Introduction
Contents
Compact, simple, to the point and robust. Those are adjectives that come swiftly to mind when we analyze the Meka G1 keyboard from Thermaltake, a peripheral made to last hours of gameplay and that comes lacking most of the bells and whistles from the competion: there are neither programmable keys nor a backlighting feature. The ideia is to be a tool that can handle the job and make the user’s life easier by presenting a two-port USB hub plus two dedicated microphone and audio plugs so you don’t need to crawl to the back of the desktop in a regular basis. Can it be that the Meka G1 delivered? See our test after the product’s description.
Figure 1: The Meka G1
Since it doesn’t have a set of programmable keys, the Meka G1 is the size of a regular keyboard, going against the trend in gaming-grade keyboards of bigger and larger devices. The traditional function keys double as multimedia buttons from F1 to F7 as long as you also press the Fn key that replaces the Windows key between Left Control and Left Alt – the Windows key was transfered to the right bank of Control and Alt keys.
A 0.4-inch (10 mm) thick cloth-wrapped cable gathers all four cables from the keyboard: two USB cables (one to connect the Meka G1 itself, the other for the hub) and two wires for microphone and audio. The USB keyboard plug comes with an old PS/2 adapter to give it an anti-ghosting feature; that is, it doesn’t matter that the user hits thirty keys at the same time (God knows how), the Meka G1 will understand each given command. If it’s only connected through the USB plug, the keyboard only recognizes up to six keys being pressed simultaneously.
Figure 2: Cables
On the top right edge of the keyboard, you can find the USB hub and audio connections. However, we prefer that they were on the left side because as it is they create some sort of a mess in the mouse area, which is used in the right space near the keyboard by most right-handed users.
Figure 3: Keyboard connections
Since there is no fold out feet, the keyboard is slightly angle towards the user and comes with a plastic wrist rest. Be sure to use it because the Meka G1 is a tall keyboard and it could cause strain to the user’s wrist.
This is a mechanical keyboard which means the keys are robust and they revert to the original position immediately after you lift your finger from them. Mechanical keyboards are rarely used as gaming-grade models. The market prefers membrane keyboards where the keys are part of a whole ensemble resting over a circuit board. Being mechanical, the Meka G1 has keys that work independently from each other and, believe us, are very resistant, as we will further comment ahead.