Hello All,
In this post I will be going over the REALFORCE R4 and my findings. This is an informative post that will show the build and components of the new REALFORCE R4 keyboard.
DISCLAIMER
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES THAT MAY BE CAUSED FROM DISASSEMBLY. THIS IS NOT A GUIDE BUT IS AN INFORMATIVE DOCUMENT. READER ASSUMES ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES. THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY
With the disclaimer out of the way, let’s tear this thing down. 
To start off, this board has the same layout as the R2 which is a very welcoming surprise! If you know Realforce… They do not keep the same layout EVER. So I was very happy when I found out I could slap on my R2 orange keycap set!
The bottom has a new design that is reminiscent of the GX1 bottom to me. But with a new battery door.
This board holds and uses 3x AAA batteries. I assume this is to keep from any battery housing bump which is nice.
Let’s crack this thing open shall we?
dOk, so to open, we first need to remove the top Right and Left feet to access the screws. Unfortunately, this will absolutely destroy the feet on this board… even with heat. They are now a foam material similar to the “anti-vibration mat” that Bird sells for the HHKB. Maybe some Iso alcohol would help preserve them. This is a con in my opinion… the old rubber feet are the best.
(Sad feet)
Then you will need to remove the warranty sticker to access the last screw in the battery compartment. Congrats! You have done the EASIEST part of getting this board open… The remaining steps are not for the faint of heart and I actually need to put another disclaimer in here before we move on.
Opening the bottom portion of this keyboard is so difficult and annoying that you absolutely risk at minimum gouging the plastic seam, and at the most damage snapping the top case. It is seriously the worst board to open… If you have modded an iPod classic…. it’s like that, but a plastic housing.
The housing has a very small crack in it to fit a tool in to disengage the clips at the bottom of the board. And the clips are STRONG. You need a metal flat tool that is thin to push into the crack and disengage the clips.
If you pry too hard or twist the tool the wrong way.. you can cause a lot of damage.. Definitely not the friendliest to modify… Just go slow and don’t force anything.
Once you deal with the bottom clips, careful opening up. There is a sensor wire that connects from the daughter board and wraps around the entire top case. I think this is the “proximity sensor” that wakes the board from sleep when you approach.
Again, careful lifting up the PCB/Plate, the ribbon cable is attached. It is fairly long which is nice, and seems to be a standard ribbon cable which might be able to be sourced to replace if broken. To pull out the cable from the connectors, you need to push on the metal part of them and pull out the cable. Be gentle, it’s a fairly thin cable.
Here is a pic of the bottom of the top case. You can see the blue wire snaking around the whole perimeter.
Here is a full pic of the bottom case and daughter board. You can also see the proximity sensor (?) wire screwed into the daughter board which is a little odd.
Here is a pic of the bottom of the PCB. The black tape was a bit weird.. It was just covering some components which on other spots of the PCB are not covered.. There was no spot of interference with the case or wires that I could see for why they put it there.. I just left it alone since it’s not in the way.
21x black screws - seem to be the same as any other RealForce board.
12x silver screws - seem to be the same as any other RealForce board.
Now we are inside! Nothing too crazy in here.. They only lubed the spacebar with what looks like 205g0. No purple 2u on this one.. very odd they only did that for the RC1. Also we see normal spacebar housings on this one. Everything seems pretty standard and normal… Well… Except one thing..
The domes are very… unusual. They seem either poorly removed from the mold that made them (possible these are getting old now), or degraded for some reason.. Also the texture is weird. They are SUPER sticky/grippy compared to other RealForce generation domes. Totally different feeling, and honestly really hard to get the alignment of the spring due to the grip they have. I don’t know why they are like this, they feel normal when typing but clearly are different.
Here is a comparison of the R4 domes (right) and a pair of domes from an R2. You can see how degraded the R4 ones look compared to the older R2 domes.. and the feel.. you can’t capture it on a picture. It feels like they are a new or different material, or mine were just covered in some adhesive or something…
Some beauty shots.
Thoughts
I dunno man… I love the shape of the case, the new angular cuts on the top case are cool and hip. I really like that the R2 caps fit it which makes customization from the top side really easy. It has a nice weighted premium feeling to it, and the caps that come with it stock are pretty decent quality. The plastic of the housing on the charcoal model feels kinda cheap.. but the white model feels a bit better. Not sure why.. the plastic is the same on both.
It is NOT a “modder’s” board at all though. Like you could probably tear it down to mod once no problem. But then you seal it up for the rest of its life. Maybe mine was just extra tough or something but man… it was not easy and I can see people totally snapping the top housing if they are not ultra careful.
Also the domes are weird. Again, they feel fine typing, but the texture and look is just completely different.
Honestly… If you are a serial modder or have an R3 that you are happy with, I’d probably skip this one. If you just want a sleek “office” board, this is perfectly fine and will do that job great!
Overall, I’d probably give this a 5/10.
Thanks for reading!
-Beez
