 This video is brought to you by the Intel Core i5 4670K unlocked processor. Add an Intel 520 series SSD to your Haswell system for unbelievable overall performance. Welcome to my unboxing and first look at the TTE Sports Bi-Thermal Take Mecha G1. So Mecha is short for membrane because that is the kind of key switches that... No, I'm just kidding. Mecha is short for, as you guys might imagine, Mechaanical. So this is a fully mechanical gaming keyboard from TTE Sports, optimized for, as you may or may not have figured out by this point in time, gaming. So there's a few things on the packaging here that I do want to go through. So multimedia keys to control audio function at instant without going to control panel. Very handy. So you use a function button which is down there and you use some other buttons which are over here. I do like audio scroll wheels, but in a pinch, I will definitely settle for these. In fact, my own keyboard does use these. USB hubs for installation of other USB gaming device. So it has two built-in USB ports that are in a hub, as well as audio jacks for microphone in and speaker out function. Excellent. Military grade cable, tough and reliable. Gold-plated USB connector, PS2 adapter for N-key rollover. Awesome. I still do like to see PS2 compatibility. Black cherry switches, so 50 million keystrokes. And finally, a thousand-hertz polling rate is supported by this keyboard. Now, okay, Thermaltake's marketing for that particular feature, I personally took exception to because they... Okay, TT Esports rather, not Thermaltake, because they are different, even though they are very, very closely related. Because right here on the front of the box, it says gaming speed eight times quicker, which I think is a pretty broad statement, but does have some truth to it. So what they mean is because the keyboard supports a 1000-hertz polling rate, that is to say that the keyboard is reporting to the computer 1000 times every second versus a standard 125-hertz polling rate, the computer itself can receive the signal in up to one-eighth of the time, or as little as one-eighth of the time. So that's what they mean. It is more responsive, assuming you set it up that way, which you can do because it does support it, but it will not make your gaming eight times faster or anything like that. So the keyboard itself has a fairly standard layout. On the bottom, you find four nice big rubber pads that don't look like they're gonna slide anywhere. I also see this looks... Oh, this looks really nice, actually. I haven't seen Thermaltake's system for attaching a wrist rest before, but it looks like there's very little risk of these accidentally coming out and very little risk of accidentally breaking them when you pull them out, because they use a breakaway system here. So when the prongs come out the side, there's a very good chance they're gonna rip off, but I actually quite like this. We've also got adjustable seat right here on the bottom, so you can change the angle to suit your personal gaming or typing requirements. And then we're gonna go ahead and flip the keyboard around where you are going to see the military-grade cable. And this thing is truly redonkulous. So for context, I'm gonna go grab a K70 here. So this is a Corsair keyboard, which doesn't contain all the same functionality, mind you, but you can see the actual difference in thickness between these two cables is kind of funny. So the Corsair keyboard doesn't carry audio through the same cable as the Thermaltake one does. The TTE Sports one does. TTE Sports, gotta remember that. So speaking of all the things that are carried by it, so there's USB for the hub. It's clearly labeled hub. Thank you for that, TTE Sports. Can you see that? Cool. Then we've got the keyboard itself, which has a picture of a keyboard, as well as a PS2 adapter attached to it. Finally, the passthrough for microphone and the passthrough for headphones, which are clearly labeled here. Wouldn't mind seeing these ones green and these ones pink. I do find that particularly helpful for myself, but having the picture on it is definitely an acceptable alternative. So next up here, actually, I'm gonna borrow something from that other keyboard again. We have the key cap remover, so let's find out what Cherry MX switches we have down there. Remember, guys, genuine Cherry MX switches always say Cherry on the key switch itself here, and they will have color-coded switch colors that will actually correspond to how they feel. So because this uses black switches, it's gonna have a linear feel to the press, much like a Cherry MX Red, but with a bit of a heavier keystroke. So all Cherry MX switches are rated for 50 million keystrokes. They all bottom out at 4 millimeters and actuate at 2 millimeters, so actually at half of the bottoming out. And many gamers prefer the linear keystrokes, so that is to say the red and black switch keystrokes, because there is no double tap issue like you get sometimes with Cherry MX Blues, where the actuation point is actually slightly different from the tactile feedback point. So, okay, so what these ones will do is they tend to be potentially able to rebound a little bit faster and be more suitable for gaming, whereas many typists prefer Blues and Browns. So there you go, black switches, linear, a bit heavier than reds. Personally, I like black switches, but they aren't my favorite. My personal favorites are Browns, because they have a bit more of that tactile feedback, whereas if you want something that's quite quiet, you might like Cherry MX Reds or Cherry MX Blacks. In terms of the layout of the keyboard itself, this is not the illuminated version, although there is an illuminated version. You've got your standard shift, backspace, enter, and of course other shift key over here. Other than that, what is this thing? Well, it's a solidly built mechanical keyboard. On the back, you've got that two-port USB hub. Remember, guys, this is not a powered hub, so you won't be plugging in something like a USB to two and a half inch external hard drive and another one or something like that, because you will run out of power. It's got their microphone and headphone jack. It's got a TT eSports logo here, as well as their battle dragon down here on the bottom. And let's do our traditional flex test. Not bad at all. Now, a lot of people say they don't need a mechanical keyboard. They don't want a mechanical keyboard. They don't want to spend particularly the money on a mechanical keyboard. They are expensive. But I would say let's make this week a challenge week to try new things. You don't have to buy one to try one. You can go to a store where they happen to have them on display, or you can find a friend who happens to have one who's willing to let you come try it out. Give yourself five or 10 minutes in front of it and see if you like it. Now, speaking of trying new things, audible.com. This isn't new. I've talked about it before on this channel. They have audiobooks which you can download. You can either get a membership or you can download one at a time. Listen to it on your Android device or PC or in your car or whatever else the case may be. And I took all of your comments last time about which audiobook I should try. By the way, if you want to get a free audiobook, go to audible.com slash Linus and go ahead and use that link because that makes me look good. So I took all of your suggestions for which book to try and I threw them all on a fire. And what I decided to try was if I'm going to challenge you guys to try a different keyboard experience, I'm going to try a different book experience. I am going to download the first Twilight book and or audiobook and I am going to listen to it. It is going to take 12 hours. I'm going to listen to it before I go to bed, which is what I typically do with audiobooks nowadays. And it will either put me to sleep, which will be good, or it won't put me to sleep. And it'll be surprisingly good. I am prepared to be surprised and you should too about mechanical keyboards. So remember guys, that's audible.com slash Linus. If you want to try Twilight with me or if you have sort of a different thing in mind, then you could also get a different book as well. So I'm going to go subject myself to that now. As always guys, don't forget to like the video and share it and comment on it and all that kind of stuff. Let me know what book you're going to try. And as always, don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more unboxings, reviews and other computer videos.