Page 2 - A Closer Look - Hardware
The LEOBOG Hi75 is a 75% layout keyboard. It has a total of 81 keys that forgoes the number pad and some navigation keys. It offers a good middle ground between usability and compactness. The Hi75 is offered in a plethora of colors, and can be bought fully assembled or as a barebones kit. The assembled versions come in various themed designs and keycap profiles. The review unit we have today is the fully assembled white-purple version with the MDA keycap profile and Nimbus linear switches.
The LEOBOG Hi75 has a simple design and is painted in a white with a very slight tinge of gray. The top right of the Hi75 has a volume knob with the LEOBOG logo printed onto the clear center stem. Three indicator lights can be found below the knob and to the left of the navigation keys. They are backlit by a blue LED, indicating the status of Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Windows key Lock from top to bottom. I prefer the indicators to be white LEDs, so it clashes less with the RGB LED backlighting. The backlight is bright and vibrant, with the LEDs oriented south-facing. The keyboard has a decent heft to it, weighing in at 1.23kg. The housing appears to be made with cast aluminum as compared to a fully machined aluminum case to keep costs low. It feels sturdy and durable with excellent fit and finish. The dimensions of the keyboard are 330mm in width, 135mm in depth, and 45mm tall. The front edge is 21mm tall, and the rear edge is 36mm. I would recommend using a wrist rest for a more comfortable typing experience. At the top between the Esc and F1 keys, there is a small removable metal plaque with an engraved astronaut mascot. This small metal plaque is held on by a magnet in the top keyboard frame, and adds a cute touch to the keyboard design.
The edges of the keyboard are 90-degrees perpendicular to the top for a clean design with rounded corners. On the left rear of the keyboard, we find the USB Type-C port for a wired connection. The bottom of the keyboard is a tapered, angular piece of metal that provides the typing angle. Near the front are two small white circular rubber feet, while the rear has two large dome-shaped white rubber feet. Due to the dome shape, the keyboard has the potential to rock slightly when pressing the function row keys with significant force. The center of the bottom piece has a debossed image of a Saturn-like ringed planet molded into the aluminum. The bottom right corner has a clear label with some information about the keyboard as well as the serial number.
The keycaps featured on the LEOBOG Hi75 are sculpted in the MDA keycap profile. The MDA profile stands a bit taller than the Cherry profile, and has a larger, rounded keycap face. The MDA profile is very comfortable, and I had no issues typing with them. Due to the rounded corners, faces, and edges, the keycaps feel smoother and more comfortable when compared to the sharper edges of Cherry or OEM profiles. The keycaps are made using double shot plastic injection. This means the legends are molded in a different color plastic than the housing and prevents the legends from ever wearing off. The keycap material is not specified, but I presume from the feel of the keycaps that they are made from polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) plastic, which is durable and does not shine quickly. The alphanumeric keycaps are white with large, crisp, turquoise blue legends. The modifier keys are a mix of pastel purple and pastel blue with white legends. Overall, the keycaps look and feel of high quality, and have clear legends and vibrant colors.
Time for the typing test. My immediate reaction to the typing feel of the Hi75 is bliss. The Nimbus linear switches are very smooth, with excellent glide from the top of the keystroke to the very bottom. The MDA profile keycaps, as mentioned earlier, are nicely sculpted, cradling my fingers with each stroke. Each button is easy to find, and the rounded corners help with accidental keypresses or snagging on the corner of a key and navigating to different keystrokes. The bottoming out feel is with a dampened firmness. Even without disassembling, we can see through the cracks that the mounting plate has flex cuts. Pushing down on the keys, there is also a bit of flex due to the gasket design. The large modifier keys essentially have no rattle, and are very well supported by their stabilizers. The sound of typing on the Hi75 is very enjoyable as well. It has a creamy, deep, and thick bottoming out sound. It has a very pleasant sound characteristic to my ears. We can take a listen in the typing test below.
The LEOBOG Hi75 is wired only with a 1000Hz polling rate. In my usage test, I did not experience any signs of lag. On LEOBOG's website, the Hi75 is supposedly equipped with an “Advanced Gaming-Grade Chip” that is used to offer “rapid and responsive keystroke registration”. The keyboard also has N-key rollover, or NKRO, for short. This allows for any multiple keys to be simultaneously pressed and be registered as an input. The input delay is up to 2.8ms. In my daily use, I did not find any issues when typing with the Hi75.
The Hi75 has many built-in functions and does not require software to be utilized. There are built in Android, Windows, and iOS modes that offer slightly different functions for the function row keys. These four modes can be accessed by pressing Fn + Q, W, E, or R for the respective modes. The main difference is that in Windows mode, the function keys will operate as normal, with special operations triggering in conjunction with pressing the Fn key. The other operating system modes invert the function keys to provide the special operations first, with the F-keys behind the Fn layer. The RGB LED backlight can also be toggled through the Fn layer. There are about a dozen effects to choose from, along with different speeds, brightness levels, and colors. The knob can be long pressed for two seconds to switch between two modes. There is a gaming mode which causes the LEDs in the knob to breathe, with a short press of the knob toggling backlight effects and rotation for brightness. In office mode, short pressing the knob will mute, and the knob rotation functions as volume control. The knob also has individual red, green, and blue LEDs lighting it up, but cannot be programmed. They, however, can be turned off if the user dislikes the look or implementation.
There is software available for the full control and customization of the LEOBOG Hi75. I had to do some digging in order to find it, as it is not mentioned in the user manual nor featured on LEOBOG’s product page for the Hi75. The only thing available on the product page was the firmware update. Instead, I had to go under the Downloads page for the driver. When trying to install the software, there is a warning from Microsoft saying that it is from an unknown publisher. I installed the driver on a virtual machine to avoid any issues. The Hi75 driver is easy to navigate. You can reprogram key bindings, set up macros, lighting, and other keyboard settings. There are multiple pages that divide up these functions, and it works well to apply the settings.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware
3. A Closer Look - Disassembly and Internals
4. Conclusion
