Closer Examination

As we saw before, the AZIO Retro Compact keyboard (RCK) comes in a wax paper wrap to keep it pristine and free of dust out of the box. The renders on the packaging and the replacement keycaps give a good idea of the color scheme on the keyboard, but taking it out and getting a good first look is still quite impressive. It is on the larger side of average for even full-size keyboards, and the keyboard is also heavier than average at over 1.5 kg as a result of the thick zinc alloy frame that goes all around the keyboard in a copper finish. As with the rest of the AZIO Retro series, the keyboard is built like a tank, and looks really nice with the black leather-covered top plate and the contrasting colors in this Artisan variant.

The bezels are about average, but the frame takes up room, which has it contribute to the overall size of the keyboard. There is an AZIO badge above the arrow key cluster, and it is screwed into the leather along with the frame itself. The color scheme is three-toned with the floating keycaps, leather, and frame/feet all in different colors, and yet they all work well together. All 104 keys you would expect from a full-size US ANSI layout keyboard are present, with indicator LEDs in the top-right corner above the numpad. Secondary legends on the keycaps are placed above the primary ones throughout the keyboard. All legends are smaller and placed near the center, which hints towards where the backlighting will be most prominent.


Flipping the keyboard around, we see an oval sticker with product certification information and a thick ABS plastic case. The four large, circular feet in the corners are designed to match the aesthetics of the keycaps and frame. The feet each have a rubber base, which also raises the keyboard slightly, protecting it from scratches and adding friction against your desk. The two feet at the top can be rotated to raise the bottom pads for a higher keyboard profile if you prefer a more aggressive elevation.


On the front facing away from the user are two toggle buttons. The first is for connection mode, with the option of Bluetooth 4.0, USB, or simply off to preserve battery life. The second toggles between Windows and MacOS layouts for the keyboard, which is also why we saw Windows-specific keys by default and MacOS-specific keycaps as accessories. There is a USB Type-C port alongside the second toggle, which is where the provided cable for charging the internal battery and/or using the keyboard in USB mode comes into play. The USB cable goes to an available USB Type A port on your computer, and USB 2.0 will suffice for power and data. The connectors on either end of the cable are gold-plated for oxidation resistance.


As with the rest of the Retro series, AZIO goes with the flat profile of the individual keycaps instead of the usual contoured rows in the OEM profile. The body is angled to provide a positive tilt, which can be further increased with the spare feet as seen above. The keycaps are made out of ABS plastic, but composed of multiple parts, and for this version, the base is powder coated black; the legends are then laser etched and the outer trim attached in place. The trim has some minor processing marks from the copper coloring on the bottom of all the keycaps, but none of these are visible from the top. Note also the non-Cherry MX style stem compatibility, which means there is no compatibility with Cherry MX-style keycaps. Backlighting is uniform on the legends since the light source is immediately below at the center instead of shining through the top to mimic how the LEDs are positioned on the keyboard themselves. The floating keycap design does not impact backlight bleed nearly as much since the switch housing is not transparent.


This is a single-color backlit keyboard, but the LED is not simply soldered in above the switch as with most others. AZIO worked with Kailh to develop the Typelit switch which uses a custom housing of the Kailh tactile and clicky switch (Kailh Blue) that has the LED and a diffuser element over the LED to better spread the light uniformly through the center. You can thus rule out any aftermarket keycap compatibility, and given the stock keycaps are a major selling point of the keyboard, that is fine with me. The larger keycaps use a Cherry-style stabilizer, although with a single bar that hooks into a wire underneath, which still results in it being similar in that even the larger keycaps are easy to remove for cleaning purposes. Also seen above is a look at the keyboard with the Windows keycaps installed, which is how I used it for testing as well.

Note that the keyboard uses the same platform as the AZIO Retro Classic we saw earlier. That is, except for the addition of Bluetooth connectivity and a 5000 mAh battery, so I chose not to disassemble this keyboard given disassembly might damage the leather cover. Please refer to this page if you are interested in the guts of the AZIO Retro keyboard series.