Features/Pictures

As I mentioned in our opening, the layout of the Quickfire TK is an interesting one. Cooler Master took a full keyboard layout and attempted to pack it into nearly the same space that the Quickfire Rapid took without a number pad. Starting from the left side, the entire keyboard all the way to the enter key is of a standard layout. We do have a single function key on the right side between the windows key and the control button, this is used to control the media and keyboard lighting keys that double as the F keys up top. Beyond the enter key everything actually looks like your standard number pad, with the exception that this number pad doesn’t have the standard double wide zero key that you would normally expect. In its place there is a 0 and a 00 key, this was done because Cooler Master blended the number pad in with all of the keys we lost in between including the direction pad, print screen, delete, ect.

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In the top right corner we still have the normal Number lock, Caps Lock, and Scroll lock lights. They did put a small Storm logo here that is out of your way and hardly noticeable also, this is the only logo you will see on the keyboard from your standard position.

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Here is the layout of the number pad, you will notice that almost every key has a second function. Down at the bottom you can see the reason for going with the single zero key over a double wide key, without doing this the direction pad wouldn’t fit. I’m curious if having the 0 and 00 will cause me to miss type in the future when inputting numbers. Not saying that its wrong at all, because we have seen this same layout on registers, but they could have gone with two zero keys that did the same function as well. Only time will tell if it’s an issue for me personally though.

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Although I would have preferred the model with brown switches just for my wife’s sanity, as you can see the model tested is sporting cherry blue key switches with the LED’s built into them. The keyboard also has a matching blue baseplate as well. Officially the Quickfire TK is available with blue, red, and brown keyswitches. The baseplate for the reds are red and for the browns it is white. This also matches with the backlighting that each comes with. Once again, if I had my pick, simply for the white along I would go with the Cherry Browns. I should point out also, even though it’s not in this photo, that Cooler Master went with Cherry stabilizers on the TK.

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Because this is a backlit keyboard, the keys are actually a semitransparent white with a black topcoat. From there they etched out the letters. This makes it look white on black without backlighting and of course with the lighting turned on it glows the color of the lighting, in our case blue.

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Its impressive how close they managed to get this to the length of the Quickfire Rapid. It’s a shame that it won’t fit in carrying cases designed for Filco’s though because it is just slightly too long. Having said that, it should still be more than small enough for LAN party use where you have a very limited amount of desktop space.

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For those of you who like to customize your key caps, the Quickfire TK uses standard keys on everything but the bottom row. Any replacement key will work, but remember to take advantage of the backlighting you will need to get keys that support that. 

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I mentioned earlier that there was only the one discreet logo visible when using the keyboard. Here is the second one that faces out away from you. Cooler Master used a nice grey color that make both logos visible, but not in your face. I like it!

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Under the keyboard you can see the three cord conduit options that let you run it left, right, or directly out the back of the keyboard. For grip we have rubber feet on each corner about an inch wide. For those of you who like to angle your keyboard, there are flip out feet as well, they also have a nice rubber finish to keep the keyboard firmly planted when using it.

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Like the Quickfire Rapid, Cooler Master kept the replaceable braded cord design. Personally I have no need for the cord to be replaceable unless I damage it in the future, but it’s good to know that I can replace it if it comes to that. You do want to make sure this is plugged in well and you have the cord locked into place in one of the cord management conduits, I have had these pull out if you don’t do that.

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garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #28649 17 Dec 2012 23:50
A look today at Cooler Master's latest mechanical keyboard

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