I just got a Mac mini M1 recently and I do not like the Apple Magic Keyboard as well as the Magic Mouse. I started looking for a bluetooth keyboard for it and couldn’t find any I liked. I had been using Logitech K360 previously for a few years. I wanted to go with bluetooth to free up usb ports since you get a limited number on this. So I searched a long while and found to get the keyboard I wanted I needed to go with mechanical. I like the higher profile of mechanical fine since that is what I grew up on since Commodore 64 and PC days.
I went with the RK987 alogn with Dolch PBT double inject keycap set. $50 for keyboard and $25 for keycaps – both off Amazon.
I am liking the way it looks. The monochrome gray of keyboard to me matches the silver and black mini well. I also have a black framed 4K TV I am using for the monitor as you see a black bluetooth mouse. I am getting NEXT comptuer vibes from this keyboard since it is mechanical and is monochrome… The original NEXT computer had a grayscale monitor. I might make the escape key a NEXT logo in color … like the logo on the NEXT cube . (Mac OS is based off of NEXT OS… both created by Jobs).
I still need to customize the function row with custom sub-legends alogn wit hthe ScrLk and Pause keys. I ahve PrtScr assigned to screeshot. F1 is Launchpad, F2 is Show Desktop, F3 is App Widnows (expose), F4 is mission control (expose), F5 is Notification Center. Pause (F15) is Emoji & Symbols dialogue.
Messing around with some stickers. I printed on my color printer with high drum heat on some nice paper – so the toner can’t flake. I adhered double sided tape to the bottom of the printout. Then used a leather punch to punch out the circular stickers. I then stuck to the front of the keys.
Eventually I will replace with some cherry mx keycaps made for mac, as soon I find one which matches well. It’s a dark gray with white legend, double injected.
The keyboard has lighting effects (non-RGB which is great for my purpose since I am doing monochrome gray /black theme). Too bad you can’t see video of it, it’s pretty cool… random keys are flashing on and off, two notches up from off, so not too powerful/overwhelming – subtle.
(Normally I always keep the lights off because I find them distracting, and also to save battery. But it’s fun to show them off at times. The random blinking effect I am using now kind of reminds me of the movie, The Matrix, but in Monochrome Gray instead of Green on Black.)
Thankfully the Microsoft mouse has it’s logo silkscreened on, as well as the Royal Kludge logo on the keyboard. I need to figure out a way to remove the logos on both without damaging the ABS plastic.
Any advice for replacing the windows/menu key with command keys ? As well as the alt keys with option keys? I can’t seem to find any double shot PBT that would match. If I did dye sublimation I’d have to go with lighter keys and darker text right? I am wondering how it’d look inverted like that for those two keys. I’d reprogram this RK987 so both command keys are on each side of the space bar and both option keys on each side of the command keys. Throwing the right ctrl key where the menu key currently is and putting the Fn key all the way to the right.
Any other ideas of what I could do? Should I go with some sort of accent color for those keys?
Shoud I perhaps make custom resin keys so I can match the color scheme? I’m clueless as to what I could do.
I’d go with black keys if I could find them in PBT double shot with white legend. (The current keys are a very dark gray but not quite black.)
Unfortunately there is basically no way to get just 2 keys from any keycap set, unless someone on r/mechmarket is very nice to you. your best bet is to make some custom resin keycaps, however learning this skill will take some time and practice, and likely cost more than just buying another full keycap set.
Thanks for the replies. I just ran across this set of keycaps on Amazon for about $10 including tax and delivery. They claim PBT but they are laser etched. The white seems dimmer than the white in the double shot PBT I bought. The black is probably blacker than the dark grey modifier keys I have. Do you think it’d work out well?
I do like the color scheme but flexible I guess if they keycaps can come in black instead of dark grey. The caps I have on the keyboard are all non shine through. I prefer non-shine-through… very clean mature look
The world wide web was built on this thing, and Mac OS X and Mac OS 11 is based off of it.
