Disassembly

Disassembly is fairly straightforward if you know what to look for. There are several screws on the bottom that need to be removed, including four under the feet which are not the easiest to access. The feet themselves can supposedly be removed to facilitate this; however, they were firmly in place on my sample, and I found it easier to simply use an extension bit and angle it in. Once all are removed, you need to remove all the keycaps before the top-panel piece separates from the rest of the keyboard. This also gives you a good look at the indicator LED housing from the bottom.


There are more screws holding the plate/PCB to the bottom panel, and these need to be removed from the front. Once done, dislodge the internal USB connector and the bottom panel along with the USB cable comes off, giving us our first look at the PCB and more. On the front is an exposed section where the indicator LEDs can be seen.


The PCB is red in color and has an exposed section in the top-right corner for the indicator LEDs. While we are here, we also get a look at the Outemu Blue switches mentioned previously. Soldering quality is very good with nothing to complain about.


Not much going on here control-wise, with a standard internal USB connector, two large capacitors, and a Holtek HT68FB560 MCU powering the keyboard. With no backlighting, macro/key re-assignment, or onboard storage, the MCU really has nothing but standard keyboard functionality to take care of, and it does so quite well. The PCB itself has multiple layers, for those interested in such details. The PCB is also identical to that of the AZIO MK Retro keyboard, which is to be expected given the common OEM.

Before we take a look at the driver, be advised that disassembly will void the warranty and that TechPowerUp is not liable for any damages incurred if you decided to go ahead and do so anyway.