Introduction

Mechanicalkeyboards.com, or simply MK.com, as more commonly known in the enthusiast keyboard community, is a popular one-stop e-tail store in the US for purchasing keyboards from brands outside of the mainstream market and then some. The company has leveraged their brand presence to have keyboards under their own label, such as the impressive MK Fission we took a look at previously. They have a working relationship with Ducky Keyboards, especially when it comes to such keyboards, and aim to offer high build quality keyboards at different price points to hit the needs of the market as a whole. The MK Fission added a lot of switch options and RGB backlighting and side lighting to choose from, and today, we take a look at another of their keyboards that trims down the fat to provide an essential typing experience. Enter the MK Typist, and thanks again to Mechanicalkeyboards for providing a review sample for us to examine.


Part of the MK Typist lineup, this particular Night Typist we are taking a look at adds in single color white backlighting to enable typing in dimly lit environments. As the company puts it, the MK Night Typist even goes so far as to use a claimed industry-first warm white instead of the usual true white or cool white, stating that a warmer color is better in dimly lit rooms. This is partly also why gaming keyboards used to prefer red backlighting over blue back before RGB hit everything. The entire keyboard is built around typing, with a lot of layout support we will get to in due time, and has switches suited for it as well. We begin the review, as always, with a look at the specifications below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Since Mechanicalkeyboards.com is also a retailer, I wanted to cover their retail packaging as part of the packaging section. Nothing much to talk about here, except that I would have liked to see some packing material used in the retail box as well. The outer box is sized well to fit the product packaging.


Despite the Night Typist being based off the MK Typist keyboard, the company saw it as important enough to get dedicated packaging. Indeed, the box is decorated nicely with an artistic rendition to fit the theme and has the product name on the front and salient specs and company information on the back and sides. I do like the night theme and color scheme as both set the keyboard apart as far as first impressions go. Double flaps on the side help keep the contents in place during transit.


Opening the box, we see the keyboard in a wrap and cardboard all around for further protection. Underneath the keyboard is more art and the included keyboard manual, with the other accessories in the compartment above the keyboard, including the cable and a keycap puller. The cable is black, the usual 6' long, and terminates in a gold-plated USB Type-C connector on one end and a USB Type-A connector on the other, which is indicative of the use of Type-C connectivity on the keyboard. We also get a wire keycap puller, which is preferable to the plastic ring puller as it helps with oddly sized and larger keycaps, and also does not have the potential of scratching/roughing up the sides of the keycaps. The manual is not available online and extremely important to make the most of the keyboard given all the onboard functionality controls, so be sure to keep it close.