sayresy
New member
Qpad a long established Swedish gaming Company founded by hardcore gamer Christer Korback producing professional gaming equipment since 1992 with the launch of professional mouse pads and in later years a range of professional headsets, keyboards and mice. A definite stand against the giants.
The Qpad MK -80 that I reviewed has a UK layout and the specifications are:
Cherry MK blue switches
Gold plated USB connectors
Audio ports for headphones and mic.
N-Key rollover
50 million keystrokes
Wrist rest
Blue variable Back Light (Four settings)
Media Keys
2 X USB 2.0 ports
2 Year Warranty
Price approximately £85.00 at time of purchase (July 2013)
Removing the outer slide off packaging and opening the sturdy box the keyboard is sealed in a plastic bag and packaged end to end with latex foam. Also in the box is the basic user/instillation guide along with the two year warranty. Four pop on gaming keys and key-removal tool as well as a PS2 to USB converter. It was refreshing to see that the keyboard came with a PS2 plug by default, a nice option as most PC's support this, mine included.
Removing the keyboard from the outer bag immediately I notice it has some good weight to it and feels strong and substantial. The body of the MK -80 is plastic and has a non-slip rubbery quality to it as does the wrist rest which easily clips into place if required. The cable cord is plastic tube and houses the USB cable, PS2 cable and two audio cables for headset and mic.
Once the cables (about three feet in length) were connected and the PC booted up there was no other installation required, everything worked straight off the bat.
At the rear of the unit is the USB and media hub.
The media operation controls are accessed from the F-key row and include vol+, vol-, vol mute, play/pause and previous/next. It would have been nice to have had a bespoke volume control built into the media hub. This is a minor niggle but at times a tad inconvenient.
The keys on the MK -80 seem good quality and deliver a resounding clicky thud. To be expected with cherry blue though they do stand quite high and some users may find this slightly off-putting though I must admit since using the keyboard for various applications such as gaming, programming/designing as well as general typing I have not had a problem.
Underneath the keyboard there are a pair of height extenders to bring the MK -80 up. A standard feature on most keyboards.
The back-light has four brightness settings which when in it's highest setting illuminates every key very effectively and the blue light stands out quite profoundly with the black keyboard. With the back-light switched off the silvery white characters on the keys can (at times) be a challenge to see. Unfortunately when the PC boots up the previous light settings are lost and the keyboard returns to default lights off. Again this is not a big problem but would have been nice to have had some control.
Conclusions...Good solid construction the MK -80 feels good to type/game with. My only gripe is the keys stand a bit taller than I am used to but this stops noticing after a while.
The rubbery material that coats the chassis is annoying for the reason that it is unnecessary and picks up dust and finger grease really easily. The wrist rest is a good addition and I have found myself using it more for the cosmetic appeal than for any other reason.
I like the fact that I only have to use one USB2.0 and one PS2 slot on my PC.
I would say this keyboard is aimed at not just the gamers, but heavy keyboard users too. This is evident in the lack of additional programmable keys, etc.
The fact that there is not a gaming-mode, where the windows keys are disabled might be a problem for the hardcore FPS gamers.
This brings me to my final moan - The inclusion of fairly cheesy/gaudy "We [heart] Gaming", stamped onto the wrist rest and other unnecessary graphics that seem to visually cheapen the unit somewhat.
I enjoy using this keyboard and even though there are a few minor issues it is still a good keyboard to use, with quality responsive cherry switches and sharp adjustable blue back-light that illuminates all the keys clearly. The USB ports are handy for plugging in a mobile device to charge as well as the mouse...
The Qpad MK -80 that I reviewed has a UK layout and the specifications are:
Cherry MK blue switches
Gold plated USB connectors
Audio ports for headphones and mic.
N-Key rollover
50 million keystrokes
Wrist rest
Blue variable Back Light (Four settings)
Media Keys
2 X USB 2.0 ports
2 Year Warranty
Price approximately £85.00 at time of purchase (July 2013)
Removing the outer slide off packaging and opening the sturdy box the keyboard is sealed in a plastic bag and packaged end to end with latex foam. Also in the box is the basic user/instillation guide along with the two year warranty. Four pop on gaming keys and key-removal tool as well as a PS2 to USB converter. It was refreshing to see that the keyboard came with a PS2 plug by default, a nice option as most PC's support this, mine included.
Removing the keyboard from the outer bag immediately I notice it has some good weight to it and feels strong and substantial. The body of the MK -80 is plastic and has a non-slip rubbery quality to it as does the wrist rest which easily clips into place if required. The cable cord is plastic tube and houses the USB cable, PS2 cable and two audio cables for headset and mic.
Once the cables (about three feet in length) were connected and the PC booted up there was no other installation required, everything worked straight off the bat.
At the rear of the unit is the USB and media hub.
The media operation controls are accessed from the F-key row and include vol+, vol-, vol mute, play/pause and previous/next. It would have been nice to have had a bespoke volume control built into the media hub. This is a minor niggle but at times a tad inconvenient.
The keys on the MK -80 seem good quality and deliver a resounding clicky thud. To be expected with cherry blue though they do stand quite high and some users may find this slightly off-putting though I must admit since using the keyboard for various applications such as gaming, programming/designing as well as general typing I have not had a problem.
Underneath the keyboard there are a pair of height extenders to bring the MK -80 up. A standard feature on most keyboards.
The back-light has four brightness settings which when in it's highest setting illuminates every key very effectively and the blue light stands out quite profoundly with the black keyboard. With the back-light switched off the silvery white characters on the keys can (at times) be a challenge to see. Unfortunately when the PC boots up the previous light settings are lost and the keyboard returns to default lights off. Again this is not a big problem but would have been nice to have had some control.
Conclusions...Good solid construction the MK -80 feels good to type/game with. My only gripe is the keys stand a bit taller than I am used to but this stops noticing after a while.
The rubbery material that coats the chassis is annoying for the reason that it is unnecessary and picks up dust and finger grease really easily. The wrist rest is a good addition and I have found myself using it more for the cosmetic appeal than for any other reason.
I like the fact that I only have to use one USB2.0 and one PS2 slot on my PC.
I would say this keyboard is aimed at not just the gamers, but heavy keyboard users too. This is evident in the lack of additional programmable keys, etc.
The fact that there is not a gaming-mode, where the windows keys are disabled might be a problem for the hardcore FPS gamers.
This brings me to my final moan - The inclusion of fairly cheesy/gaudy "We [heart] Gaming", stamped onto the wrist rest and other unnecessary graphics that seem to visually cheapen the unit somewhat.
I enjoy using this keyboard and even though there are a few minor issues it is still a good keyboard to use, with quality responsive cherry switches and sharp adjustable blue back-light that illuminates all the keys clearly. The USB ports are handy for plugging in a mobile device to charge as well as the mouse...
