In the world of keyboards, there are two types of people. One of those is very firmly in the “clicky” keyboard camp. Keyboards that fall into this category are called mechanical keyboards, as they have hard mechanical switches under each and every key. This gives a nice satisfying “click” when you hit it; good for the typist, not always so good for others in the room. The classic IBM “M” series keyboards from 1985 are held in high regard and are often sought after by geeks, but they are expensive and sometimes difficult to find.
Thermaltake stepped up to the plate and decided to make a mechanical keyboard for gamers, and it is called the Meka G1.
The Thermaltake Meka G1 is billed as a high-end 104-key USB keyboard. It sports true mechanical keyswitches made by Cherry—pretty much the Lamborghini of keyboard switches. It advertises and delivers a “military grade” cord—this cord is no laughing matter. It’s sleeved in braid, armored underneath that braid, and nearly a half inch thick. My cat has tried to chew on, claw up, and otherwise destroy the cord to no avail. Some sites have complained about it being difficult to route and bend, but I had no such issues with my release model—it’s not “coiled RJ48->PS2” flexible, but it’s certainly not particularly stiff and I had no issues tying it into a rather large knot. The keyboard requires two USB ports on your system; that’s because it has a built-in 2-port USB hub. The second USB connector is to ensure you have sufficient power for even the most hungry peripherals—and you do. I used the ports for my Logitech Unifying Receiver and to charge my Performance MX mouse. Both work flawlessly. It has a function key between the left Ctrl and Alt keys which handles the multimedia functions to keep things small and simple, which I find myself using absolutely constantly. These are all things that I absolutely love about the Meka G1.
Top view of the Meka G1
This is where things turn toward the dislike column. The Numlock, Capslock and Scroll Lock indicators are exposed 3mm LEDs. At the angle my keyboard is at, I find them to be excessively bright and found them to often distract me—especially since I make extensive use of all three. The “Windows” key and Menu key are next to each other on the right side of the keyboard, and I often find myself hitting Menu instead of Windows. Or Menu instead of right Ctrl. Or Windows instead of left Ctrl. Despite this, the spacebar does not feel cramped. It is most assuredly full size.
But by far, my biggest gripe with the Meka G1 is the action. I come from 20 years of using IBM Model M and Cherry’s “click” model mechanical switches. You know the ones—that guy you can hear typing from half a block away. The Cherry switches are true electromechanical parts, but the Meka G1 just doesn’t feel like the mechanical switches I’m used to. There is nearly zero tactile feedback from the keystrokes, and zero audible feedback. For the first two weeks, I was continually hitting keys accidentally, because it took so little weight and they have so little travel. (For the mechanically inclined, travel from open to keypress is about 1/16” on mine here.) I still frequently have trouble because as I mentioned, there’s just no feedback. But let’s also bear this in mind: action is personal preference and entirely subjective. In honesty, the key action is in fact, very similar to most modern keyboards, so if you prefer the key action of for example, the Logitech G15 or G19, you’ll love the action of the Meka G1.
Speaking of action, one of the selling points here is that this keyboard is better for gamers. That it has the potential to improve your gameplay. How? Feature one, and a very important one: greater than three key chording. Queuing two macros while taking a screenshot and circle strafing with mouse look? The Meka G1 handled those five buttons like a champ, even if I had to use my nose to press one of them. Personally, I can’t tell you whether or not the increased polling rate really has any effect because honestly, past a certain point, you’re actually more likely to be limited to network latency or LCD latency—for example, my monitors have an average latency of 14-20ms, so as long as the keyboard is below that, I can’t really tell the difference. Most of my testing was with MMOs with an average network latency of 70-130ms, so not much help there either. The Meka G1 does sport a 1000Hz (1ms) sampling rate though, so you can rest assured it won’t hold you back there ever.
All that said, the question would seem to remain: what makes this a gaming keyboard, or a better gaming keyboard? I’ve tested this keyboard beyond thoroughly—the conservative estimate would be that mine has already logged north of 5 million keystrokes—and I can honestly say that for certain games, you definitely can see an improvement. You see, it’s a question of physics—Thermaltake gave the Meka G1 an extremely short keystroke length. They’ll go all the way, but you can trigger them with very light and short presses. Certain games—World of Warcraft especially—register action not based on when the key is pressed, but rather, when the key is released. Meaning that on keyboards with buckling springs, you have to travel the full length of the keystroke before it registers that you just hit Stormstrike. The Meka G1’s much shorter keystroke means that once you’re acclimated to it, you actually can, in fact, use those wonderful laws of mechanical engineering and physics to prove that it is a faster keyboard for gaming. The same obviously applies to “key down” triggered games. So, yes—this keyboard can, in fact, be proven to offer you not only specific benefits but specific physical advantages for gaming.
In terms of aesthetics, aside from the previously mentioned bright LED issue, it’s hard to find anything at all to dislike about the Meka G1. It comes in a pleasantly textured black plastic frame, with black keys and plain white lettering. It offers no fancy LED backlighting or LCD displays, and fits everything into a very compact and clean package. The Thermaltake “Tt” logo is presented in red next to the indicator LEDs, the only concession to branding on the keyboard proper. The super-heavy-duty nigh-invulnerable cable is bulky, extremely heavy, and covered in a very well made black braid with silver trim. The wrist rest that’s included with the keyboard features the “Tt esports” logo on the center, but I elected not to use it as I found the slope too sharp for my arrangement. That said, it fits nicely to the keyboard, didn’t wiggle about unnecessarily, and proved somewhat difficult to remove–just like any good wrist rest should. If you don’t have front panel audio connectors, there’s a pair of them on the back of the keyboard–which I’ll nitpick slightly. They’re difficult to access at best if the keyboard is in a drawer. They’re also straight passthrough, which means you can’t really use them if you have regular speakers, much less surround. That is, unless you want to run both the USB and 1/8” connectors to the front panel access on your case. Other than that, I tested them briefly and found no other faults–they didn’t add any noise, and they didn’t take anything perceptible away from the sound.
However, with an MSRP of $139.99 and typically found online for around $100
This has proven to be one of the more difficult reviews for me to write, for a variety of reasons. Problem one, I want to love it. Problem two, the reasons I don’t love it make it hard to write reviews. The fact is that any keyboard review is necessarily subjective in many ways, because as we all know, we all have our personal preferences. Maybe you like a lighter key action than I do, or maybe I like a specific layout that you think is absurdist.
In the end, if you can get your hands on the Meka G1, it may sell itself; still, for the price, you should make sure of what you’re getting into.
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