finally guys finally we have the most anticipated keyboard that you guys were
looking forward to everyone here however connects was excited about this thing
when it was first showcased and it's none other than the Cooler master SK
series it's right here I'm holding one right now in my hand which is kind of
awesome this thing was showcased or was debuted
at Computex last year and almost took them seven months to launch this lineup
which i think is quite a long time for a product launch ever since its
announcement but I got to spend a good amount of time playing well this
keyboard so let me walk you to my experience using this guy and let's find
out if the hype was really worth it right after this hello I'm looking for
some fans well are you married yeah I have a ring what is your favorite number
I would say three do I have the perfect fan for you this is the new thermal tech
ring trio 12 fans with good static pressure for radiators it is a beautiful
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these home perhaps you should to check them out in the description below ok
guys so I do want to give a little bit of history on the SK lineup because it
was initially showcased at CES last year with Coolermaster showing his prototypes
and they were asking for feedback from press and just the overall public in
general and then we saw a refined version of it at Computex and now we're
here with the full production model so what's really new with the SK series is
it yet another mechanical gaming keyboard sort of but not fully you see
the reason I say this is because coolness just trying to push for a more
simplistic insulin design with their SK lineup the main highlight of this
keyboard is the inclusion of Cherry MX low profile red switches which I'll talk
about a bit later in the video pricing starts $120 for the SK630 which
is the Tikal version and full-size SK650 goes for around $140 it is an
expensive investment friends so let's kick things off with
the way how it presents itself first and foremost
coolermaster has done everything that they can to minimize the form factor of
the chassis to fit as much as possible so there are no signs of aggressiveness
or gaming oriented full hair on this keyboard there's absolutely no branding
at all which I highly appreciate except for the function key that has been
replaced by the subtle coolermaster logo not a deal-breaker
the build quality is good there is a solid piece of brushed aluminum on top
of the plastic base that adds a structural rigidity I really wished if
it was an all aluminum build because the plastic base is pretty cheap and I think
the only thing that's actually holding this thing together is the aluminum
frame that being said the edges of the frame are chamfer to give it a premium
look and honestly this keyboard does not give me any gaming vibes and I think
that's a good thing but let me know what you guys think about it in the comments
alright so let's talk about the slim factor of this keyboard because the SK
series can also be really portable especially if you take the tkl SK630
also bonus points to coolermaster for including a carrying case so that he can
safely transport this thing without the metal surface being scratched up or
anything but interestingly enough I decided to compare the height of this
keyboard to my G pro and the HyperX alloy elite it's a full-size keyboard
and honestly it's not that slimmer as you'd imagine it's the perception of
that few millimeters that gives it the slim certification but nonetheless it
certainly looks different compared to a traditional mechanical keyboard that's
for sure I should also mention that coolermaster will be launching a 65 key
version of this keyboard so it's gonna be a lot more compact and it's going to
feature bluetooth capabilities so you can pair it up with your Android or
Apple devices the one thing that's really disappointing with the SK lineup
of keyboard is the lack of angle adjustments you see by design there's a
little bit of an angle by the frame but the fact that they weren't able to
include those little clips that pop out to give just a little bit of an angle
when you're typing is kind of a missed opportunity because I am coming from a
keyboard like the G probe that features those clips and I normally leave it at
the maximum setting because I like having that extra angle so it's more
comfortable for me to type with but the fact that you're actually not getting
one and a keyboard that cost so much it just it
it's really odd the cable is removable and the best part is that it connects
via USB type-c this is refreshing to see since you could travel with just one USB
type-c cable to perhaps charge your phone provided that has type c and then
use it to connect the keyboard to the computer again depending on your
situation this connector can come in beneficial in the future however the
cable is braided so expect king formation during long term use
especially since this also has a portability aspect to it now the lack of
a USB pass-through port can be dismissed here because it requires a lot more
bandwidth to transfer data and the cooler USB type-c port can't do all that
much so if you were at a USB pass-through port you just have to
expect the cable to be a little bit more thicker kind of like what Corsair does
with their mechanical keyboards so I'm okay with the fact that we're getting a
removable cable that's time C no complaints there now a few things to
consider you don't get dedicated media playback buttons or macro keys with this
keyboard even the full-size version doesn't have that but it can be done on
the fly through the keyboard or through the driver software and the lack of a
wrist rest is definitely a missed opportunity for Cooler master because I
feel like paying 120 plus dollars for a keyboard of this caliber should include
some sort of a wrist rest it doesn't have to attach the keyboard but
something that's very low profile that has the leather wet material would have
been an awesome inclusion with this keyboard but perhaps we can see that in
the next revision RGB lighting is here and everything from lighting effects to
colors can be controlled within the keyboard but Cooler Master does offer it
drivers software as well if you choose to customize lighting that way now for
instance the function + f5 key cycles between different lighting modes like
static breathing ripple you can also change the speed of the effects by going
through the arrow keys and the lighting effects go really fast so if you really
are looking for something that's way too overkill something that's super fancy
you can certainly do that with the SK series the media playback buttons are
integrated right above the arrow keys but oddly enough I think Cooler master
forgot to include a mute button I'm dead serious guys it's the one thing that I
just tried looking through the manual I tried you know just going through the
key caps to find it but I just couldn't find that on this keyboard and even the
full-size version so kind of sucks I hope that they perhaps
you know fix that in the next revision the also and under the odd thing is that
I wasn't able to find LED brightness adjustments within this keyboard you
really can't control the brightness even to the drivers software which is also
kind of disappointing and the fact is lighting is also not bad bright enough
so that's something to consider there are four profiles that can be saved
within the keyboard and recording can be done on the fly another thing that I
noticed is that these secondary letters in the function grow and the number o
are not consistently lit there's a little bit of a gradient to it so it
might not be as visible and darker scenarios so be mindful of that
honestly I prefer lighting disabled on this keyboard because it just looks a
lot more cleaner and minimalistic very industrial so that's just my personal
preference but again if you really need RGB lighting on a minimalistic keyboard
go announcer does offer that all right so it's time to talk about the low
profile Cherry MX switches so to get the specs out of the way they feature a
total travel distance of three point two millimeters with an activation point at
one point two millimeters for comparison a traditional MX red switch has roughly
four millimeters of travel distance actuated at two millimeters now at first
it didn't really feel like a mechanical keyboard and I think part of that is due
to these shorter travel distance we're so used to mechanical keyboards with
larger key camps and a variety of switches and this MX low-profile switch
feels a lot different so when you hit a key it's in and you won't even feel the
actuation point another thing that I noticed is the spacing between the keys
are a lot shorter compared to a standard key count found on a mechanical keyboard
so it took me a lot of time or took me at least some time to get used to this
keyboard initially I started making I started making a lot of typos when I was
composing emails and whatnot but over time I slowly started getting used to it
I should also mention that they are fairly silent so if you were to use this
in an office setting you really won't be annoying your co-workers at all because
again they're fairly low profile gaming on it was a pretty good experience the
keys are actually faster to actuate and I didn't experience any finger fatigue
after playing overwatch from 30 minutes or so the best part is that the lata
force is also very minimum and keys of course very fast to respond
it's not going to make you a better gamer overall I mean when you're coming
from a traditional mechanical keyboard of course you have to consider the fact
that you've to get used to the keys and the spacing but you know just overall I
didn't feel a significant difference gaming on a traditional mechanical
keyboard to something like this here's a quick sound test lastly I do want to
talk about the drivers software but before I get into it I have to mention
that I've run into a few instances where the keyboard will be detected by the
software itself I tried multiple use reports I haven't tried reversing a USBC
plug tried restarting the computer didn't really work out that well so last
it was obviously to uninstall the driver and then reinstall that back seemed to
have worked it's working right now so looking at the UI in general it looks
fairly clean I like what cooler master is done here with the overall you know
just design in general so you're greeted with a physical overview of the keyboard
you can also just elé the effects right over here I think there are a total of
21 effects which is probably the most I've seen on a keyboard so far you can
also just a speed and the direction as well macro commands can be monitored in
a separate tab the key map tab allows you to map any of these keys to a
command that you prefer the only thing I wish coolermaster did was to include or
preload a bunch of presets that we can take advantage of for example you know
opening up a certain application would have been nice with a certain key but
that's unfortunately not possible with this program I don't think it's even
added in this segment here and of course there is the option to switch between
different profiles within the profiles tab so guys I think it's time to wrap up
my thoughts on cooler master's SK series and I personally think it's safe first
good try for the company and don't get me wrong I love what cooler master's done
here in terms of design the keyboard looks very clean and minimalistic it
actually look kind of amazing in certain angles
especially when you pair it up with especially if you have a very clean set
up at your space I think this will perfectly blend in with that but it's
not fully polished for instance I think the lack of implementing a mute button
also you don't get you know proper angle adjustments lack of including a wrist
rest again these are all missed opportunities for pool master especially
for a keyboard that costs well over a hundred bucks and also the lack of LED
brightness adjustments that's definitely something that I found to be really odd
on a keyboard that happens to feature RGB lighting as well the Cherry MX low
profile switches are pretty good and they do offer adequate amount of travel
distance and if there's someone who's coming from a laptop keyboard and if
you're thinking about upgrading the SK series would certainly be a pretty good
option to look into it because first and foremost you still get the same chiclet
layout with almost the same amount of spacing I think and I think that's a
good thing but if you're coming from a traditional mechanical keyboard this my
friends is gonna take quite a bit of time to get used to especially since
it's a completely different set of key caps and you have to get used to the
shorter travel distance so yeah I think this is a try it first and then buy it
kind of a product so if you happen to find this and you know in your local
stores definitely give it a try perhaps buy it online and if you don't
like it you can always return it and rock your old-school mechanical keyboard
so that's it for me let me know what you guys think about the SK series from
Coolermaster would you be interested in something like this and would you
actually consider trying the Cherry MX low-profile switches and we guess think
by the design if you have any feedback I'd love to know that in the comments
down below I'm Eva with hybrid connects thank you
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the next one