Solidtek Alps Keyboard

[SonicRevolution]

Hey guys,



I wanted to know if anyone has experience with this keyboard?  DSI keyboard has them for around $50 and I'm curious about the quality.  How does this compare to the Matias?

(this is a repost since my first thread had links which required moderator approval)

-Brian

[bazemk1979]

you cant compare this to the Matias, you get what you pay for. But for that price its a decent board, just your screwed when time comes to change keycaps.

[dante]

Really awesome to type on - lots of fun     I would buy over the Matias based on switches and aesthetics.

Avoid attempting to take off the enter key - it's a major pain in the arse to get back on.

[dante]

you cant compare this to the Matias, you get what you pay for. But for that price its a decent board, just your screwed when time comes to change keycaps.

My Quiet Pro had several defects.

[Hak Foo]

It's got nice loud switches, plate-mounted.  The build quality is modest., but not actively bad.  Keycaps appear to be pad printed, and have an unusual bottom row and abig-ass enter.   I think it's not NKRO.

For the money, it's not bad... bearing in mind "the money" was like 48 dollars when I bought mine.  It's my go-to "I need to pull out a keyboard to work on a half-defunct PC  on the carpet" board.

[SonicRevolution]

Thanks you guys.  Very helpful as usual!

[tricheboars]

It's got nice loud switches, plate-mounted.  The build quality is modest., but not actively bad.  Keycaps appear to be pad printed, and have an unusual bottom row and abig-ass enter.   I think it's not NKRO.

For the money, it's not bad... bearing in mind "the money" was like 48 dollars when I bought mine.  It's my go-to "I need to pull out a keyboard to work on a half-defunct PC  on the carpet" board.

I have a keyboard with this role. Lol

[isaske]

Are that green alps?

[dante]

Are that green alps?

White clicky tactile alps.

[isaske]

Are that green alps?

White clicky tactile alps.

How different are those from green alps?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

What are "White clicky tactile alps" and what are "green alps"?

"Alps" switches are switches made by Alps Electric of Japan, or subcontracted products with Alps branding. I class post-Alps (de-branded) SKBL/SKBM ("Fukka") switches made by Forward Electronics of Taiwan to be "Alps" as the switch series started off with Alps branding. If Alps did not make it or licence their name to it, IT IS NOT AN ALPS SWITCH!!!

Seriously! It's like calling Chinese Cherry MX clone switches "Cherry" switches just because they look similar.

White complicated Alps (SKCMAQ/SKCMCQ) were discontinued around 1996. White simplified Alps (SKBMFA) were discontinued in 2012.

I don't know what's inside that Solidtek — it could be old-stock Alps, Hua-Jie AK-CN2 or AK-CN2 (2), Xiang Min KSB-C, APC BSW series, Datacomp, "YH-B", or another Alps clone we don't know about. Post a switch photo where the branding/numbering is clearly visible and I'll give you a good idea of what it is.

"Green Alps" typically means the old Alps linear switches from the early 80s; Alps also made a tactile switch with a green slider, and a very strange force curve.

Mint green is also a popular colour for clone switches, but the colour has no defined meaning. Ducky "green Alps" is a reduced-weight Xiang Min KSB-C, while my KSB-C samples are ivory. Xiang Min colours are a mystery. Green means something different to APC BSW Alps clones, and different again to Himake and Hua-Jie Alps clones.


To answer your question, you need to be specific about which white switches you want to compare with which green switches, but even then, I couldn't give you a clear comparison due to lack of product consistency with clones.

[tuxsavvy]

I think one of the tell tale signs is the use of big-ass enter key. When one sees big-ass enter key, there is a very high chance it was an earlier design that was used in Taiwan or so. It looks like Korean also had those similarly styled big-ass enter key.

Anyway I beleve big-ass enters are now a relic designs. So you could use that as a tell tale to roughly identify the style where it was based from.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Big-ass enter isn't dead that I am aware of. It's still used by Monterey and Tai-Hao for example. It does appear to be in decline though.

[tuxsavvy]

Ok my bad, I stand corrected. Though I guess the layout also heavily depends on one's tastes as well with big-ass enter layout.