High-end enthusiast keyboards are marvels of engineering and design, with bead-blasted aluminum housings, hanging seal mounts, and practical features like hot-swappable key switches. Gaming keyboards are all RGB lighting effects, slim angles, translucent keycaps, and flashy bells and whistles. Today, just in time for this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, the $ 400 Hyte Keeb SR65 was announced, which combines both features in a single, shiny package.
from Hyte, the new peripheral and accessories subsidiary of the PC manufacturer IBUYPOWER, the Keeb SR65 is an incredibly ambitious first entry into the keyboard enthusiast market. The Keeb is fully charged on Jan. 14 for $ 400 or pre-order for $ 350 excluding switches and keycaps. It’s a 65 percent board that eschews the number pad and function row of a full-size keyboard while retaining the all-important arrow keys.
“We designed Keeb to promote the expression,” Hyte’s lead roadmap architect Rob Teller said in an official announcement. “It’s a multi-sensory typing reward that keeps you comfortable, engaged, and in control.”
Unlike many 65 percent keyboards, the SR65 includes dedicated media keys, which seems strange, plus a pair of rotary wheels that, by default, control the board’s RGB lighting and adjust the volume, which is also weird. I’m just used to saving more space on my small footprint keyboards. It’s like racing stripes on a fuel-efficient compact car. But this is a small, expensive keyboard for the gaming market where things like quick access to media controls can come in handy so I can see where Hyte is coming from.
The upper part of the keyboard housing is made of glass bead blasted aluminum, which should give the small board a huge weight. The base is made of frosted polycarbonate, which should make the Keeb’s 138 RGB lights look fantastic. Some of my favorite custom kits use heavily frosted polycarbonate, and I’m a huge fan.
The inside of the Keeb SR65 is just as pretty. The board uses a hanging gasket bracket that prevents the switch mounting plate from touching the other metal parts, which makes it feel more comfortable. Though the $ 400 model with a choice of tactile and linear Durock switch, the printed circuit board (printed circuit board) has hot-swap switch sockets so that you can use any Cherry MX-compatible switch.
It should be at its price. In my experience, $ 400 is the low end of the high end when shopping for a very, very nice mechanical keyboard. This is where I start shopping for hardcore designers like for example Rama, whose online shop breaks my heart regularly. It’s strange to see an untested player trying to slip into these ranks right off the bat.
But Hyte seems to be focused on high-end designs with distinctive tech, as the company has previously announced (the Revolt 3 PC case is so hot). Plus mechanical keyboard hobby insiders and doers like Alex (alexotos) Medeot and Marcia (Apiary keyboards) Roberts have feedback on the design of the K. giveneeb SR65, which makes me feel a little more confident about the Keeb’s price.
We’ll find out if the Hyte Keeb SR65 is worth the hype as soon as we get closer to the board’s launch in May.
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