AUKEY recently sent me two mechanical keyboard to try out. I am not a keyboard junky and I happen to like the standard keyboard that ships with Mac desktops.  In fact, I had no problem shelling out a little money to “upgrade” my keyboard to the one that ships with the iMac Pro.  You know the Mac that goes with Darth Vader's decor. It’s a great keyboard that doesn’t seem to be affected by all the issues Apple laptop keyboards seem to be ridden with.  (I personally have had no issues with the keyboard on my laptop - knock on wood.)

But, there is a physician in the household who uses a Windows machine every day to log on to EPIC and type up copious quantities of notes. So I removed the crappy keyboard that HP shipped with one of their generic looking all-in-one's and replaced it with the AUKEY KM-G6 104 Key LED-Backlit Mechanical Keyboard. This piece of kit is marketed as a "gaming keyboard" because it has Outemu Blue switches. If you are like me and aren't versed in the ins and outs of keyboards, I'm told the switches are clones of Cherry MX switches. Still not helpful? The switches are what the keys are attached to and are what give keyboards their feel and their clickity sound. Having individual switches means that you can register individual keystrokes at the same time which is something that the "membrane" keyboards that ship standard with most computers can't do. Want to learn more, here's a great primer on Cherry switches.

TLDR, if you are someone who types a lot and perhaps uses keyboard macros - like say a gamer or a doctor - then a mechanical keyboard is nice to have.

Out of the box - and I like the nondescript brown & black packaging AUKEY uses for their products - the KM-G6 looks and feels like a substantial piece of computer equipment. It has a nice heft and seems really well constructed. It's a $40 keyboard that looks like it cost a lot more.

Plug it in and you get a pretty light show as the LED's cycle through a testing routine. The keys stay illuminated and look pretty cool. The typeface on the individual keys isn't what I'd call inspired but I suppose one of the things that people like about these keyboards is that you can pull the keys and replace them with some that suit your taste - AUKEY informed me that Cherry caps are compatible so the world is your oyster - check out /r/MechanicalKeyboards for some inspiration.

Looks cool but how is it for typing?

Let me start by saying that the physician who I asked to test this keyboard does a LOT of typing. She does enough typing that I often hear her complaining of wrist pain and possible carpel tunnel. In the 20 days since I upgraded the standard keyboard to the AUKEY those complaints seem to have lessened. Your milage may vary but for pure ease of use and typing comfort the AUKEY has an endorsement from at least one medical professional.

I'm told the key travel is nice, that the keys feel responsive, and that the height ergonomics of the keyboard are great. The LED lighting is a hit as well. So there you go.

The other keyboard that AUKEY sent over is the 87-key KM-G9. Generally I prefer to use full size keyboards. I like having the number pad and even if it's only perception, this size keyboard seems cramped. I feel that way about the Apple models as well.

I mentioned above that I actually like the keyboard on my Mac and have no issues typing on my MacBook keyboard either. But since AUKEY was nice enough to send me a keyboard to evaluate I decided to give it a good workout.

When I took the KM-G9 out of the box and plugged it in nothing happened. Where were the cool flashing lights? I was disappointed. I thought maybe it was a Mac issue and plugged it into the Windows machine. Still no lights. I then decided to look up the model and saw that it wasn't a backlit keyboard! Sorry AUKEY. I just really thought the backlighting was pretty cool.

Once I got over that initial misunderstanding I decided to plug it into my laptop using a USB-C hub. Here's what I typed when the keyboard was plugged into my laptop: This is a test ion this auk keyboard.  It is pretty nice typing on this. I wish the keys were a little wider but other than that but is pretty snappy.  I wasn't blown away by the difference. And I think my spelling got worse using the mechanical keyboard.

But then I had an idea.

 I don’t like the "keyboard" on my iPad.  I've never liked typing on it and most of the time just use my voice via Siri dictation and the Apple Pencil for input and the rest of the time just use it for passive content viewing.  What if I plugged in a real keyboard? Could I use an iPad as a laptop replacement if I wanted? So I gave it a shot.  

Aesthetically the keyboard+iPad combo looks like something out of Terry Gilliam's Brazil. I think this would especially be the case had AUKEY sent me the KM-G11 which is their "retro" styled small keyboard.

With the USB-C hub you can have your keyboard, power supply, and have plenty of other ports open to plug in. Like I said, it doesn’t look pretty but it functions well in a cyberpunk sort of cobbled together way.   

However typing on the iPad with the KM-G9 is great. In fact, I almost entirely wrote my review of Ken Kocienda's book, Creative Selection, on my iPad with the AUKEY keyboard. I like macOS over iOS but holy crap if the iOS auto correct and predictive text algorithm doesn't make typing on the iPad with a real keyboard a treat.

In my experience, typing on an iPad with the AUKEY KM-G9 was better than with typing on my Mac.  Maybe it’s just a placebo but I feel like I have a laissez faire approach to typing on an iOS device versus on a Mac.  Maybe I'm more accurate on the Mac but I'm quicker on iOS because I trust the predictive capabilities of the OS more. (Read Ken's book if you want to understand why that's the case.)  

I'm glad I did my little experiment. I discovered that you can make a pretty good case for replacing your laptop with with an iPad Pro and this AUKEY keyboard if you wanted/needed to.

My only gripe with the keyboard is that as an Apple person the keyboard comes out of the box with windows in mind. Why no extra ⌘, option, control keys for Apple folks? It would be great if they shipped extra caps for Mac users. I think throwing in some Mac style keys isn’t a lot to ask since AUKEY would have an easier time hunting down matching keys. A link to an approved cap vendor would be helpful too.

Other than that, if you need a keyboard you can't go wrong with those that AUKEY offers. The keyboards are well made and incredibly well priced. If you want to dip your toes into the mechanical keyboards definitely take a look at what they have for sale.