Hardware pre-orders are a mixed bag, especially when it comes to keyboards from a peripheral maker that you know are going to be available for retail sale one way or another. AZIO showed off their R.C.K. (Retro Compact Keyboard) series at Computex this year, with the defining features including a TKL form factor keyboard offering their Retro-series options of genuine leather or wood materials for the keyboard, a typewrite-style mechanical keyboard design that AZIO have used to good success in the past, and a combination of wired and wireless (via Bluetooth) connectivity as well. A 5000 mAh battery should provide months of battery life even with backlighting on, which is a nice change of pace from the current crop of wireless mechanical keyboards that struggle to go more than a few days on a single charge.

IndieGoGo as a platform used to be associated with crowdfunding a product, and indeed the original AZIO Retro series of keyboards came about that way. But the new R.C.K. range appears to be up for what AZIO terms is a "pre-launch" perk at a heavily discounted price, rather than this being a requirement towards getting the product to market. If you are so interested, the current pre-order price is $119 for a keyboard and matching palm rest (in leather or wood to match the keyboard), which is a 45% discount to the $219 MSRP for when the keyboard launches in December 2018. The special price ends September 15 and pre-orders have become an accepted norm in the enthusiast keyboard community today, but we still recommend thinking hard before going forward with pre-orders in general.