Gadgetory

hey Ron this is Steve from gamers access Donna and I killed this keyboard I'm sorry this is a Tesoro colada keyboard that I was using to research keyboard backplates one of our writers of Michael Kern's recently posted an article linked here about keyboard backplates specifically looking at metal versus plastic versus PCB backplates and again specifically at the mechanical keyboard market so that's sort of what I'm talking about today just briefly recap in his article for those who did not see it and I'm sorry I just have to do this okay I really had to get that out of my system so this is a mechanical keyboard and this uses a metal backplate as many of them do including ports hairs k70 and thermal takes Poseidon's II both of which we've looked at fairly extensively in the past and a backplate is very simply what your switches are physically mounted to so in this assembly right here we at the very back there's the bottom of the keyboard that's the bottom that's what sits on your desk the red board here is a printed circuit board and that contains all of the circuitry the transistors the capacitors all of those things effectively all the electrical wiring that ends up inputting the key input to your computer that's what's there on top of that is a piece of metal and that piece of metal hosts our switches which eventually feed through the PCB and talk to the computer in this instance we're using a metal backplate which I'm not sure if there's a steel or aluminum but I becoming off but I believe it is I believe it is a steel backlight I could be wrong though some manufacturers use aluminum which is a bit lighter and more expensive and then others use steel which is heavier cheaper and provides really the same feel as aluminum at the end of the day so here's the deal with back plates if it's not metal it's either gonna be plastic which is pretty rare or PCB printed circuit board and in the case of plastic there are some interesting advantages that Michael Kern's lays out in the article primarily with plastic you get this disbursement effect of backlights of leds and that's because the reflectivity of a plastic services a bit different than one that is metal and it varies based on how they're painted and it's very different from one that's that's a PCB although most PCB boards it will not be LED backlit there are a few but PCB boards tend to be very cheap and even not mechanical in a lot of instances but plastic is very rare so then we look at PCB boards and those are physically the switches are mounted directly to a printed circuit board and that's gonna be cheaper it'll flex a lot you'll see that this I really can't flex it I'm trying that's probably a better angle but it really doesn't have much give what you're seeing give here is the plastic back the metal is not moving at all and that's because it's a big piece of metal and my nerd arms are not strong enough to flex it a PCB will flex when I do that and for a lot of users that's potentially an undesirable effect because when you're typing especially if you're typing a lot or heavily or loudly you really don't want the board sort of flexing around under your fingers as you push down some users like that I've definitely seen the forum posts where people prefer the flexing nature of PCB backplates for metal we get this resilient thick piece of metal that really doesn't move when you type and it provides more of a resounding clack more of a very resolute press when you push the key down and for a lot of users that resonance is resonating quality because it feels more sturdy or more solid that's definitely true to the extent that steel is far more solid than plastic now metal will be more expensive and will be a bit heavier if that's even relevant to you for some people it might be but the fruit the most part I would imagine huh it is more expensive though but you'll still find it in 50 dollar keyboards like the Nick CS motor which we reviewed and it's not $50 or thermal takes poseidon's E or of course there's K 70 which is not a $50 board but a very nice I think about 70 $200 board depending on where you're buying and when you're buying so that is the keyboard backplate differences check the article for more information below please subscribe if you like this video it's helped us a lot so far and I'd love to keep doing these and I will see you all next time peace poor keyword you you