Closer Examination

The design scheme is an iteration of the Vortex Race 3 keyboard with the gunmetal gray and white color scheme employed, which looks a lot better and avoids any of the old-school commentary the beige color scheme of the Vortex CORE brought about. The case is a similar gunmetal color with a lightly brushed finish that does not attract dust, but looks shiny for those wanting the bling. As with the other Vortex keyboards from this year, there are no bezels to be seen anywhere, and the ViBE employs a metal case with no top/frame/plate either, which means we have a minimalist design here also, and this goes along well with the smaller form factors Vortex prefers for their keyboards. The 78% form factor employed here results in an unwieldy looking keyboard with one dimension significantly longer than the others, and the native layout with a modified Num Pad but no arrow-key cluster results in a Frankenstein's monster that will not be loved by the majority of the villagers. Those who do, however, will find a keyboard that is actually very handy to use as it cuts down on finger travel and goes well with a desk without a whole lot of space.

The primary legends are front and center on keycaps with a single legend and below the secondary legends on those with a secondary or even tertiary legend. With there really being no backlighting support here, their positioning does not matter as much as the typeface and font size, and Vortex has done well here with all but the tertiary, keyboard-specific legends. With dedicated keys missing relative to the 104-key ANSI layout, Vortex has assigned keys multiple duties, and the keycaps on those switches are marked accordingly. These are not the largest, and this is definitely where the keycaps' real estate itself is the bottleneck, but until you get used to the layout and get comfortable with touch typing here, things will not be easy when having to look down to figure out where a specific key is.


Turning the keyboard over, we see the case with a metal badge in the middle - this particular one is an engineering sample, and a laser engraving labels it as such. There are also four small hemispherical rubber pads on the corners to prevent the keyboard from sliding around on your desk, which also prevents the case from being scratched. The included feet screw into the two holes on top, with the rubber pads going on top to further help keep things tidy and consistent.


There is a female micro-USB port at the top of the left side (as seen from the front) where the provided detachable cable plugs in, and this means the cable is directed away from your mouse if you are right-handed. The cable in question has a male micro-USB port on one end and a full-size USB Type-A connector on the other, where it plugs into an available USB port on your computer. USB 2.0 will suffice here given the version you can actually buy will not support full keyboard backlighting.


Vortex has used their take on the Signature Plastics SA keycap profile here, and they went ahead and called it SA too, which is.. interesting.. but does help provide a sense of familiarity to those who are aware of it. This is also a departure from the so-called DSA profile used in the CORE and Race 3, with taller keycaps that are not sculpted as with the more common OEM profile. The keycap tops still have a concave surface, which adds some support for when you type on them. Without the case feet installed, the keyboard is as flat as can be, expecting you to hover your hands over it in a proper ergonomic manner.

As for the replacement keycaps, the keycaps here are made out of PBT plastic, and the legends are dye sublimated on as well. Their average wall thickness is 1.30 mm as measured across ten switches, and we have here one of the keyboard's major selling points in the form of excellent stock and replacement keycaps with an uncommon, highly sought-after profile among keyboard enthusiasts. Also above is a look at how some of the replacement keycaps would be on the keyboard. It may not be my personal cup of tea, but I always appreciate such options being available.


On this engineering sample are Cherry MX RGB Brown switches, but note that the retail version will have opaque black housing switches since there is no RGB backlighting on the keyboard aside from a couple of LEDs for functional reasons we will get into shortly. The larger keycaps are held in place with Cherry stabilizers, and with a low-profile case, the keycaps end up being floating in design.