RK ROYAL KLUDGE F99 AI Smart Wired Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with Real-Time Voice Input Translation Hot-Swappable Linear Switches

I have long considered getting into mechanical keyboards. As someone who came up in the 90's, I miss the feel keyboards used to have. I was also pleased to find that they've made a resurgence with quality hardware and expansive customization options. This keyboard looks, feels, and sou12nds incredible. The lighting looks fantastic, and I can't wait to get some transparent keycaps to show them off. They pulse through a range of colors and patterns that you can adjust with the function key. This keyboard comes with a suite of AI software tools accessible using the number pad. There is a fairly standard GPT-style chatbot with access to a database that goes up to 2023. It also includes an AI image generator, mind-map plotter, translator, voice typing, grammar check, and a number of other AI note-taking, planning, and writing tools. On one hand, many of these AI tools are widely available. On the other, you don't often see them all working in one place with a clean interface and no ads. You also have access to the software anywhere you use the keyboard, granted you let the keyboard download and install the software. Ease of Use: There's a little extra to figure out with this keyboard. It pays off to flip through the instructions to identify how to adjust the lighting and toggle the AI functions on and off, as they share the number pad. The function key is extremely important, but once you understand how it works it's very easy to use. Quality of Assembly & Materials: The quality of the keyboard is exceptional. The keyboard and keys have weight and I can tell I'm typing on something well-made and well-designed. Value for Price: This is my main keyboard now, and I feel like the price point of around $80 is highly appropriate for the quality and the fact that I can customize it by swapping out the keycaps. Packaging & Presentation: The keyboard is presented in a flat box with sharp branding and graphics. It would be very exciting to unwrap! PROS - Very high-quality design, materials, and construction. - AI software suite is a useful bonus - It looks, sounds, and feels fantastic CONS - Software suite can be annoying if you try to type numbers and have forgotten to toggle off the AI tools. - No Bluetooth or wireless connectivity. Read more

Needs a Separate AI buttons, You lose the number pad when AI is active Read more

Great looking keyboard with a whole host of benefits.. Kinda. The RK Royal Kludge Ai Gaming Keyboard is a backlight RGB mechanical keyboard. It looks great, feels premium, and doesn't come with some insane price tag. That said, on it's own, it's a sweet deal! What's not to like? Other than the fact you can't see the RGB except between the keys(which have no opacity). Or the fact it requires additional software to take advantage of the "Ai" features. Which, by the way, it only supports a MacOS and Windows, and not Linux, so sucks to be the other 90% of the worlds supercomputers and desktops. If you wanted to take advantage of ALL the features, you're just plain out of luck. Thanks Royal Kludge. A few more cons: You can't control the RGB backlighting with RGB controller software such as OpenRGB, which limits the backlighting to the very confusingly setup presets RK put in the firmware of the device. My honest recommendation for Royal Kludge would be to go a little more open source with they keyboards, or more friendly at least. The "Extra features" are broadly incompatible, force you to use their app which they call a "driver" when their documentation encourages you to install it, the backlighting looks cheap with the included key caps, and is difficult to control at best. What looked like a very promising experience turned sour very quickly. Now that I have the giant glaring cons out of the way, the pros: It's inexpensive, the switches feels great and sound very satisfying, it's an RGB backlit keyboard, you can switch the key caps and switches out, it's got not one but two included USB-3.0 ports for more IO as this is a wired keyboard, it's a 100 key layout so you've not lacking for a number pad or function keys. Honestly at $80 if you ONLY need a mechanical keyboard that looks and sounds nice and offers a little bit of IO, it's a really great option. Being mechanical you can even make some adjustments to it later on. Read more