Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00Hey, how's it going? Dave2D here. So if you follow my channel, you know that I like mechanical
00:08keyboards, particularly tenkeyless mechanical keyboards. So those are the keyboards that
00:12don't have the number pad on the side. I like my keyboards small and compact and just to
00:16have a particular design aesthetic to it. And I've always been looking for that perfect
00:20keyboard, that keyboard that I just like everything across the board on it. And I think I found
00:25it. This is the Massdrop Control Keyboard. It's a keyboard that Massdrop sent out to
00:29me to check out. And the thing is, I get a bunch of keyboards from companies. 99% of
00:33them don't get a video because most keyboards are pretty boring. But this one, I like this
00:38one a lot. Okay, there's a bunch of features that make this thing special. I'm just going
00:42to go through them real quick. It's got a USB-C connection instead of your standard
00:46micro USB. And it also has USB-C pass-through. It is USB-C 2.0, so you can't connect a drive
00:51or anything that needs high bandwidth on it. The casing is this space gray color, which
00:56I think looks awesome. It's an aluminum case, chamfered edges, very well machined, excellent
01:01build quality, and also has underglow lighting. It's a space gray version of the K-type case.
01:07And it's a design aesthetic that I think looks good with any kind of setup. Like if you have
01:10a Windows setup, a really clean Mac setup, or if you're a hardcore gamer, I think this
01:14keyboard looks good in any kind of environment. I will say though, that some of the earlier
01:18depictions of this keyboard, like the pre-production photos, had this darker gray color that looked
01:23almost matte. The final production version is not quite the same as those pictures, but
01:27I still think it looks really good. On the bottom of the keyboard, there's space for
01:31two feet. And these are attached by magnets. I don't love the positioning of them. I find
01:36that if you move the keyboard laterally, like left and right, while those feet are installed,
01:39there's a chance for the magnet to get dislodged and you have to put it back. I actually prefer
01:43using it without the feet, but for people that want feet, that is something to keep
01:47in mind. You can put them in either an incline or decline position, depending on how you
01:51use it. But again, I don't even use the feet at all for this particular keyboard. The best
01:56part about this keyboard though, is the PCB. It has hot-swappable switches. And what I
02:01mean by that is that if you want to ever change the switches on this keyboard, you just use
02:04the included tool, pop them out, and just put in a new one. See, as someone who has
02:09spent many hours soldering, de-soldering, re-soldering switches onto various keyboards,
02:15seeing something like this is such a godsend. See, a lot of the times when you're working
02:19on a keyboard project, and this is something that only keyboard nerds like myself would
02:23understand or appreciate, it's like you spend hours just putting the switches onto a new
02:29keyboard. And you do it because you're just like, you want to try those new switches on
02:31this particular case. And being able to just remove them and place a new one on in seconds,
02:38it changes the game. It makes this whole process so much more enjoyable. So if you're interested
02:42in mechanical keyboards and you kind of want to do the whole custom experience, this makes
02:47it ten times better. Now when you order this particular keyboard, you can choose between
02:50some Cherry switches, Kaiwa switches, and Halo switches. I really like the Kaiwa Silvers,
02:55but regardless of which one you choose, if you ever want to change it in the future,
02:58it's a 30 second job. The keycaps that they're using are some doubleshot PBTs. They're okay,
03:04they're not like amazing keycaps. I find them a little bit rougher than I'd like, but they're
03:07not bad. The stabilizers that they're using, they're pretty good. The space bar has no
03:11play at all, very solid. Backspace key has a little bit of rattle, not much though.
03:16I also like the lighting on this keyboard. So often with gaming keyboards or keyboards
03:20that have like really extensive RGB lighting, you need to install software from the manufacturer
03:25to be able to play with it. This has it baked into the keyboard. You can just switch it
03:28through some key combinations and you have very extensive control if you want through
03:32QMK. If you're unfamiliar with QMK keyboard configurations, it gives you some very thorough
03:37keyboard configurability. So the Massdrop control is obviously not for everyone. It's
03:41an expensive keyboard regardless of how you look at it. If you're just looking for any
03:45kind of mechanical, then don't get this, right? There's some stuff that's 50, 60 bucks
03:49or cheaper. But if you're looking for something that's a little bit higher end and has like
03:53some cool features, definitely check this thing out. This is obviously more for the
03:57enthusiast crowd, right? But it just has so much stuff that they did right in a really
04:02nice looking package. That's something that just didn't exist on the market until they
04:05brought this thing out. I love the color. I love the hot swappable switches. It's a
04:10good keyboard. Now, this is only available on Massdrop and the way they work is it's
04:14these time limited windows of when you can purchase it. So if you want to get this, if
04:18you're interested in this, you got to pick up the drop right now. Like if you miss it,
04:22you miss it. You got to wait like months before they make another batch. I've missed drops
04:26before. So if you want it, check it out now. I'll drop the link down below. Okay. Hope
04:31you guys enjoyed this video. Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it. See you guys
04:34next time.