 So what mystery do I have inside here? Oh, it's another keyboard video. Linus, why do you keep doing this to us? Well, I think it's because Cooler Master is like determined to get me to stop using my Xyble 6 stand. I gotta say, having only before used Topper key switches, the high-end electrostatic capacitive key switches on the Nova Touch series, in suites and trade shows, and never in the comfort of my own home doing my own work, I thought this was gonna end up being a very negative video. And while they're still not my favorite thing in the world, I might have judged them too hastily before. Corsair Gaming RGB keyboards feature precision Cherry MX RGB key switches for 16.8 million color-per-key backlighting for virtually unlimited customization. Click now to learn more. So let's start with a physical tour. First up, it's a 10-key list, which means it's not gonna make its way onto my desk no matter what. I'm just not ready to give up my number pad yet. But the rest of the features are actually pretty solid. We've got support for N-key rollover over USB and Windows, something that may end up being a big selling point for shoppers, built-in media keys that can be accessed with a function modifier, a Windows lock key, and finally, repeat rate modification, which lets you change what happens when you hold down a key. 1x looks like this, 2x looks like this, 4x looks like this, and 8x looks like this. As you can see, not too useful for typing, but for executing commands with inhuman speed in games, well, there you go. Pretty handy. On the sides and the front, we find not a whole lot of anything. On the bottom, we find four rubber pads and two rubber-tipped feet that will angle the keyboard up if you prefer that orientation. Then at the back, we find the only visible CM Storm branding. It's subtle and the user will never have to look at it if they prefer a cleaner overall look. On the back, we also find the removable braided cable that terminates in a micro USB. Cooler master, WTF guys? I let it slide last time, but if you guys are wholesale switching to micro over mini B, I have one question. Why? Anyway. Finally on top, we find some unexceptional looking keycaps. And if you buy a Nova Touch, you'll likely notice how quickly the laser-etched white back-filled characters fade to a dingy looking brown. That is normal, but the keycaps, in spite of their sort of unexceptional lookingness, especially compared to cooler masters, other stuff where it's all like LEDs and stuff, the keycaps are still actually where things get interesting because unlike other Topar keyboards where you're pretty much stuck with whatever keycaps come in the box, the Nova Touch TKL uses a custom purple 45 gram slider across the board that has the standard circular stem and across Cherry MX compatible stem, meaning that you can use the included keycap puller to strip the board naked and swap the included ones with pretty much any keycaps out there that are compatible with Cherry MX equipped keyboards. Pretty sweet. But I think the next question is, with the reputation of Cherry MX mechanical keyboards, why would you even want a Topar keyboard? Most people haven't even heard of it. Great question. The typing experience is very different from Cherry. And while I don't really prefer it per se, I was able to adapt to it extremely quickly. I think part of the reason for this is that as much as I advocate for Cherry MX mechanical keyboards and I find them generally more comfortable and faster than rubber domes, the keyboard that I've actually typed on more than any other is a Gen 1 Logitech G15, a membrane keyboard. So the Topar typing experience, because the keys contain a spring but actually use a rubber dome for resistance and tactile feedback, is much like that keyboard, but with a nice long travel, a more consistent feel, and improved comfort. I still find the tactile bump right at the top of the key press a little bit disconcerting. By contrast, Cherry's tactile bump is around the halfway mark, very close to the actuation point, which means that if you normally feel for the tactile bump and try to avoid bottoming out your keystrokes, with Cherry it's easy, and with this one it's much more difficult, but for me I lack finesse and I usually bottom out every time as I type anyway, so yeah. So anyway, with all of that said, the bottom line is that I actually found that for typing within about 10 minutes, I was as fast and as accurate as my Cherry MX keyboard that I've been using for a couple of years. Pretty darn impressive. But for me, and your mileage may vary, especially here, because this is keyboards, gaming was where this keyboard really shone. Maybe again, it's because over the years I've spent many more hours gaming on the G15 Gen 1 than probably every other keyboard that I've used combined, but coming from a regular membrane keyboard to the Nova Touch was an absolute treat to game on. You won't get that same lightness of touch that many gamers who like Cherry MX Reds or Blacks will be looking for, where you only have to go halfway down and it's very easy to control, but if you're coming from a membrane and want something similar without the mushiness of a cheapo keyboard, I think you'll find yourself very pleasantly surprised by this little guy. So that's where we're at. I guess I missed one thing. Cooler Master includes a bag of O-rings, so you can actually shorten the keystroke a bit and silence them a bit more, but I found that particularly for typing, the keyboard was so quiet anyway to begin with that I didn't need to use them for that, and because I'm a bit of a brute-force typist and I like that nice long travel, I left the O-rings off. But all of this is very personal and as usual, with any kind of keyboard purchase, I'd really recommend trying it before you buy it if there's any way that you possibly can. If you can't, then I hope that you found my first experience with the, well, the first really keycap modding friendly topper keyboard somewhat helpful. Guys, like this video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it, leave a comment and let us know what's your favorite keyboard type. Have you ever tried a topper? What do you think of it? Very, very curious. And also in the video description, although I didn't say anything that was in the video description just now, but I'm not going to worry too much about that, there's a support us link where you can buy a t-shirt like this cool one that I'm wearing right now. You can give us a monthly contribution if you like the work that we do, and you can change your Amazon bookmark to one that has our affiliate code in it. All of that is very, very helpful. Thank you for watching again, and as always, don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already.