Closer Examination

Both pieces of the Mistel MD650L Barocco keyboard come wrapped in a soft foam cover, and removing them gives us our first good look at the keyboard. At 920 grams, it weighs a lot more than the previous entry to the Mistel Barocco series that employs an all-plastic case. Newer Mistel keyboards have gone with thick CNC-machined aluminium cases, and this is no different with a two-piece aluminium frame and body alike. This adds to the mass, but also contributes to a solid-feeling keyboard despite the smaller form factor. The keyboard comes in options of a black, grey, red, or white anodized aluminium case for those wanting something different than the usual all-black color scheme. The keycaps use the same color scheme as seen above for all options, so keep that in mind. Note also that indicator LEDs, which also act as visual aids when programming the keyboard, are present in the bottom right of the right piece.

The bezels are smaller than average and non-existent in the middle, and the case follows the cutout very well to where I can already appreciate the work that went into making this product happen. The two pieces can also be connected together as a jigsaw puzzle via the cutout in the middle to make it a more cohesive product if you prefer to go that route. Ideally, you want to use the keyboard as two separate pieces that are at a distance to where your hands meet them without folding inward or outward. This being a slightly larger form factor than the Mistel MD660 Barocco also means more dedicated keys are seen here, especially on the right side, by the arrow-key cluster. Mistel decided there is enough room to go with predominantly single-legend keycaps here, except for the number key row, to make this also seem more like a keyboard people are used to, which may help users overcome a mental block to using smaller form factor keyboards. Most of the functionality of a TKL keyboard is here via dedicated keys, so I am in agreement as well. The legends are large and in the middle of these keycap tops, the luxury of which is afforded by not having to worry about optimal placement for backlighting support since this keyboard has none out of the box.


Flipping the keyboard around, we can better see the cutout in the two pieces and how each piece has more going on here as well. There is a metal badge on one of the pieces that houses the certification information, along with your unit's specific serial number should you need to get technical support from Mistel. This piece also has a cutout at a corner that gives access to a set of four numbered dip switches, all of which come with the switch in the lower position by default. The manual comes in handy as well when it comes to figuring out what these do. There are five small rubber pads on each piece along the edges to act as keyboard feet that do not raise up, and these are predominantly present to ensure the metal case does not get scratched while providing friction against the desk surface. Should you need an elevated profile, the accessories include keyboard feet and screws that go into the threaded screw holes on the corners at the top. There are flat rubber pads to stick into notches on these feet, which are also machined metal to continue the theme.


Remember the reference to something more substantial than just keyboard feet from the previous page? We first saw this in use on the demo product at Computex 2018, but each retail MD650L Barocco keyboard also comes with a longer metal piece that screws into holes adjacent to the cutout on each piece and connects them at the top. This way, you can get a split keyboard that is joined at a point and can still be pivoted to allow for a more natural typing position should you not want to keep them separate. There are places to add in rubber pads as well, and props must be given to Mistel for thinking of this and then some.


Connecting the keyboard is not trivial owing to the four ports available here. Both the left and right halves have a micro-USB and mini-USB port each, and this is because the right side is the "master" piece used to connect both halves to the PC, whereas the left side can also be used by itself. If you are using both pieces, connect them via the provided micro USB cable to the two micro USB connectors, and then use the mini USB to USB Type-A cable with the right side. For using just the left side, ignore the right pieces and the micro USB cable altogether. I personally feel the micro USB cable is longer than it has to be, but this way, Mistel can accommodate extreme use cases, including those who prefer to place something large between the right and left side; a joystick, gaming wheel, or even a plate of food.


There are only five rows of keycaps owing to the smaller form factor, and we can see that Mistel uses custom low-profile keycaps that still have the familiar slanted rows as with the OEM profile, but to a much lower extent in both senses of the word. The use of staggered columns for keys will do wonders in reducing the time needed to get used to this keyboard if you are new to it. The provided keycap puller works great for removing the keycaps because of a swap, or simply to clean them and the keyboard, and it also helps that we have two smaller space bar keys rather than a large one. The stock keycaps are composed of thick ABS plastic (average wall thickness 1.28 mm) with dye sublimated legends, which does mean that there will be some signs of wear over time as ABS plastic tends to hold on to finger oils more so than PBT plastic, although the legends themselves will last for quite a while. These have to support the fairly unique Cherry ML stem, and so Mistel understandably could not create a new mold for PBT keycaps for this product only. One thing the company did do to make the typing experience better is go with their new stabilizers that employ a stabilizer bar, the supports for which can come loose when removing the larger keycaps unless you find enough room to navigate under to hook the bar off. If they come off, there is nothing to worry about as they simply clip back in place if you push them in. Just remember the orientation of the supports and you will be fine.


As we saw before, the MD650L Barocco uses Cherry ML switches only, which is exactly what we have here. Above is a closer look at the switches, including of the provided spare switch. You can see here how the stem design has been more of an inspiration to the Kailh low-profile switch and why typical Cherry MX compatible keycaps will not work here.


Keeping up with the small orange touches, here is a look at the keyboard with the two spare orange keycaps used to replace the stock ESC and Enter keycaps. The overall package with the many different colors is still distinctly Mistel at first look, while the stock keycap set looks like it came from the 1980s or 1990s, but with a modern finish to quality control and aesthetics.