PC Peripherals Looking for a budget beginner Mechanical Keyboard

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reddead66

Disciple
Hi Folks,

I have been considering buying a mechanical keyboard. I ended up in this rabbit hole in the past month and i am still falling.

I am looking for a budget beginner mech keyboard but i am unable to decide what switches will i like. I have seen a few videos on how the keys feel but it hasn't helped. I only know that i would prefer quieter stuff. My usage is mostly office (wfh) and minimal/asthetic setup.

I am looking to get the RK84, my shortlisted switch options include includes RK Browns and Gaetron Yellows.

Also, is it worth putting in extra and getting a keychron?

Please share your recommendations and experience with mechanical keyboards.
 
RK84 is a very good starting point. I'd suggest to get gateron yellow switches, RK browns are extremely mediocre.

Once you've got your keyboard, you can get sample switches of different varieties if you fancy a change, buy a set of whatever you like and change them since the RK84 is hotswap. Make sure the RK keyboard you buy is confirmed to be hotswap first.

You can put the money you save over a keychron to get better switches.
 
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RK84 is an excellent keyboard but still look at RK87. It is TLK version of the same. Drawbacks are half battery life on RK87 as compared with RK84. Still RK87 lasts around a week for me.
 
SunnyBoi said:
RK84 is a very good starting point. I'd suggest to get gateron yellow switches, RK browns are extremely mediocre.

Once you've got your keyboard, you can get sample switches of different varieties if you fancy a change, buy a set of whatever you like and change them since the RK84 is hotswap. Make sure the RK keyboard you buy is confirmed to be hotswap first.

You can put the money you save over a keychron to get better switches.
Click to expand...

Just checked, it is hot-swappable. Will go with the yellows then.

I just hope RK being a chinese company don't have any QC issues.
john1911 said:
RK84 is an excellent keyboard but still look at RK87. It is TLK version of the same. Drawbacks are half battery life on RK87 as compared with RK84. Still RK87 lasts around a week for me.
Click to expand...
i thought 84 is also a TLk keyboard.

i am not sure if i want those extra keys.
 
reddead66 said:
I just hope RK being a chinese company don't have any QC issues.
Click to expand...
I have been using RK87 for more than a year now and used RK84 for 6 months or so before that.
reddead66 said:
i thought 84 is also a TLk keyboard.
Click to expand...
RK84 is 75% or 80% dunno what. Look at the images online and compare.
I initially got RK84 thinking that I would adjust but the lack of Ins Del Home End Pg Up PG Dn keys was a dealbreaker for me. Hence I got RK87. Happy with it.
 
SunnyBoi said:
I'm currently typing on a 2 year old RK68. Battery lasts almost 3 weeks now using completely wireless with the included dongle and dont use RGB
Click to expand...
Awesome!

Also i was checking the prices of keycaps and damn they are expensive... everything is 2k and above. Aren't there any cheaper ones available?

Thanks guys! Went ahead and ordered the white RK84 with yellow gaterons after a month in this rabbit hole, i was actually going to buy some logitech combo earlier :grimacing:


I do have a question though, the RK84 V2 comes with a usb hub. 2 usb slots, can i plug in my wireless mouse usb in that? Anyone knows this? Not a big deal but was just wondering...
 
reddead66 said:
I do have a question though, the RK84 V2 comes with a usb hub. 2 usb slots, can i plug in my wireless mouse usb in that? Anyone knows this? Not a big deal but was just wondering...
Click to expand...
Yes, you can, but for the hub to work, you must connect the keyboard to your PC via USB cable.
 
Sorry for the piggybacking on this thread. I am also a noob in the Mechanical Keyboards and I came across the Ant Esports MK4500 Pro.

In the mark of ~2.5K budget, is this a good buy? I dont want to spend more than 2.5K for this beginner experience.

Please suggest.

Reference
antesports.com

Ant Esports MK4500 Pro TKL Wireless Gaming Keyboard - ANT E-SPORTS

The Ant Esports MK4500 Pro TKL Mechanical Wireless Gaming Keyboard epitomizes versatility and productivity. Allowing connection with up to five devices
antesports.com antesports.com
 
jmaniac said:
Sorry for the piggybacking on this thread. I am also a noob in the Mechanical Keyboards and I came across the Ant Esports MK4500 Pro.

In the mark of ~2.5K budget, is this a good buy? I dont want to spend more than 2.5K for this beginner experience.

Please suggest.

Reference
antesports.com

Ant Esports MK4500 Pro TKL Wireless Gaming Keyboard - ANT E-SPORTS

The Ant Esports MK4500 Pro TKL Mechanical Wireless Gaming Keyboard epitomizes versatility and productivity. Allowing connection with up to five devices
antesports.com antesports.com
Click to expand...
It looks really good on paper, actual user experience might differ though.

Still good on paper for 3k. One of the things that should be kept in mind for companies like this and cosmic byte that the keys very often go bad. I've had 2 cheap cosmic byte keyboards with faulty keys.
 
jmaniac said:
Sorry for the piggybacking on this thread. I am also a noob in the Mechanical Keyboards and I came across the Ant Esports MK4500 Pro.

In the mark of ~2.5K budget, is this a good buy? I dont want to spend more than 2.5K for this beginner experience.

Please suggest.

Reference
antesports.com

Ant Esports MK4500 Pro TKL Wireless Gaming Keyboard - ANT E-SPORTS

The Ant Esports MK4500 Pro TKL Mechanical Wireless Gaming Keyboard epitomizes versatility and productivity. Allowing connection with up to five devices
antesports.com antesports.com
Click to expand...
Ant Esports MK4500 Pro does tick all the right boxed and looks to be a good option and also have hot swapping capability. So as @john1911 said if a switch goes bad you can just replace the faulty one .
My cosmic byte switches also stopped working one by one and soon the backlighting also stopped working.
 
Recieved the rk84 today with yellow gaetrons. Looks super mininal and swtiches feel great.
 

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