There are few things finer than a wonderful new take on the humble mechanical keyboard. There’s just something about clacky key switches that calls for a thousand-and-one new takes. Angry Miao has recently released a mechanical keyboard with a rather inventive design on Indiegogo (via TechPowerUp).
This inventive design is a combination of its chunky, angular chassis and giant custom LED panel on the front-top-side of the keyboard. It looks like custom LEDs are here to stay in the PC gaming market, and the Cyberboard executes the theme perfectly. It’s no good whacking an LED panel on something and calling it complete – you need a cohesive product that suits the custom LEDs (something like the Divoom Tivoo).
Well, Angry Miao’s Cyberboard has the cohesiveness box ticked. There are five colour schemes to choose from: cyber grey, industrial yellow, purple haze, vapour white, and jungle green. The blocky, angular casing – likely what Angry Miao is talking about when it says the keyboard is Tesla “Cybertruck inspired” – is reminiscent of an ’80s hacker’s terminal. The LEDs and bright colours are in beautifully jarring contrast with this retro casing design.
About the keyboard, one the company describes as the “world’s first custom LED mech keyboard”, the company says, “As a keyboard enthusiast and also a big fan of Tesla’s Cybertruck, we integrate the spirit of cyberpunk and the unique look of the Cybertruck into our products. The custom LED light strip takes you back to the 1980s.”
The LED panel features 200 LED lamp beads which can be configured via a unique web interface. As far as typing goes, Angry Miao says its engineers “modified the plate over and over to ensure excellent shock absorption of the top mount structure. We added a 3.4mm silicone mute mount between the PCB and the plate to absorb excessive vibration while typing.” The keyboard also has a hot-swappable PCB, which lets you swap out whichever switches you want.
Clearly attention is being given to sturdiness, comfort, design, and material quality – just like a Tesla, you might say. The perfect keyboard for playing Cyberpunk 2077? It has to be a top contender, at least.