Closer Examination

As we saw before, the AZIO Retro Compact keyboard (RCK) comes in a wax paper wrap to help keep it pristine and dust-free out of the box. The palm rest we saw on the previous page also hints towards the wooden construction of this particular Elwood version, but taking the keyboard out and getting a good first look is still quite impressive. It is on the smaller side of average when it comes to taking up room, which is due to the 75% form factor, and yet the keyboard is heavier than average as a result of the thick wooden top cover and zinc alloy frame. The keyboard is built like a tank and looks really nice, too.

The bezels are about average, but the frame takes up room to where it does not seem as big. There is an AZIO badge in the top-right corner with the RCK name etched in as well, and it is screwed into the wood along with the frame itself. The color scheme is three-tone with the floating keycaps, the wood, and the frame/feet all in different colors, and yet they all work well together. There are obviously fewer discrete keys on this 75% form factor keyboard, with the obvious emission being the numpad compared to a full-size keyboard, as well as a truncated arrow key column relative to even a TKL keyboard. Secondary legends on the keycaps are placed above the primary ones with the exception of the arrow keys, where it is the other way round. All legends are smaller in size and placed near the center of the keycaps, which hints towards where the backlighting will be most prominent.


Flipping the keyboard around, we see an oval sticker on the back with product certification information and a thick ABS plastic case. There are four large, circular feet at the corners that 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 easily be slid off the rails they are installed on, and can be replaced by the two spare feet with a higher profile if you prefer a more aggressive tilt to the keyboard. The spare feet also have rubber pads on the bottom, although they are slightly smaller in size.


On the front facing away from the user is a set of two toggle buttons. The first is for the 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 MacOS-specific keys by default and Windows-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.


Here is a look at the AZIO RCK (Elwood) with the matching palm rest. The package comes included at a single price point, and AZIO intends the user to use the palm rest if the ergonomic fit works out. I would recommend trying out the keyboard without the palm rest first given the lack of tenting and the smaller size of the keyboard since resting your palms on a wrist rest can be bad if your hands are spaced from each other and angled non-optimally.


Except for the relatively flatter profile of the individual keycaps instead of the usual contoured rows, the AZIO RCK uses the tried and tested OEM profile with the keycaps. 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 glossy outer trim is attached in place. The trim itself has some minor processing marks from the 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 bleeding 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 one 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 shares 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 wood cover. Please refer to this page if you are interested in the guts of the AZIO Retro keyboard series.