Forgive the repeats and obvious comments... I posted this on other, less-keyboard oriented forums as well.
This is my new Cherry G84-4100PPAUS ultraslim keyboard which I got refurbished off of eBay for $16.50. It's approximately 11" by 5.5" and is ~0.8" thick at the back and ~0.2" thick at the front. It is ridiculously small. It takes up less desk space than my standard size mousepad.
Better yet it uses mechanical switches, rather than a cheap membrane or scissor switches like 99.9% of the keyboards on the market. Specifically, it uses Cherry ML switches which are tactile and non-clicky. For keyboard enthusiasts with some knowledge of Cherry switches, these are basically slightly heavier, short-travel MX brown switches with a jump in force at the end to keep you from bottoming out (as much, at least). They are very quiet during normal typing, even if you bottom out, due to the jump in force at the end. However, they do have one issue, where if you hit a key on its corner it will "stick" before actuating. I've narrowed this down to the tabs on the keycaps not being quite snug with the holes in the switch stem. This may be a fixable issue, I'm not sure. In the meantime it's somewhat annoying, but doesn't detract much from the keyboard's usefulness as a gaming and travel keyboard.
I've unscrewed the cover and lifted it off. Let's get a closer look, shall we?
I've removed a few key caps> Here you can see the Cherry ML switches. In a typical keyboard you'd see a hole leading to a rubber dome, or with scissor switch keyboards a little lever-like arrangement, with a rubber dome underneath.
Those are the tabs on the keycaps I mentioned earlier, that aren't quite snug. I'm investigating how to beef them up a little so the keycap isn't free to tilt, and thus will no longer stick.
Lettering appear to be dyesub.
A couple pics of the main PCB and controller board. The PCB (printed circuit board) is a nice feature, as opposed to the more common membrane and plate mounting system. One benefit of using a PCB instead of a membrane is that you can mount diodes, allowing the board to be NKRO (any number of keys can be pressed at once, as opposed to just a few; this board is currently 2KRO). I'm currently investigating the feasibility of surface mounting diodes to the board to allow it to have NKRO functionality.
I had to prop up the PCB with a sponge.
It was the only thing on hand firm enough to hold it up, but not hard enough to damage anything.
I had some trouble putting it back together due to some deep screw wells, but I got it done and it works fine.
Thanks for reading!
