easily

Thick glass though... different beast.

Even if they do make the thing.. it will be way too expensive to grind the edges.. and I don't know how they would make the insides..


Maybe they could do this..

Make one of those Korean keyboards, and just Panel the outside with Glass.. or they can make an acrylic glass sandwich like car windshields.

And then with the acrylic side facing down, they can drill that for holes..

I'm not sure how much finishing would cost, but if you want true "crystal" it's gonna cost more than the kmac...

[rootwyrm]

Since mechanical keyboards really caught on with gamers, it seems that all these producers of gaming products are releasing their own boards. It is weird in a way, since I feel the advantage of using a mechanical keyboard really lies in its performance and feel when typing, while it does not really do anything for you when gaming.

The backlighting is nice. Always think backlighting looks cool. I just never get it because it is of no practical use to me, and some of the keycaps available that do not make use of the backlighting look even cooler.

I swear, you people have some sort of severe reading comprehension problem. MSI is far from new to the keyboard market.

Either way, other than the 1.5/1/1/1.5 layout I have every reason to doubt it's an iOne or related. One, they're competitors. Two, as mentioned above, MSI has been making keyboards for years. Three, why would MSI even bother with an OEM a fraction of their size to reinvent the wheel, pay for it to be built with factories and equipment MSI already has, so MSI can eat a significantly lower margin on the sales?

[tp4tissue]

Since mechanical keyboards really caught on with gamers, it seems that all these producers of gaming products are releasing their own boards. It is weird in a way, since I feel the advantage of using a mechanical keyboard really lies in its performance and feel when typing, while it does not really do anything for you when gaming.

The backlighting is nice. Always think backlighting looks cool. I just never get it because it is of no practical use to me, and some of the keycaps available that do not make use of the backlighting look even cooler.

I swear, you people have some sort of severe reading comprehension problem. MSI is far from new to the keyboard market.

Either way, other than the 1.5/1/1/1.5 layout I have every reason to doubt it's an iOne or related. One, they're competitors. Two, as mentioned above, MSI has been making keyboards for years. Three, why would MSI even bother with an OEM a fraction of their size to reinvent the wheel, pay for it to be built with factories and equipment MSI already has, so MSI can eat a significantly lower margin on the sales?

Or, MSI could buy iONE.. or they bought the same equipement, can't be that many guys making keyboard making machines// tooling

OR maybe MSI was iONE the whole time.. I mean, how could you possibly know for sure?

[Grim Fandango]

Since mechanical keyboards really caught on with gamers, it seems that all these producers of gaming products are releasing their own boards. It is weird in a way, since I feel the advantage of using a mechanical keyboard really lies in its performance and feel when typing, while it does not really do anything for you when gaming.

The backlighting is nice. Always think backlighting looks cool. I just never get it because it is of no practical use to me, and some of the keycaps available that do not make use of the backlighting look even cooler.

I swear, you people have some sort of severe reading comprehension problem. MSI is far from new to the keyboard market.

Either way, other than the 1.5/1/1/1.5 layout I have every reason to doubt it's an iOne or related. One, they're competitors. Two, as mentioned above, MSI has been making keyboards for years. Three, why would MSI even bother with an OEM a fraction of their size to reinvent the wheel, pay for it to be built with factories and equipment MSI already has, so MSI can eat a significantly lower margin on the sales?

I was unaware that MSI has been involved with keyboards before this. I also missed your previous post before making mine. I was just making a comment on the recent popularity of mechanical keyboards as a gaming peripheral. Sorry if that somehow upset you...

[Internetlad]

{{Citation needed}}

[rootwyrm]

I was unaware that MSI has been involved with keyboards before this. I also missed your previous post before making mine. I was just making a comment on the recent popularity of mechanical keyboards as a gaming peripheral. Sorry if that somehow upset you...

Sorry, I was tired and a bit cranky at things. But yes - MSI actually has substantial expertise in making anything involving a PCB, including keyboards. I mean, they are one of the larger ODMs by units shipped. I used to handle MSI MS-5184's by the pallet-load. (They also make medical equipment and industrial equipment, no joke.)

But see, MSI is a pretty darn big laptop and system manufacturer. Have been for many years. So when you buy an MSI Wind "All In One" the bundled keyboard, while not the nicest in all the world, is MSI built. Same with their laptop keyboards, both RD and scissor switch - all MSI designed and built. They have the in-house design resources and manufacturing that it's entirely possible these keyboards are from-scratch ODM.

I just don't see going to iOne as even remotely logical. Targeting iOne and copying the layout (come on, there's not that many possible layouts) as part of it, sure. Surrendering margins to that extent, I don't see it. Other hand, it's possible they're using iOne as a quick and easy way to test the waters before introducing a from scratch. But I've never known MSI to do that before.

[tp4tissue]

I was unaware that MSI has been involved with keyboards before this. I also missed your previous post before making mine. I was just making a comment on the recent popularity of mechanical keyboards as a gaming peripheral. Sorry if that somehow upset you...

Sorry, I was tired and a bit cranky at things. But yes - MSI actually has substantial expertise in making anything involving a PCB, including keyboards. I mean, they are one of the larger ODMs by units shipped. I used to handle MSI MS-5184's by the pallet-load. (They also make medical equipment and industrial equipment, no joke.)

But see, MSI is a pretty darn big laptop and system manufacturer. Have been for many years. So when you buy an MSI Wind "All In One" the bundled keyboard, while not the nicest in all the world, is MSI built. Same with their laptop keyboards, both RD and scissor switch - all MSI designed and built. They have the in-house design resources and manufacturing that it's entirely possible these keyboards are from-scratch ODM.

I just don't see going to iOne as even remotely logical. Targeting iOne and copying the layout (come on, there's not that many possible layouts) as part of it, sure. Surrendering margins to that extent, I don't see it. Other hand, it's possible they're using iOne as a quick and easy way to test the waters before introducing a from scratch. But I've never known MSI to do that before.

well we are in "post-recession-era" electronics age..

Everything prior to that was awesome...   recently... not so smooth...

[Grim Fandango]

I was unaware that MSI has been involved with keyboards before this. I also missed your previous post before making mine. I was just making a comment on the recent popularity of mechanical keyboards as a gaming peripheral. Sorry if that somehow upset you...

Sorry, I was tired and a bit cranky at things. But yes - MSI actually has substantial expertise in making anything involving a PCB, including keyboards. I mean, they are one of the larger ODMs by units shipped. I used to handle MSI MS-5184's by the pallet-load. (They also make medical equipment and industrial equipment, no joke.)

But see, MSI is a pretty darn big laptop and system manufacturer. Have been for many years. So when you buy an MSI Wind "All In One" the bundled keyboard, while not the nicest in all the world, is MSI built. Same with their laptop keyboards, both RD and scissor switch - all MSI designed and built. They have the in-house design resources and manufacturing that it's entirely possible these keyboards are from-scratch ODM.

I just don't see going to iOne as even remotely logical. Targeting iOne and copying the layout (come on, there's not that many possible layouts) as part of it, sure. Surrendering margins to that extent, I don't see it. Other hand, it's possible they're using iOne as a quick and easy way to test the waters before introducing a from scratch. But I've never known MSI to do that before.

No worries. I was just a little startled is all. I try to be non confrontational but seem to always manage to say the right things to annoy people 
Actually interesting though. Like many here, when I think MSI I think GPU, and to an extent laptops. Was unaware of the things you mentioned.

[rootwyrm]

No worries. I was just a little startled is all. I try to be non confrontational but seem to always manage to say the right things to annoy people 
Actually interesting though. Like many here, when I think MSI I think GPU, and to an extent laptops. Was unaware of the things you mentioned.

Ha ha, yeah, no, not you.

But yeah, MSI has been a major motherboard ODM since 1986. They have one of the larger facilities in Shenzhen and used to be pretty much the biggest for OEMs and Tier 1's. They're pretty heavily diversified, and like most Asian companies also has various interests in other organizations. TBH, more surprised it took them this long. But either way, very much a wait and see thing. They tend to only do extreme ends of the spectrum with nothing in between.