Driver

There is no software driver support for the Cooler Master MasterKeys L PBT, with all functionality being hardware based. As such, I have chosen to combine the Driver and Performance pages into one.

Performance

There is full N-key rollover USB here, as Aqua's test confirms. No key chatter was detected using Switch Hitter, so all is good on that end.

Secondary functionality is the name of the game here as far as any controls and customizations go. Some are straightforward, such as Fn + F5-F8 to change the repeat rate (polling rate is held constant at 1000 Hz) or Fn + Ins-Pg Dn cluster for media control. Fn + F9 toggles through Windows lock to prevent an accidental hit when in a full-screen-maximized application. The others are more subtle, so let us examine them in more detail now.

Fn + R CTRL + W/M/L switches the keyboard to Windows, MacOs or Linux mode respectively. Note that the secondary functionality may not work outside of Windows mode, and you do not have MacOs or Linux specific keycaps here, but the functionality is the same as expected in those cases.


Fn + L CTRL + Q/D/W switches to QWERTY/Dvorak/Workman layout respectively, and this was a welcome feature to see. I have long been a proponent of how inefficient QWERTY really is, and in order to demonstrate it again, I took the review BBcode content from my latest published review,the Adesso Typewriter, and put it into Patrick Wied's excellent keyboard heatmap generator. Above are the heatmaps for the three layouts in order, showing how much your fingers will have to travel and how often each key is hit. More often than not, I have had Dvorak and Colemak (Workman is an updated Colemak layout) be more efficient than QWERTY, so do give this feature a try. It is one of two key assignment modes on the keyboard.

The second is macro recording and assignment. Here is where a software driver would have made things easier, but having everything onboard and stored on the keyboard does have its advantages. Fn + F11 starts the macro recording process wherein you now press down the key you wish to assign a macro too. Now, you can record the macro by simply pressing down the keystrokes in order, and note that the delay between keystrokes is recorded as well. Press the key again and the recording is done. Fn + F12 deletes the macro once that key is pressed again if you wish to start from scratch, and Fn + PRT SCR/SCR LK/Pause toggles through macro repeats - single, repeat till help and infinite loops. If you wish to reset the keyboard entirely, Fn + E (not R, as I would have expected) resets the entire keyboard to default.


The Cherry MX Green switches here were an absolute delight to type on. I do tend to favor slightly heavier switches, and I will say right away that these are not optimal for long typing sessions, but the more pronounced tactile and clicky feedback relative to the MX Blue provided easier means towards not bottoming out the switches. If you share your office with others do be warned that you will not make any fans with these, however. These actuate at 2.2-2.3 mm and bottom out at 4 mm, with an actuation force of ~65-70 cN, whereas the tactile bump pressure point is closer to 80 cN and happens before, at ~1.9-2 mm, so it's not the best-thought-out design, but nearly all tactile and clicky switches are similar in this regard. Typing with the PBT keycaps was also a very nice experience in general, so I had a really good time typing out this very keyboard review using the same keyboard as under review.


As always, the sound of a keyboard is based on more than just the switch type. So when comparing sound clips, consider the keyboard as a whole. In this case, I have provided above an example sound clip of me typing on the Cooler Master MasterKeys L PBT sample at ~105 WPM. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with clicky switches. I did bottom out in the first half or so, although it is definitely possible not do so, as I did in the latter half of the sound clip.