CHERRY MX Board 1.0 Backlight G80-3816LXB-2 PC/Mac, Keyboard

Nice to type on a real keyboard again - I’m no gamer, I’m a software developer so this was bought for more accurate typing as I was tired of short-travel Mac keyboards. Overall, it’s pretty good but does have a couple of shortcomings.Firstly, it is sold as PC/Mac. That’s a bit of a falsehood. For starters, you can’t upgrade the firmware from a Mac as Cherry only have a PC utility. Secondly the key caps are PC only - no Mac Cmd/Opt keys, only a Windows key and Alt. So yes, it does work, like any other keyboard would, but no, it’s not a true Mac compatible keyboard. I was hoping for an exchangeable set of key caps, but no.Then there’s the backlight. Blindingly bright, the brightness can be reduced, except it doesn’t reduce for the Windows start key or for the FN key on the other side. The Windows key can be turned off, which also turns off the LED, but unfortunately leaves you without a Cmd key.I’ll probably keep it, but it will take some getting used to.

If you're seeking a keyboard to use long term then I would definitely recommend this one. I've been using it for about two months now and I can say that this is the best keyboard I've used so far; it makes me wish that I bought a mechanical keyboard earlier. The softness of the keys makes gaming and writing for long spans of time comfortable. The keys are not too sensitive to touch, so mistyping by slightly pressing a key has never been a problem for me. It is a little bit louder than my old non-mechanical keyboard, although if you're using this in a room you don't share with anyone else, this will not be a problem. The lighting can be altered from bright to dim, and may also be switched off if necessary; it only shines in white rather than other/multiple colours, although I prefer it. I also appreciate the ability to turn off the Windows key as well as the play, back and forward buttons, which come in handy when using Spotify whilst gaming. Overall a great quality keyboard, I think I'll be sticking with it for a long time to come.Edit: I've noticed that the windows, caps lock, num lock and scroll lock keys shine very brightly regardless of what you set the keyboard brightness to, meaning that if you set the brightness of the keyboard to dim levels those keys will still gleam, which is a little annoying and odd.

The keyboard was a pleasure to use except when you wanted to use a question mark or one of the characters from a number with the shift key pressed. These characters were often not visible because of light conditions and the fact that the keys were not marked clearly enough. A trained typist would know what those characters were but I do not and so I reluctantly decided to send the keyboard back to Amazon

When looking for a new keyboard I knew I wanted Cherry Brown switches but I didn't need all the fancy RGB colour changing fandangles that usually come on mechanical keyboards. This is where the Cherry board comes in, it offers great value.This is my first mech keyboard and it has taken a little bit of time to get used to. The keys are super sensitive and a keypress is registered with a much shorter throw which at first made me miss hit keys quite often. Now however I am able to type much more quickly with less effort.

If you don't mind the noise of "clacky" keys then this is a really good keyboard. It's really well built, looks good and the ability to alter the intensity of the backlit keys means that you can adapt it to suit your particular needs

Problem 1: The pictures misrepresent this product. In the pictures on all the websites advertising this keyboard, you will be able to see clearly all punctuation and symbols. I don't know how they produced those pictures. On the one I received, each backlight LED only illuminates the top half of the keycap. The symbols on the bottom half receive no light and are illegible, even at max brightness. Other mechanical keyboards place numbers/symbols next to each other on the top row - why didn't Cherry follow this solution?? Also, longer keys like "CTRL" are unevenly lit. What is the point of a backlit keyboard, if not to be easy to see?Problem 2: The font is terrible. "," and ".", and ":" and ";" are near-indistinguishable. "~" looks like a truncated "-".Problem 3: Shifted symbols are on the bottom half of the keycap (presumably so that numbers are on the backlit half), in contrast to most other UK- and US-layout keyboards. This is annoying - you keep looking in the wrong place - and is especially confusing, given problem 2 for ":" and ";" etc.Problem 4: Noise. Personally, if this were the only problem, I would put up with this. The feel from MX brown keys while typing is a joy (assuming you know how to touch-type, and so don't have to search for the keys visually). But the metallic noise level will disturb any sleepers in the next room.Now I could perhaps buy replacement keycaps, a removal tool, and a bag of O-rings (total price £30-70?), and proceed to rip off all the keys (invalidating my warranty) to fix some of these problems, but I figure that for £80 a keyboard should be usable from the start. So I'm returning mine.How this keyboard got website recommendations as the best for typists, I have no idea!