Disassembly

Disassembly of the XPG MAGE is fairly simple provided you are aware of the two hidden screws underneath the rubber pads on the top at the back of the keyboard.12 more screws of the Phillips head variety need to be removed after removing specific keycaps on the front as seen above. At this point, just push the frame and plastic case pieces apart until they completely separate; there is no internal USB cable to disconnect here.


I mentioned before how the XPG MAGE is a more budget-conscious keyboard, so I wasn't surprised to see a plain ABS plastic case with no sound-dampening foam. In fact, everything so far clearly shows that this keyboard is not targeting mechanical keyboard enthusiasts, which isn't an issue if everything works well enough. This page focuses on the PCB, which is tied to the aluminium frame to where the switches are soldered through the frame and onto the PCB. XPG is using a black PCB, one with the XPG logo. Note the directly soldered-on Type-C port, which explains why there is no daughter PCB on the plastic case and an associated internal USB cable. Solder quality is fairly good, and the PCB is clearly machine-assembled, though with some telltale signs of excess solder flux.


Powering the keyboard is an NXP LPC11U35F 32-bit Arm Cortex®-M0 USB microcontroller with up to 128 KB flash memory, 12 KB SRAM, and 4 KB EEPROM. Storage space is sufficient for the hybrid onboard/software-based customization options specified by XPG, but it is a less powerful processor than more premium keyboards, and possibly also why the XPG MAGE is missing some of the features we will see soon enough. There are also three separate Macroblock MBI5043GP LED drivers for the onboard lighting control. This is effectively the same hardware configuration as on the XPG Summoner keyboard. All components, including the switches, LEDs, and capacitors, are soldered to a multi-layered PCB.

Before we move on, be advised that disassembly may void the warranty and that TechPowerUp is not liable for any damages incurred if you decide to go ahead and do so anyway.