The Breakdown
The Machenike K500 mechanical keyboard turned out to be an impressive find, combining great design, useful features, and a budget-friendly price. This review covers the K500-B84 model, a compact 75% layout keyboard. Machenike also offers a 94-keys version called K500-B94, a 60% version dubbed K500-B61 Mini, and a wireless 94% model, the K500W. In this review, I will share some of my impressions while using this affordable mechanical keyboard.
Design and Build Quality:
The Machenike K500 features a sleek, minimalistic design with a Gray base, accented by Orange and gray /Dark Grey keycaps. Its matte finish adds a refined touch, making it look more premium. While the keyboard is made of plastic, it feels solid and well-built.
Machenike maintains high packaging standards, ensuring a great first impression. Small details, like smooth edges and embossed branding on the bottom, further enhance its overall craftsmanship.
Layout and Key Features
The compact 75% layout offers a great mix of functionality and space-saving design. It retains dedicated arrow keys and a numpad, making it more versatile than smaller keyboards. However, some users might miss dedicated keys like Home and Page Up. The left-side USB port and detachable USB-C cable add convenience, allowing for a cleaner and more customizable setup.
Keycaps and Switches
The double-shot PBT keycaps offer a smooth typing experience with good durability, though they’re not as thick as high-end options. The three-pin hot-swappable sockets and Huano switches provide flexibility for customization. The switch plate feels solid, and removing switches is easy. Buyers can choose between red, brown, and blue switches. I opted for Brown switches, expecting them to be quieter but to offer haptic feedback. They are not quieter than Red Switches, but not noisy like the screaming Blue ones. It’s a mid-term that makes me satisfied. Since the Brown switches need a certain level of pressure to recognize an input, it helps me greatly when I’m typing fast and don’t want to accidentally press keys.
Performance and Typing Experience
The Huano Brown switches offer a smooth tactile feel with a 60g actuation force, making typing and gaming enjoyable. The NKRO anti-ghosting and 1000Hz polling rate ensure fast, accurate key presses. The Rainbow lighting is surprisingly vibrant for the price, adding a stylish touch without overwhelming brightness. One of the downsides is that this variant misses true RGB, we only have a Rainbow static color. There are still some effects that can be enabled via software. This is the only variant of the K500 that misses the RGB. The K500 Mini and the K500 come with full-fledged RGB.
Customization and Software
The keyboard allows customization through key combinations and dedicated software. Users can tweak the light effects, create macros, and set up profiles. While the software isn’t as feature-rich as premium brands, it still offers solid personalization options, which is impressive for its price range. If you’re bored of the Rainbow Effect, you can try to change to some different options like raindrops, or glowing effects. It will make it feel less cheap in my opinion. Machenike offers a Control Center for the Keyboard on its website, you can tweak the options right from the app. Just make sure to download the correct version for your keyboard.
Machenike K500 B84 Control Center
Conclusion:
The Machenike K500 offers great value for its price (around $35). It stands out with solid build quality, hot-swappable switches, and customization options, making it an excellent choice for both beginners and enthusiasts interested in modding. There are other options in this market, for sure. But I certainly recommend this is an affordable mechanical keyboard for those who can’t spend much and want to start the experience of having a mechanical keyboard. This market is insanely crowded with varied options, do you love cats? You can even find one cat-themed keyboard and we have a review for it! Stay tuned for more reviews about this interesting kind of tech.
