Looking for recommendations: Full size, bluetooth, MX blues, budget

Learning and discussion
1

Hi Keebtalk,

I’m entirely new to mechanical keyboards and to this forum. Looking to buy my first mechanical keyboard for programming and office use and would appreciate your suggestions for keyboards. My requirements are:

  • Full sized including num pad
  • UK keyboard layout required
  • Bluetooth preferred
  • MX blue switches
  • Budget between $70 and $150
  • Solid build quality
  • No backlight required

Looking forward to your suggestions. Thanks!

2

Leopold FC900R. Phenomenal quality, great keycaps. Can’t be beat in my eyes.

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3

I found this Predator Aethon 300 an the Acer store. It’s a cheap board with MX Blues. Not a UK layout though.

The two below have the UK layout, but the switches are Cherry MX Blue equivalents (Outemu Blue in this case).

Since it’s your very first mechanical keyboard, you may also try the used market to get a good deal; there’s always someone out there selling an old MX Blue board, namely the Cherry G80-3000.

4

Oh, shoot. I just realized the FC900R doesn’t have a UK layout option. The 980M does, though. Basically the same as fullsize but a bit of a more enthusiast-geared layout. If I were you I’d get the Leopold 980M without a doubt.

5

Many thanks PR_Carti and Reimu64 for your suggestions.

I fear the UK layout is a must for me, and so is the keyboard having a full sized standard key configuration, e.g. block of Insert/Home/Del/End/Pg Up/Pg Down keys being between the enter key and the num pad. That rules out the Leopold FC900R.

The suggested AUKEY and Redragon keyboards tick those boxes and they are also reasonably priced, so I would consider them.

I was just wondering if you can think of a keyboard which tickes those boxes and at the same time has Bluetooth and a design which is more suitable for an office, e.g. which doesn’t look like a gamer keyboard.

Thanks again!

6

MX Blues likely would not be considered suitable for an office setting.

2 Likes
7

If you don’t mind the used market, you can try to find a Cherry G80-3000 - Deskthority wiki They’re one of the more common vintage keyboards you can find at a reasonable price, and they don’t have the gamer look to them.

I’ve just remembered the Alloy Origins It’s marketed as a gaming keyboard, but I think once you set the backlighting to white, it won’t look obvious. However, it comes with the “HyperX Blue Switch” not the MX Blue.

8

Thanks everyone!