Thermaltake Meka G1

[Lpfan4ever]

Seeing as clshades was looking for some words from somebody with the board I figured I'd do a review. Best part is I'm typing the review on it.

Thermaltake Meka G1

Tt eSPORTS

Introduction


It seems nowadays that mechanical keyboards have really emerged into the gaming scene with a bang. With options like the Razer BlackWidow, Steelseries 7G and 6Gv2, Thermaltake Meka G1 and the Corsair K60 and K90, it was a hard choice. Not to mention the myriads of other non "gaming" mechanical keyboards. With that said, it's quite obvious what I've ended up with after my trip to Canada Computers to quickly test the boards before purchase.


Specifications

‧ Interface: USB
‧ Operational system: Windows® 7/Vista/XP
‧ Number of Multimedia keys: 7
‧ 2.0 USB port: 2
‧ Mic-In &SP Out jacks
‧ Switch lifecycle: 50 Millions
‧ Switch brand: Cherry Black switch
‧ Cable length: 1.5m military grade cable
‧ Detachable palm rest
‧ Body dimension (LxWxH): 430x160x40mm

Packaging

The keyboard comes in a fairly normal sized box that one would expect for a keyboard. However, once you pick the box off the shelves (or most likely, out of your shipping box) you notice the heft of this keyboard. The box itself is a red on black design, with some parts highlighted in a glossy finish. You have your typical handful of features on the front and a short specifications list on the back in 15 different languages.




The inside of the box rehashes some of the information on the outside, along with the package's contents. Below that are the keyboard, palm rest and a small package containing a quick installation guide and warranty information.






The Keyboard

The Meka G1 follows the standard US ANSI layout. As mentioned before, this keyboard has a good bit of heft to it due to it's mechanical switches (which I will touch upon in greater detail later). It is constructed with plastic all around the board, although everything from the board itself to the palm rest feels quite sturdy.




Optional palm rest installed




Reverse side and USB hub/audio jacks





There are two 3.5mm audio cables and two USB cables, along with the optional USB to PS/2 adapter. This board features two USB ports and a passthrough for sound and microphones. One of the USB cables is for the Meka G1 itself, whereas the other is for the USB hub. At 1.5M the cable isn't very long, but it is quite thick and also sleeved. This may be troublesome to some, including myself, as it is hard to route and barely reaches the back of my computer.


The Keys

As mentioned before, the Meka G1 uses Cherry MX Black mechanical switches. The keys are cylindrically shaped, with the letters being printed on the keys. Over USB it has a 6 key rollover, but using the included USB to PS/2 adapter you get N key rollover (unlimited) I'm going to reference a post on OCN made by Manyak as it give you all the information you need to know, so all credit for this next part goes to him.

Type: Linear Switch
Link: Datasheet
Tactile: No
Clicky: No
Actuation Force: 60g (40g-80g overall)
Key Travel: 2mm to actuation, 4mm to bottom (Force Diagram)

Cherry MX-Black switches are linear (non-tactile) switches, these are considered one of the best switch types for gaming. When gaming, having a tactile bump does absolutely nothing because you're going to be bottoming out anyway. So these give you a very smooth feel. The actuation and release points are at the exact same position as well. So games that require a lot of double tapping become easier than on any other keyswitch. However, most people don't enjoy typing on them that much do in part, to their linear nature.
If you're a person who tends to hit a wrong key every so often while gaming, these will be beneficial in that the high actuation force will help prevent many of those accidental presses.

Under the key cap




Larger keys have a thin metal bar under them for stability




Media/Volume Keys

While many keyboard now have dedicated media keys, Thermaltake decided to go with a different approach. Some may have noticed earlier that in place of the left Windows key, there is a function key. Running along from F1 to F4 are where the media "keys" are, and F5 to F7 are volume controls.





Conclusion

While one normally thinks of gaming keyboards as being giant things with a handful of macro keys and lights shooting out of every crevice, this board has showed me that's not the case for all of them. Cherry MX Black switches have an extremely nice feel to them for both typing and gaming. In my experience I have noticed that I type a bit faster with they new keyboard over my G15, probably in part due to not having to bottom out every keystroke. While backlighting would be preferred for me, I have ordered a small USB powered LED light to help out when it's pitch black.

Overall this is a well constructed keyboard with a decent price point for being mechanical. (At the time of writing this, it's $105 at Canada Computers) I would definitely recommend it for somebody looking to get into mechanical keyboards. The main downfall of the Meka G1 is it's incredibly short cable, so make sure to take that into account when shopping around.

[Lpfan4ever]

G15 Size Comparison

Just for you guys to get an idea for the size of this board, although it's pretty much what you'd expect a normal keyboard to be.


The numpads were lined up here




Keyboards were lined up along the F keys here





USB Hub Speed Test

I tested using two things, a Sandisk Cruzr Blade 8GB flash drive and a Samsung SE-S084F external DVD drive. The following results are nothing super technical, and are in MBps. For the flash drive tests I used a 2.88GB RAR file. For the DVD drive I used a Windows 7 Ultimate x64 disk, but I have no blank disks on hand to test the "To" part of the test. I timed each transfer and then found the average speed based on that.



It seems that unlike the extremely sub-par USB hub on the G15, the one on the Meka G1 is actually useful. Transfer speeds were not effected, and for some reason my DVD drive actually averaged a bit higher using the keyboard's hub.

[ykcorey]

Love the pictures! Especially the HWC mug in the background.

[simsin]

bump sick keyboard, that i chose a while back. Dont regret my decision one bit.

Once you go mechanical.. you cant go back.