Cooler Master Novatouch TKL - Tenkeyless Topre Keyboard
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,298 words · ~6 min read
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so what mystery do I have inside
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here oh it's another keyboard video line is why do you keep doing this to us well
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I think it's because Cooler Master is like determined to get me to stop using
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my zal 60 and I got to say having only before used toer key switches the
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high-end electrostatic capacitive key switches on the Nova touch Series in
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sweets at trade shows and never in the comfort of my own home doing my own work
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I thought this was going to end up being a very negative video and while they're
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still not my favorite thing in the world I might have judged them too hastily
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before Corsair gaming RGB keyboards feature Precision cherrymx RGB key
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switches for 16.8 million color per key
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backlighting for virtually unlimited customization click now to learn more so
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let's start with a physical tour first up it's a 10 keyless which means it's
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not going to make its way onto my desk no matter what I'm just not ready to
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give up my number pad yet but the rest of the features are actually pretty
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solid we've got support for n key rollover over USB and Windows something
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that may end up being a big selling point for Shoppers built-in media keys
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that can be accessed with a function modifier a Windows lock key and finally
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repeat rate modification which lets you change what happens when you hold down a
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key 1X looks like this 2x looks like this 4X looks like this and 8x looks
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like this as as you can see not too useful for typing but for executing
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commands with inhuman speed in games well there you go pretty handy on the
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sides in the front we find not a whole lot of anything on the bottom we find
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four rubber pads and two rubber tipped feet that will angle the keyboard up if
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you prefer that orientation then at the back we find the only visible CM Storm
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branding it's subtle and the user will never have to look at it if they prefer
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a cleaner overall look on the back we also find the removable braided cable
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that terminates in a micro USB Cooler
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Master WTF guys I let it slide last time
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but if you guys are wholesale switching to micro over mini be I have one
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question
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why anyway finally on top we find some
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unexceptional looking key caps um and if
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you buy a Nova touch you'll likely notice how quickly
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the laser etched white back fi characters Fade to a dingy looking Brown
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that is normal but the key caps in spite
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of their sort of unexceptional looking especially compared to cooler Master's
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other stuff where it's all like LEDs and stuff the keycaps are still actually
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where things get interesting because unlike other toer keyboards where you're
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pretty much stuck with whatever key caps come in the Box the Nova touch tkl uses
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a custom purple 45 G slider across the
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board that has the standard circular stem and a cross Cherry MX compatible
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stem meaning that you can use the included keycap puller to strip the
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board naked and swap the included ones with pretty much any key caps out there
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that are compatible with Cherry MX equipped keyboards pretty sweet but I
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think the next question is with the reputation of Cherry MX mechanical
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keyboards why would you even want a toer keyboard most people haven't even heard
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of it great question the typing experience is very different from Cherry
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and while I don't really prefer it per se I was able to adapt to it extremely
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quickly I think part of the reason for this is that as much as I advocate for
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cherrymx mechanical keyboards and I find them generally more comfortable and
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faster than rubber domes the keyboard that I've actually
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typed on more than any other is a gen one Logitech g15 a membrane keyboard so
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the toer typing experience because the keys contain a spring but actually use a
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rubber Dome for resistance and tactile feedback is much like that keyboard but
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with a nice long travel a more consistent feel and improved Comfort I
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still find the tactile bump right at the top of the key press a little bit
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disconcerting by contrast Cherry's tactile bump is around the halfway mark
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very close to the actuation point which means that if you normally feel for the
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tactile bump and try to avoid bottoming out your key strokes with chariots easy
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and with this one it's much more difficult but for me I lack finesse and
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I usually bottom out every time as I type anyway so yeah so anyway with all
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of that said the bottom line is that I actually found that for typing within
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about 10 minutes I was as fast and as accurate as my cherrymx keyboard that
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I've been using for a couple of years pretty darn impressive but for me and
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your mileage may vary especially here because this is keyboards gaming was
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where this keyboard really sha maybe again it's because over the years I've
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spent many more hours gaming on the g15 Gen 1 than probably every other key
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board that I've used combined but coming from a regular membrane keyboard to the
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Nova touch was an absolute treat to game
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on you won't get that same lightness of touch that many gamers who like Cherry
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MX Reds or blacks will be looking for where you only have to go halfway down
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and it's very easy to control but if you're coming from a membrane and want
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something similar without the mushiness of a cheapo keyboard I think you'll find
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yourself very pleasantly surprised by this little guy so that's where we're at
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I I guess I'm missed one thing Cooler Master includes uh a bag of O-rings so
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you can actually shorten the keystroke a bit and silence them a bit more but I
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found that particularly for typing the keyboard was so quiet anyway to begin
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with that I didn't need to use them for that and because I'm a bit of a Brute
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Force typist and I like that nice long travel I left the O-rings off but all of
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this is very personal and as usual with any kind of keyboard purchase
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I'd really recommend trying it before you buy it if there's any way that you
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possibly can if you can't then I hope
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that you found my first experience with the well the first really keycap modding
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friendly toer keyboard somewhat helpful
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guys like this video if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it leave a comment and let us know what's your
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favorite keyboard type have you ever tried a toer what do you think of it
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very very curious and also in the video description although I didn't say
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anything that was in the video description just now but I'm not going to worry too much about that there's a support us link where you can buy a
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t-shirt like this cool one that I'm wearing right now you can give us a monthly cont if you like the work that
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we do and you can change your Amazon bookmark to one that has our affiliate code in it all of that is very very
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helpful thank you for watching again and as always don't forget to subscribe if
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you haven't
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already