Closer Examination

The AZIO MK Retro comes with a plastic clamshell cover on top to keep it tidy and clean when you remove it, and then there are multiple plastic wraps on the top and sides that need to be peeled off. Once done, you can get the full dose of the glossy, shiny keyboard design. The colors chosen fit fairly well and do not come off as gaudy if you so feared. The gold is on the sides of the keyboard, and I was surprised at how well it hid my fingerprints. I would go so far as to call this a semi-glossy finish even, although you will most definitely want to keep the included microfiber cloth nearby for quick wipes.


The keycaps are among the biggest selling points here, and they have a golden (or silver) trim to them to match the color scheme of the keyboard. The legends themselves are fairly large, especially on the alphanumeric keys, on purpose to better mimic a typewriter, which also has the added benefit helping those with failing eyesight. The font itself would be right at home on an MS Word document using a generic Times New Roman or Arial font, but works well enough and with no backlighting on the keyboard, so I have no real issues here. I did like the added detail of having button-style LED notification lights, though, which is another neat little touch.


Not much going on at the back to see. There are four rounded feet with a softer plastic bottom, but these feet are not rubberized, and there is some slight movement if you deliberately move the keyboard horizontally on your desk. The two feet at the top can be raised for tenting the keyboard, but it is different from the usual flip-to-raise style and needs to be demonstrated differently from another angle. But before I do so, notice that the cable is non-detachable and non-braided and terminates in a color-coordinated male USB Type-A connector. USB 2.0 is plenty enough for operation here as at the heart of it all, the MK Retro is a minimalist keyboard when it comes to function.


Here, you can see the two available color options for the MK Retro as of now, with the other black and silver model having glossy silver touches instead. I dare say the black and silver will go better in an office environment, but the clicky switches used may well be a bigger factor than the aesthetics of the keyboard.


Time to take a look at the feet in action. As I mentioned before, these are different from the usual and use a twisting motion to raise or lower the keyboard instead. It works really well and does not have the disadvantage of having to flip or at least angle over the keyboard. The mechanism seems sturdy enough to last a lot of actions, and over the course of the ~4-5 weeks I was using the keyboard, it presented no issues.


The keycaps are ABS plastic but of multiple rather than a single part. The base is powder-coated white (or black), the legends are then pad-printed on, and the glossy trim is attached in place. The trim itself has some minor processing marks from the coloring on the bottom of all keycaps, but none that are visible from the top. Note also the non-Cherry MX style stem compatibility even though the switches themselves appear to be a clone of the Cherry MX style mechanical switch. The switch is a light green in color with no branding or identifier seen here, and that is because only a small part of it is visible from under the top-panel piece. There is a raised housing that surrounds each switch, and this means that the keyboard is dust and splash proof. So a small spill of liquid may not be the death of it after all, but do not take this as a promise of being it waterproof - that is another thing entirely. The switches used here are branded O Army, as we will see on the next page, and are clicky and tactile switches similar to the Cherry MX Blue. Larger keys have what looks like Cherry-style stabilizer as well. Given the nature of the keyboard, replacement keycaps will not be on the minds of prospective customers, and I do not recommend it either for compatibility reasons - the switch housing will prevent nearly all Cherry MX compatible keycaps from fitting.